# Would you take a job washing windows of a sky scraper? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847 "2008-10-21T02:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/1 "2008-10-21T02:37:14Z")
How much pay would induce you to take such a job? For me, I’d never do it. I have an extreme fear of heights. I know they have security belts and what-not, but I’d still never do it. The reason I ask is that I have a friend who is trying to get his license to be a crane operator. He’s asking me to help him with the mathematics, which is no problem for me. But I’d never take a job going up in one or those things. I admire him that he’s willing to go up in one of those things. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/2 "2008-10-21T02:42:32Z")
If you had asked my brother when he was 6\*, his entire career plan was to be a window washer because it looked SO COOL. Then, after he retired, he’d become a policeman. He’s an engineer now. 🙂 - he’s 32 now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/3 "2008-10-21T02:45:39Z")
A kajillion dollars a year and a continuous delivery system for Valium. Otherwise…No. Fucking. Way. ::shudders:: I admire anyone who can do it. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/4 "2008-10-21T02:45:58Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > If you had asked my brother when he was 6\*, his entire career plan was to be a window washer because it looked SO COOL. > ) Well, he was crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/5 "2008-10-21T02:47:50Z")
The heights wouldn’t bother me too much - I always enjoyed skydiving, bungie jumping, climbing and I can carry on a casual conversation while on the highest roller coasters around. Standing on a little platform in the cold, doing the same task over and over and over and peeing in a bottle might get a little old though. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/6 "2008-10-21T02:48:27Z")
I’m with **frekafree** , though I might hold out for more money…and better drugs. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/7 "2008-10-21T02:50:52Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > A kajillion dollars a year and a continuous delivery system for Valium. > > Otherwise…No. Fucking. Way. > > ::shudders:: > > I admire anyone who can do it. Yeah. I could never do it. Maybe with Valium, but still… When I look up at those guys, I just think, “How do you do that!!!” ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/8 "2008-10-21T02:54:38Z")
I’d do it, if the pay was right. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/9 "2008-10-21T04:31:08Z")
I don’t have a fear of heights, but I do suffer from vertigo (not the same thing). I would do it with lots of valium . . . and only if the pay increased exponentially with the height. And yeah, the boredom would get to me. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/10 "2008-10-21T05:06:53Z")
No way no fuck no how. A few of the NY Times 9/11 obituaries still stand out in my mind, one was of a window washer. According to his family, he just loved his job. Found the [cite](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/national/portraits/POG-21CAMAJ.html?ex=1224734400&en=7795bc19a9ed9363&ei=5070). And there was [another](http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/national/portraits/POG-17SOTO.html?ex=1224734400&en=4ffb79b225540a13&ei=5070) that I missed the first time around. God bless people who do that kind of work. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/11 "2008-10-21T05:11:07Z")
I might do it for $500,000 an hour. Work one day and quit. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/12 "2008-10-21T05:13:44Z")
I don’t think 9/11 is a realistic job hazard for window washers. There’s plenty of [actual ones](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvSytXuQKs) though. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/13 "2008-10-21T05:32:38Z")
I seriously couldn’t. I keep trying to deal with my fear of heights, but I haven’t conquered it yet. I just don’t think I could force myself to get out there once, let alone every day. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/14 "2008-10-21T07:17:12Z")
I spent a couple of days in one of those cradles, but that was waterblasting - after a few minutes where _nothing bad happened_, the adrenalin rush faded and I just got on with the job. Windows day in and day out would be boring. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/15 "2008-10-21T07:17:18Z")
The job is really crappy, so I wouldn’t. But the height wouldnt bug me much. I would not, however, take a job washing spiders for any amount of money. Unless i got to use a pressure washer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/16 "2008-10-21T07:42:39Z")
Oh, Hell no. They’d have to much improve the little bench that they sit on - it would have to be more enclosed, so I couldn’t just topple the hell over with a gust of wind. Photos like [this](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uqHJSxvWNxk/Ru1G--SY9rI/AAAAAAAAACo/OcOXbHh6SBE/22.jpg) make me terrified. Joe ---
**Author:** ![HerbalTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@HerbalTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerbalTea)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/17 "2008-10-21T07:59:21Z")
I’d like to do it, but only for a few days, not as a long-term thing. I don’t exactly like washing windows. I think it would be fun. It’d be quiet and if you can see inside the builiding, that’s a big plus. YMMV, obviously. Just out of curiosity, how much do those window washers make, on average? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/18 "2008-10-21T08:00:41Z")
Just to get a rise out of our resident acrophobics… How about working with these guys across the street from my office? [photo 1](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmrocher2001/2378684643/in/photostream/) [photo 2 (closer view)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmrocher2001/2379522696/in/photostream/) ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/19 "2008-10-21T08:58:36Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > The job is really crappy, so I wouldn’t. But the height wouldnt bug me much. > I would not, however, take a job washing spiders for any amount of money. Unless i got to use a pressure washer. 😃 This. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847/20 "2008-10-21T09:16:59Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > I don’t think 9/11 is a realistic job hazard for window washers. There’s plenty of [actual ones](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvSytXuQKs) though. :eek: Holy crap! What’s the story behind that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-take-a-job-washing-windows-of-a-sky-scraper/468847.md?page=2)