# My s\*\*t is your what????? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871 "2008-05-11T00:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/1 "2008-05-11T00:44:24Z")
I was cruising to work last week, thru the rural countryside, when I encountered what we euphemistically call in these parts a ‘honey wagon’. A great big old tanker truck whose business it is to empty septic tanks and pools. Now I am no stranger to these sorts of things, as we’ve had to call upon their services more than a time or 12 over the years, given the rural nature of our home and the vagaries of ageing septic systems. So I don’t have issues with what they do, and I don’t get particularly squeamish over the topic (as those of you who have read my essay on the gangrenous bowel exploding in my face will recall.) What took me by surprise was the logo on the side of the truck: **Your s** t is our bread and butter\*\* (yes, that’s how they spelled it) :eek: If that’s so, and if noone else can empty my septic tank besides your company, I will certainly hire you. Just don’t breath on me. Or touch me. And don’t smile at me either. I don’t want to see your teeth. In fact, just mail me the bill after the job is done. And call to tell me if there’s anything I need to know. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/2 "2008-05-11T00:55:59Z")
I’ve seen that same sign on a honey wagon around here somewhere. Also one that says “It smells like S\*\*T to you but it smells like money to us.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/3 "2008-05-11T01:00:07Z")
Other seen(or imagined) slogans for plumbers or Honey Wagons– “we’ll take crap from anyone” "Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels " ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/4 "2008-05-11T01:09:51Z")
Yeah, I’ve seen clever and semi-clever sayings before on the topic. I’d just not run across the reference to coprophagia before. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/5 "2008-05-11T01:38:35Z")
Do these folks know which _side_ of their bread is s **ted on? If the bread gets dropped, does it always land s** t-side down? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/6 "2008-05-11T01:50:52Z")
I think it’s the Winnebago County honey wagons that say “Used Food Hauler” on the bug shields. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/7 "2008-05-11T02:26:57Z")
I’m glad I live in the city. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/8 "2008-05-11T02:30:42Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] I’m glad I live in the city. 😃 [/QUOTE] Me too! 😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/9 "2008-05-11T03:15:11Z")
I’m really dense when it comes to this, but **QtM** , is this a factual question? I assume when they say that, they mean that your shit puts food on the table. Well, maybe a bad example, but “your shit pays my bills” would work. I don’t know if “bread and butter” is still an oft-used expression, though. (apologies if this sounds snarky, I’m mildly intoxicated. ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/10 "2008-05-11T09:12:44Z")
Possible to get a link to the essay about the gangrenous bowel? -Grammanaut, raised with grisly ER stories at the dinner table ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/11 "2008-05-11T09:21:21Z")
Where there’s muck there’s brass… ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/12 "2008-05-11T09:24:30Z")
I no longer recall what their silly sayings were, but a septic tank cleaning service in Ithaca NY (I think it was called Stinky’s) dealt with the matter somewhat similarly. After all, if your business is cleaning septic tanks, what choices do you have? Probably just two: (a) become a surly alcoholic who hates his life; or (b) make fun of it and try to laugh. I prefer option (b) and it seems this view is shared by many who are actually in the biz. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/13 "2008-05-11T11:40:07Z")
The first time we had to deal with a septic pumping after moving to our new house, I opened the yellow pages (hey, it was 16 years ago and google didn’t exist!) and scanned the page. One ad caught my eye and it was the first one I called: “_No one sticks their nose into our business_” I figured a guy with a sense of humor about it couldn’t be all bad. As **Carol** said above, there are a couple of ways to view things and I’m partial to those that can find humor in life - or make humor when there isn’t a lot of funny to be found. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/14 "2008-05-11T12:10:35Z")
One of the Door County pumping outfits (may places are not suitable for septic tanks and have to use holding tanks): Royal Flush Sanitation - A royal flush beats a full house. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/15 "2008-05-11T14:23:37Z")
I just saw a truck on Friday for a service that goes around picking up dog poo (how much money can there be in that?). A couple of the mottoes emblazoned on the side of the truck: Your dog’s biscuits are our bread and butter! Your dog’s #2’s are #1 to us! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/16 "2008-05-11T16:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=Daithi Lacha] I just saw a truck on Friday for a service that goes around picking up dog poo (how much money can there be in that?). A couple of the mottoes emblazoned on the side of the truck: [/QUOTE] Over ten years ago ( before kids) I was tired of my job, which I constantly spent at day dreaming ( when I wasn’t working.) I knew that if I wanted to make money, I had to create a niche industry which served two basic tenets: People are inheritly lazy and cheap. So, I thought of the nastiest jobs people just hate to do. 1. Picking up dog poo. 2.) Cleaning out the litter box. (This idea came after we got a cat.) Fuelled by my BIDNESS ACUMEN, I tell Mr. Ujest alls about THIS GREAT IDEA I HAVE and I have a NAME FOR IT (A most \*critical \* element.) ( Which I cannot recall exactly what it is at this moment, but it WAS GOOD and something like \*Poopie B Gone \* or _Doody Calls_.But, it was _better!_ really. Maybe it was _The Poop Scooper_. crap. Mr. Ujest, being a man of pragmatic ideals solidly grounded in his German upbringing, gave me a look that said _Why would people pay you to pick up their dogs poop when they should be doing that themselves?_, but what he reallly said to me was, " You don’t even pick up your own dogs poop…" and then I faded off into my Happy Place and here I am a decade later still without my niche industry. There are now a couple of guys in the area that do this…and I could have been the first. if only I actually picked up my own dog’s poop. BOT: One of the septic guys in the area are Todoroff Brothers: We’re #1 in #2. Crazy as batshit, but you gotta love em. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Thalia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Northern\_Thalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Thalia)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/17 "2008-05-11T17:07:13Z")
**QtM** , if you live in Southwestern Ontario, chances are that truck belonged to my uncle. However, I’m pretty sure his trucks just say ‘shit’ and not ‘s\*\*t’. Yes, my family reunions are very interesting, why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/18 "2008-05-11T17:32:16Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Thalia] **QtM** , if you live in Southwestern Ontario, chances are that truck belonged to my uncle. However, I’m pretty sure his trucks just say ‘shit’ and not ‘s\*\*t’. [/QUOTE] Nope, central Wisconsin. I’ve seen most of the variations on septic humor listed here before, and I ‘get’ the joke about ‘bread and butter’, I just suffered from mild cognitive dissonance over the imagery of coprophagia. And I was surprised that “S\*\*t” had become acceptable as advertising in our rather conservative locale, where many still object to newspaper or billboard ads for ‘family planning’ because it would be embarrassing to have to explain to the children what that meant. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/19 "2008-05-11T18:17:47Z")
I recall seeing a pickup truck a long time ago emblazoned with: “\ Erector Services. _We get it up so you don’t have to!_” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871/20 "2008-05-11T23:02:27Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] my essay on the gangrenous bowel exploding in my face [/quote] I would also like to see a link to this, please. Or maybe I should say _interested_ in a link to this, perhaps “like” is not really the word I’m looking for… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-s-t-is-your-what/448871.md?page=2)