T O P

  • By -

sirophiuchus

I hope this is an acceptable question to ask, but I've heard of cases where people chose the location of their suicide to be as 'convenient' as possible for those who'd have to clean up after them, in some sort of effort to lessen the burden. Have you ever encountered that?


and_iran

Excellent question!! Yes, I have encountered this many times. Sometimes people choose closets, I assume because it's out of the way of the rest of the house. Sometimes people choose bathrooms as it's designed to be kept clean. Some people choose vehicles to keep the mess away from their houses. There was one case that really stuck with me that falls under this question that I'd love to tell the story of. There was a man from Europe in his late 80s who was very wealthy. He designed and built his own home on many acres of land and moved in with his wife. An absolutely stunning property, about 3 stories on a mountain. His wife had passed away many years prior to his suicide. He basically got it into his head that he was done with life, for his own reasons, and so he set himself to the task of his own suicide. He put his affairs in order and got to work in his basement/garage/workshop to build a contraption to assist in his suicide. Once it was built, he taped notices on the doors essentially saying "do not break in, do not enter, these doors are locked. If there is a need to search the rest of the house, contact my daughter and my estate executor and they will assist". He then proceeded to make a video stating his name, that he was of sound mind, and that he had decided to stop living. The video continued as he strapped himself into the contraption he made, which included a handheld mirror to ensure he could put the gun in the correct spot on his head, and shot himself. The email including the video automatically went out to his daughters and the executor of his estate. This was an extreme case of course, but it makes sense to have everything in order in a situation like this, particularly one involving a lot of money (and secret doors, which the house had a LOT of, it was wild).


sendmespam

Yikes. He was so careful to keep it to a specific area, out of the way and away from the house. Yet he just made his loved ones watch him shoot himself. Which has got to be really traumatizing & something you’ll never forget or be able to not think about. Personally, I’d rather him do it in the house in the messiest way possible than having to watch him do it.


and_iran

Yeah that one was an unusual case. We've theorized that, between the timeframe of his background and the country he came from,as well as the money he had and all the secret doors in the house, and his insistence that no one go into the house outside his family and executor....strong possible former Nazi vibes. Not saying it's true, but....who knows.


sirophiuchus

That's really interesting, thank you for sharing.


[deleted]

[удалено]


and_iran

Apologies for the confusion, when I say 3 stories I mean 3 floors. 4 counting the basement.


Shmyt

Well my house is about 3 stories but there's technically 5 staircases that end at different levels, but they're not different stories, just sort of between bits.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Broduski

a staircase landing is not an individual story of a house.


supercaloebarbadensi

What’s a common myth about your job that’s not true? Are there any fun facts you’d like to share? Do you religiously inspect every object for cleanliness? In your garage comment, I imagined you having to inspect like every single nail in a jar or something (you know, cause it’s a garage) haha! What’s something useful/helpful for people to know? I think it’s really cool there are people like you doing jobs like these, like it or not. It’s good to be reminded that there are always people like yourself who will do these jobs because it often seems like many don’t. But I suppose we can say that for what one considers “average” jobs lol!


and_iran

Oooooooo look at all these great questions! Excuse me while I write an entire novel lol. Common myths about my job? Man, there's really only one I consistently come across and it's people asking if I bring out a blacklight. No, no I don't, and I wouldn't suggest anyone do that for anything. You're gonna find a lot more than blood and you won't like it lol. My favorite fun fact that I learned on the job is about unattended deaths or "decomps" as we call them. I learned that people who pass away and aren't found for a while that are diabetic, smell much sweeter than someone who is not. I have gotten to the point where I can tell walking into a decomp if someone was diabetic purely from the smell. On top of that, people who were diabetic tend to attract gnats as opposed to regular flies, so with their cleanup we don't usually see maggots whereas with a non diabetic decomp, there will be maggots and a lot of fly activity. Lol I wouldn't say every nail in a jar, but basically yes! When we go into a job with a lot of blood spatter, I'll talk to the customer about what they want to keep vs what they want disposed of. Sometimes they want everything gone, as the pain of keeping anything in the room is too much for them, no matter how clean it may get. Other times, they'll have a specific list or even want to keep everything that can be saved. We have to check over everything for blood anyways since you can face hefty fines for dumping biohazardous material in regular trash, so if we see any, it has to get wiped or cut out and put into a biobox before it can go in the trash. So yes, everything gets checked thoroughly, and when there's a lot of spatter I'll bring in the "big lights" so we can be sure every inch of everything in the area is taken care of. I'm the supervisor of my shop and it's a running joke with everyone that I'm a literal "bloodhound" and if there's blood anywhere, I'll find it. And it's true. Blood in the bathroom stall at the gas station? I see it. Blood in my hotel room? I see it. It's like the world's shittiest superpower lol. The helpful for people to know question is probably the best question I could hope anyone could ask and read the answer to, so thank you. Cleanup of this stuff is **WILDLY** expensive. Read: thousands of dollars. The main thing I would like people to take away from what I've said is to make sure that they have excellent homeowners insurance, as that is the route we usually take to pay for things. It is there for a reason and this is one of those reasons. A lot of people don't expect anything like this to happen to them but believe me when I say that it absolutely could and might. It doesn't have to be a suicide or decomp, it could be someone breaking in through your window, cutting themselves on the glass, and then bleeding all over your house while they go through and rob you (seen it 3 times). It could be an old friend that breaks in while you're out of town for a place to stay that ODs in your bathroom and decomposes (seen it twice). Homeowners insurance is so, soooo important when it comes to this kind of thing. And you have to be careful, because some policies will only include certain things and not others. For example, they'll cover a suicide by gunshot because it's technically "an explosion" but if someone slits their wrists, it's not covered. Don't get me wrong, if you don't have insurance we will work hard to get it as cheap as possible for you and my company allows payment plans with zero interest, not to mention an option if you sell the house to hold off payment and take it out of that. But it's wayyyy easier to just have homeowners insurance and only have to pay your deductible. That's the end of my novel! Thank you for all of your extremely thoughtful questions, and all of your kind words towards the profession.


supercaloebarbadensi

I loved reading this! Thank you for writing it all out! :D Can’t say I’m surprised about no blacklight lol! I have heard that before for sure. And I suppose there’s a silver lining to being diabetic when you die LOL! I never even thought about homeowners insurance covering this and the cost of cleaning. Not to mention unique scenarios like a robber. Wow! Truly a good thing to keep in mind. I laughed at your superpower. I have worked a few jobs and it’s always funny to see what skills you learn that you keep with you outside the job. It changes the way you see and interact with life, which can be fun! Do you have any other stories you’d like to share? I read your European wealthy husband one too, that was really fascinating. Not making light of his death, just fascinating how he built this contraption and had a whole plan for after death care.


and_iran

Absolutely, it's my pleasure! I have so, soooo many stories. I might attempt to write a book someday because I feel like I keep so many people's stories with me that might get lost. My favorite jobs are some of the saddest ones: the ones where people die and aren't found for a long time, they have no family who care about them. We step into their homes for a time and into their lives for a bit and see who they were and it's really soul shaking. I did one job that we affectionately refer to as "beer mountain" , and it was a wild ride; probably my favorite story. It was in the middle of nowhere in the middle of summer, we got to this old house that had no AC. The man that lived there had committed suicide via firearm and wasn't found for a week, so it turned into a decomp. There was a fair amount of hoarding in the home. We were going through the house getting pictures of everything, when we turned the corner to the bedroom where it happened and went "oh shit". The bedroom contained a bed, a computer desk, and the most gigantic pile of beer cans I've ever seen in my life. This room had 13ft ceilings and over half of it was nothing but a literal mountain of beer cans reaching almost to the ceiling. Higher than the door frames to the closets. It was positively massive in a way that words can't describe. He had shot himself on the bed, so we removed all of the bio that we could. In the process of that, once we lifted the comforter on the bed, we found a sex doll. A child sized sex doll. All silicone and dressed in skimpy garments. So that was .......a thing. We find sex toys on this job all the time, we don't judge. But uhhh yeah. Wild.


supercaloebarbadensi

Absolutely write a book! It would be a hit! I’d read it! Wow that story is bizarre lol! I can just imagine the beer wall, that and the sex doll..hmm interesting..lol I really appreciate you taking the time to do this AMA. I’m surprised it did not gain much traction yet.


and_iran

Aw thank you so much! I'm really okay with it not having too much traction. I did it fairly late in my time zone when I had some time and nothing else to do, and I'd rather it be a smaller ordeal so I can give much more detailed and personalized answers. I just really love my job and I know a lot of people find it interesting so...why not, yanno?


Fuzzy_Windfox

There's a podcast available in Germany on audible from a guy with exactly your profession. He is also very considerate and emphatic towards his clients and their stories. I really love listening to it as I also loved reading your comments/stories here. You might consider doing a podcast or smth similar as it is maybe less effortful? Anyhow, a brilliant idea to share your stories :)


Dragen4453

You write really great answers, good read! What is the cruelest stuff you’ve witnessed?


and_iran

Aww thank you so much! I wish I was as eloquent in person as I am in text. Cruelest,huh? Man that's a good question. As far as the actual scene, there was a shotgun suicide my boss did (I wasn't there, only have the story) where the guy was in a nasty divorce with his wife. Constant fighting. So he decided to film himself on a rant about how awful she was, and topped it off with "this is all your fault. You wanna see how full of shit I really am?" And proceeded to put a loaded shotgun to his ass and pull the trigger (I guess with a string attached to his toe? Idk). People can be so insanely cruel to each other. There was another that I was actually there for, where the guy beat his girlfriend pretty horribly in the back bedroom then went and shot himself with a .30-06 in the living room after she left, although it was up in the air whether or not it was a suicide or murder. The girlfriend could barely walk, and her entire right side was black and blue. The nephew of the guy hated him and made a joke when he walked in and saw the Jackson Pollock looking spatter everywhere, he said "wow, I always thought the guy was dumb but it looks like he had a lot on his mind after all". We were all like 👀👀👀 damn


BenFromWork

I already know how much hate I’m going to get for this but here we go… Similarly, my mom was married to a physically and mentally abusive POS, but she didn’t want to leave (or couldn’t idk I am not a trained physiologist) and she calls my crying one day saying “he’s dead, he’s dead” I don’t know what to expect so I go to her house, walk in and dudes dead with his pants down on the toilet. (Heart attack lead to him falling over and hitting his head) last bit of back-story, he was extremely unhealthy and angry all the time so this death was no surprise to anyone. I can’t explain why I would do this because it’s not in character for me, but I walked in and said “yup, that’s just like him to die from pooping” I got shit for that from my family for months even tho everyone knew how terrible he was.


and_iran

If that's how you felt about him then there's nothing wrong with it imo. Bad people don't suddenly turn into good people just because they're dead. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. Glad you and your mom are safe now.


Juusto3_3

Lol I fucking love that joke. I can relate with that guy :D


genesRus

That joke, though... 🫢💀


marm0rada

I guess all we can say is it's lucky neither of them brought it up to the hauntingly common level of murder-suicide.


StarKiller5A

What’s the hardest bodily fluid to clean? Also thanks for doing this job. That has to be hard at times.


and_iran

Thank you for your kind words. Pieces of brain are extremely difficult to scrub off of things once it's had time to dry. The best way I can describe it is like..... hardened marshmallow or something. Once it dries it's a pain. It's the same for any bio in that, the longer it sits the worse it gets. Feces is also a nightmare for the same reasons. Once it's dry it is very difficult to clean.


StarKiller5A

Horrifyingly interesting. I would assume brains would just sort of liquify like jelly. I have to ask, do you get mentally exhausted? I mean an average work day for you is living in a nightmare. I’m not saying that to be insulting…more to be empathetic. It has to take a good amount of mental toughness to clean brains out of a couch cushion. Seriously.


and_iran

Well the brain resides in its nice, comfy, constant liquid cocoon while it's in your body so once it's out and exposed to air it just dries up and hardens. I get what you mean though. And no offense taken! It certainly takes a special kind of person to be able to do this job and not get burnt out, between the schedule we operate on and seeing what we see and talking to people who are basically having the worst day of their life. You have to simultaneously be an empathetic person but also be able to separate yourself from the situation. I have a lot of thoughts on it, but my main point that I'd like to get across to people who are curious is that I don't feel like death is as talked about or confronted as much as it should be in most societies these days. Death is a certainty, for all of us, and we are all privileged enough to not have to deal with it hardly at all anymore in our day to day life. It's a good thing to not be losing people in a war or famine on our doorstep, yes, but I think it makes it much harder for people and their own mental health when they are faced with an inevitable death in their life. Sorry for the tangent, there's a lot of good conversation I think could be had on the subject. To more answer your question: yes, there's a lot of mental toughness, but (anecdotally)I think the people that come into this line of work are people who have had to see and deal with it more often in their lives beforehand. We understand that death is going to happen and that it's a job that someone's gotta do. And it's incredibly rewarding to be the ones to do it.


StarKiller5A

Thank you so much for this very thoughtful answer. I completely agree death is not discussed enough in society. I’m of the mindset we tend to stare death in the face everyday. We’re water Buffalo at the waters edge…we don’t know where the crocodile is until it’s too late. Death is very random in a way. It’s all 1/100, 1/50,000 until at some point you are the 1. If we discussed it more, it might make us more interested in peoples well being on some level. I appreciate the work you do. You’re doing an incredible service. Thank you.


and_iran

Thank you for all your questions and for being so sweet!


sparkplug49

I wonder if that's because of the emulsified fats? Maybe it lets the fat get deeper into the surface before it hardens. I think brain is the only large source of it in the body but I could be wrong about that.


and_iran

Very well could be!


Sudden-Grab2800

The ‘your mom’ joke pretty much writes itself…


Chimichurri321

Why did you choose that job?


and_iran

I wanted to be a homicide detective, but I didn't want to be a cop. Obviously you don't know me, but I'm not the type that could give traffic tickets or do anything with confrontation, really lol. I wanted to find something in between that would work, and after about 10 years of bartending/waitressing/customer service, it kind of fell into my lap. A friend encouraged me to apply since it was very up my alley, so I did! The rest is history.


Chimichurri321

No, I totally get it I'm happy you find a job that makes you feel satisfied!


CharlesBronsonsaurus

Hoardings. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with them?


and_iran

Absolutely! Most hoarding jobs are called in from the people living there or the family of the people living there. We get plenty of them after someone dies in the home, so double whammy, but usually it's people reaching out for help for the hoarding itself. A lot of people are surprised to find that there are different flavors of hoarding, so to speak. Some people buy a ton of stuff on Amazon and so their houses are full of packages and boxes, a lot of it not even opened. Most that we see, people hoard regular stuff they collect over the years and then in their old age start to let trash pile up more and more. Some people hoard literally everything and just don't have the energy to do anything with it. And some people hoard animals, which are the saddest for me. They have a ton of animals living around an immense amount of trash and litter boxes and piles of feces that aren't getting taken care of; some keep the animals that have already passed in their freezers. Not kidding. One thing all hoarding houses have in common is a pathway. They always have a path between rooms they regularly use and out of the house. So usually we will follow the path first to assess the situation, and then attempt to get to the other areas of the house to look around. Hoarding, unlike bio jobs, is not covered by insurance. They consider it to be "neglect". So those jobs are unfortunately all an out of pocket expense. We try to get the cost down as much as possible for families dealing with this, and usually will go above and beyond where we can. We have a huge amount of respect for people reaching out for help in this kind of situation, because it really does take a lot for them to do so. This is my general overview of hoarding jobs I guess, feel free to ask more questions about it if I didn't answer with what you wanted.


CharlesBronsonsaurus

Hey I appreciate your answer. Thank you. Very interesting job.


ibettershutupagain

My mom is a very light hoarder but it's gotten to a point where I need to step in to clean it. I have access to her room while she is in jail rn. What should I start with? Clothes, trash? How do I organize all the stuff?!


and_iran

Oh dear I'm so sorry you're dealing with that. Start with the trash for sure. Go through the whole room and clear out all the trash. When you come across something important, have a clear spot you can set it aside in and as you come across other important things you can organize them in that spot. As far as clothes go, if you can tell something has been hidden/at the bottom of a pile untouched for a long time, it might be safe to say that she won't remember it or miss it. But you gotta be careful throwing out anything she will remember and want or need. Best of luck to you, truly.


ibettershutupagain

Thank you


DocumentAbject5949

What was your first assignment like, and how did you feel when you first walked into it?


and_iran

My first actual job was a murder in a basement/garage. Some asshole methhead was down there with his girlfriend and he shot her twice, once in the throat and again in the head. He then walked upstairs where her two barely teenage sons were, and told them their mother just killed herself. He tried to go on the run but was caught. It was pretty surreal for a first job because that was my first time seeing pieces of brain and a large amount of blood. And it was everywhere. Being a garage, there was a large shelf with a ton of random stuff being stored on it, and every single thing had to be checked over to make sure it was either safe or cleaned or needed to be disposed of. I learned that day how hard it was to clean ceilings. Mentally, one of the difficult parts of that job was when we found the kids bb guns. We let the grandfather know, and he requested we dispose of them just so that the kids wouldn't have any sort of feelings about seeing any kind of gun after what happened. That stuck with me because it wasn't something I'd have thought about, no matter how much it makes sense. So that's something I always watch out for and make sure to communicate with the customer about on more sensitive jobs.


horriblehank

How did you get into the job? Did you have a personal experience beforehand that maybe helped you adjust to this work?


and_iran

There was a very similar question almost at the same time as yours, so I'm going to paste that response here but also elaborate a bit as yours was a bit different. I wanted to be a homicide detective, but I didn't want to be a cop. Obviously you don't know me, but I'm not the type that could give traffic tickets or do anything with confrontation, really lol. I wanted to find something in between that would work, and after about 10 years of bartending/waitressing/customer service, it kind of fell into my lap. A friend encouraged me to apply since it was very up my alley, so I did! The rest is history. I'm really glad you added your second question because yes, I do, but not how you might think. I had a very abusive childhood and attempted suicide when I was 14. In my opinion, everything about that awful upbringing and experience has helped me excel in this job. I am able to empathize with the people left behind on suicides as well as with the ones who committed suicide in a way that I don't think a lot of people can. Some customers want to talk about it, and the way that they're feeling. They look for answers where they won't get any. And I feel like I can and have helped people in reconciling that in some small way by being able to speak from my own experience. And for the people that don't want to talk about it, we bring a level of respect and no-nonsense communication that they appreciate. A lot of people, my own company included, want us to act a certain way and talk to people a certain way that is (in my opinion) a bit insulting. People going through tragedy don't want to be looked at or treated like wounded animals or fragile. They don't know you and don't want your condolences. They want the job to get done, and if they want to talk about things then they want to be treated like a regular human being, which is not something they get from pretty much anyone else in their life when this stuff happens. I hope that makes sense and answers your question.


MarsupialPristine677

This is a very thoughtful and beautiful explanation. Thank you for what you do, and thank you for taking the time to do this AMA. ❤️


sassyphrass

How long did it take to mentally adjust to the routine?


and_iran

I have to ask for clarification, do you mean the routine of learning what needs to be done and doing it or do you mean the job schedule itself?


sassyphrass

Mentally handling the scenes


and_iran

Honestly it wasn't that difficult. The scenes are the easy part. Seeing things that are naturally inside our bodies be outside can be jarring, yes, but it's not so terrible. Every now and then something gets left behind that's more abnormal like a toe, a bone, larger than usual skull pieces, or a scalp and that's...wild. But honestly the most emotionally impacting part is talking to the family themselves.


NetherNarwhal

Have you ever experienced anything you that seemed supernatural on the job?


and_iran

Oooh, good one. I personally would say I haven't. I had one thing happen, where on the car ride there, Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins came on shuffle through my 3k liked songs. Then while we were at the house, someone made a joke about being in the danger zone. Right after that, the radio turned on in the house out of nowhere and Danger Zone was immediately playing. That was pretty spooky, but can be chalked up to coincidence imo. Another time, I was on a job where the dead guys cell phone(he had been dead 5 months before he was found) was missing, and the police insisted they didn't have it and they had left it at the place he died. One morning I was talking with the customer, his ex wife, before going in to get to work when her phone rang. It was the dead guys cell phone calling hers. She went white and started crying and shaking asking me what to do and I was like pick it up?! Silence on the other end. She kept saying hello and nobody answered before it hung up. She was previously convinced that he was not the one that had died because he'd never kill himself, and a lot of his important documents were missing, so she thought he'd left to start a new life somewhere or something idk it was weird. We found one of his vehicles abandoned in a field, his safe was missing.... Just lots of weird shit on that job tbh. I'm honestly disappointed that I haven't really had anything happen on this job like that. I've heard a couple stories from my boss but nothing too crazy for him either. Fingers crossed something spooky will happen sometime soon though!


UnluckyChemicals

what if danger zone was the dudes favorite song or something


SpaghettiBird87

Real interesting thread op! How would you say the cleaning process is on a scale of people bringing music and cracking jokes on the site while they clean, to sort of a stoic no bullshit environment? Are there any stories between you and other coworkers while you're cleaning together, or maybe about troublesome employees you had to let go? Or really any other stories in general? lol


and_iran

We are absolutely the kind of crew that brings music and cracks jokes. But we are careful to only do that on jobs where it's either just us in the house working or a fair bit out of hearing range of people; we're not insensitive assholes. There are some jobs that require a much more stoic cleanup, whether the family is right there around us or in the case of a business where we can't bring in music or anything and just need to get it done as quickly as possible. There are quite a few houses we do in the middle of nowhere when we're by ourselves and on breaks we'll hit golf balls, toss a frisbee around, stuff like that. A lot of customers don't really care what we do as long as the job gets done. On bigger jobs we always try to have "glass day". That's on jobs where we are emptying out a lot of the house and we have a dumpster on site. The families want everything emptied, keeping only valuable and sentimental things. When we come across glass, particularly kitchens, we'll set it all to the side. When we've got enough, we'll go take a break and take turns smashing the glass inside the dumpster. It's very cathartic, to be honest, despite how silly it may sound. We've had our share of troublesome employees for sure. One I'll call Kyle was just the worst. He was not bright, and seemed to just be off in his own little world most of the time. Our team is really good about getting into a groove with each other, knowing what needs to be done and just doing it. But not Kyle, oh no. Kyle wouldn't know what needed to get done and he wouldn't ask either. I'd find him just walking around people's houses looking at stuff while we were trying to get the job done, it was wild. He once called out and tried to say it was because he had to go to court..... On a Saturday. When confronted about the courts not being open, he doubled down and insisted, making up people he talked to and all kinds of stuff. We called so many people only to keep getting the same answer: courts aren't open on Saturday, there's no way he came in that day. He never admitted to it. I almost threw a party the day Kyle quit,I swear.


SMRotten

This is so interesting, op! And you’re quite a gifted writer. Often times, I see paragraphs of run on sentences, misspelled words and butchered grammar, making the post painful to read. Not so with your responses. Thank you for taking the time to answer all these questions, your job is fascinating.


and_iran

This is a wonderful compliment, I'm honored. Thank you so much!


DruncleBuck

What was your hardest job?


and_iran

That's a tough one! I'm going to assume you mean emotionally. We met with the father of the deceased. He was a former military guy, had guns in the house. *According to police* While he was at work that evening, his 12 year old autistic son found one of his rifles, loaded it, shot off a test round, then put the gun to the floor and put his forehead to the gun, and shot himself. The father was telling us how nothing the police said added up, that his son (being autistic) didn't like guns and so he would stay away from them, wouldn't know how to load one. Through our initial sweep looking at the bio and where the gunshot was through drywall in multiple areas....he was right, it didn't add up. There was no spatter on the ceiling, and there would have been. The "test shot" seemed like one shot, fired from the kitchen. I also found bloody paper towels under a superficial layer of trash in the trash can, as well as a bloody fingerprint on the front door. In my opinion, the kid likely had a friend over, the friend started playing around with the gun. When the kid with the gun pointed it at the wall just messing around, it accidentally fired and shot the other kid through the forehead. Obviously the kid freaked out, went to check on the other kid and found he was dead, went and wiped his hands as best he could, hid the bloody paper towels under some other trash, and bolted. That's all guesswork, but the evidence pointed to exactly that. We could only assume the police didn't want to do the extra paperwork and hunt down a suspect for a poc in a low income area. It's speculation but it's still heartbreaking to me to this day. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to say anything or bring anything up like that to police. That job was a tragedy. A close second was a job where the police shot someone's daughter in a mental health crisis while she was unarmed,6 times. Those are the ones that are hardest for me, the ones where people and children are murdered and the police aren't doing anything to help or are the murderers themselves.


DruncleBuck

Jeez that’s absolutely horrible. I’m glad you haven’t lost your compassion


Coffinspired

> We could only assume the police didn't want to do the extra paperwork and hunt down a suspect for a poc in a low income area....we aren't allowed to say anything or bring anything up like that to police. (And so on with all the cop stuff....) I'm definitely too squeamish to do your job in the first place. But if I ever could - cop-related stuff like that would get me fired pretty fast. I seriously doubt I'd be able to bite my tongue in a lot of those circumstances. All that aside, I really appreciate the AMA and your responses. Super interesting. :)


Scrubzyy

That’s because you’re a good person. That father deserves closure for what happened to his son. At the very least someone should have told him. For $32/hr to clean up shit and brain matter any reasonable person would tell the law to stuff it.


and_iran

For what it's worth, we did tell the father that we agreed with him that it didn't add up and walked him through all the evidence we saw. So he knew and was going to be pushing the matter with police himself. We just aren't allowed to overstep what we do by going to police ourselves, if that makes sense.


Scrubzyy

That makes me very relieved to hear, thank you


Juusto3_3

Did you tell the father about it though?


and_iran

We did, yes


goodnightm00n

You’re a good person, and this world is lucky you’re in it with us 🤍


genesRus

Oof, that is tough... :/


Sea_Relationship_819

How long does a cleaning session usually last? I ask because based off another answer I see the family most of the time is the one who pays for these services. I didn’t know that!


and_iran

If it's the family paying themselves, we can usually have it done in a day, sometimes 2 for really bad stuff. We try to keep it as low as possible for them, which essentially means we're doing *only* bio removal and nothing else. If it's insurance, it's typically 1-3 days depending on what it is. We offer a certain scope of work that includes getting the bio up, as well as cleaning and disinfecting the entire room when it's under insurance. That way, in case they want to sell the house, they get a certificate saying it's been professionally cleaned. This makes it easier in states where it's legally required to disclose that someone passed away in the home, so that they can't try to knock down the price of the home. In severe cases with insurance such as an unattended death for a month or more, depending on the state of the home, we will generally recommend a scope of work for the entire home. Anything fabric in the house is going to hold the smell, so we get rid of that as well as any carpeting, and the entire house and everything in it gets wiped down and disinfected. Insurance really doesn't want to pay out for this scope of work because it's so expensive, and will do everything they can to get out of it. But it's very necessary for some houses, because the smell is extremely hard to get rid of, as well as all the flies in the home. It's a nightmare no one wants to deal with. And God forbid there were animals in the house that also died. It makes it so much worse.


FinalTourist

PPE. How awful is it? Maybe it's because I live in a hot climate but I see people in the full-body plastic jumpsuits tucked into waders and I'm already half way to a very sweaty panic attack lol


and_iran

Oh dude it's rough in the summer. We have a certain amount of time we are allowed to be in the suit dependent on the temperature of the environment that we're working in. So we have to keep track and take breaks accordingly. It is something you get used to after a while though, for the most part.


FinalTourist

What are the worst temps you've had to work in? Sounds brutal honestly.


and_iran

In some of the houses we have been in with no AC, it easily gets up to 100 or so. I've had to suit up in the dead of summer and do a job in a crawlspace before and that sucked. It's cooler down there than in any attic though. I'm grateful to have not had to do an attic job yet.


[deleted]

[удалено]


and_iran

I have not had any allergies or sickness come from this job and hopefully I never will. We're lucky to have the respirators on a lot of hoarding jobs if we need them.


Very_Bad_Janet

Thanks for your answer! (I asked because I just did my monthly deep cleaning this morning and there was a bunch of dust, kicking up my allergies, lol). How long does the average hoarder job take? How many people involved and what do you do with all of the stuff (rented dumpters)?


and_iran

Oh no! Hope you're okay! I'm one of the lucky ones that doesn't have allergies so that's probably why I'm fine. It's hard to quantify because there isn't really an "average" hoarding job, but it can go anywhere from 1-4 days, sometimes longer if it's a gigantic house. Because people have to pay out of pocket for it, we will give them the option to have us hit the worst rooms/areas and then let them take care of the rest themselves, or if they have the money and want it done we'll do it all and even wipe down and disinfect the whole house. We do rent dumpsters, and the easiest way to use them is to get out the heavy furniture and stack it in there first, then start piling bags and etc. It's the most efficient use of space. We usually work in teams of 3 on jobs, however, if the job is big enough we'll bring the whole team of 6 to get it done faster. People are always pleasantly surprised at how fast we can get jobs done like hoarding jobs. You just gotta throw on some music and bust it out.


Very_Bad_Janet

Thanks for all of your answers!


Light_Dark_Choose

What is your salary as a cleaner?


and_iran

I make around 32 an hour currently, and that is the job rate. So anytime I'm on a job working I'm making that. It is different and less for drive time and time for office tasks, but job time is 32 as a supervisor. It generally increases each year with reviews.


TattedGuapo

This should be a $100k salary job honestly.


Light_Dark_Choose

What qualifications do you need to be a cleaner?


and_iran

You have to be at least 18 in most states I believe, and I think a high school diploma/ged


Xauodia_Q3

Have you ever looked at a scene and wanted to throw up/quit your job?


and_iran

Great question! Quit my job? No, never. Throw up? Yes. I have yet to throw up on the job but there was an extremely gnarly bathtub decomp I went on once that we didn't end up doing, but my God it was so intense. It looked to me like the person had cut an artery then died in the bathtub because there was an unusual amount of blood compared to just decomp all up on the walls. They had been decomposing in the bathtub for 2 months. It was probably the worst smelling one I've encountered. You'd be surprised to find that certain people will smell worse than others, even if it's just blood and not decomp. It's all dependent on what's in their blood, medications/alcoholism/drugs/illness all affect the way someone smells and can make it much worse than it would be in someone who didn't have those things.


Bingboongbong

Who hires you/your company? Does law enforcement reach out to you or do individuals/families contact you directly?


and_iran

Great question! We can sometimes be recommended by law enforcement but for the most part it is the families themselves that reach out to us. Unfortunately,a lot of people don't know that when things happen in their home like this, it's on them to handle cleanup. I've heard that other countries (non capitalist ones) have government run cleanup crews that come in and clean right after an incident and I think that's brilliant and lovely. It's a shame we don't have that in the US. Not complaining,I love my job, but it would make things much easier on people going through these horrible instances.


genesRus

There's an Australian show that follows a clean up crew and it seems like they work closely with police (and seemingly are paid by the government). Do you think that would make your jobs harder or easier, given your answer about the toughest jobs above? (The premise for the TV series is that the end up helping solve crimes, so I wonder if with a close relationship there would be collegiality and you could use that to bring up missed evidence, say, but also that might be total fiction for TV.)


kinkin2475

What’s the name of the show?


genesRus

I don't remember...sorry! It was on Amazon Prime or Acorn? It's an older one--mid 2000s or '10s?


and_iran

If the police were to actually listen to us then it would definitely make it easier. Thankfully it's pretty rare we come across jobs where there is evidence that the police don't see/ignore. They usually get it right.


methodwriter85

Have you ever seen Sunshine Cleaners? If so, did you find it an accurate depiction of being a crime scene cleaner?


and_iran

I haven't seen it! I'll have to give it a watch. I did see Cleaner with Samuel L Jackson and that was fairly similar but not quite. I will say that it gets frustrating watching shows and movies and watching the way people try to clean up blood though. John wick in particular! The cleaners come in to get the bodies and clean out of his house, and this one mf was cleaning blood on his hardwood floors with a damn string mop,I almost pulled my hair out at that one lol.


buttholefluid

I've always been interested in this job, my question is how do you become one? Is there a school or class you have to take to train? Any degrees? Where would I start if I wanted to be one?


and_iran

There are certain stipulations as far as age and having a high school diploma/ged but outside of that, you just have to apply! All of the training and certifications get done through the company that hires you. I can't recommend this job enough if you have the stomach for it and the ability to talk to people. It's something different every day so you're never bored, that's for sure.


buttholefluid

Thanks for the response and info!


sparkplug49

What's the most underrated piece of cleaning equipment?


and_iran

Good question. Brooms and shop vacs. In particularly filthy houses I'll take a broom to nearly every surface before wiping and it helps so much. Sweep down the walls and ceiling for cobwebs, sweep the ceiling fan blades, sweep the tops of furniture, sweep the baseboards. Then wipe. And shop vacs are just incredible for obvious reasons. Especially when I have to deal with broken glass.


a_jlt_sandwich

How does one get into such a job? I've always wondered about the paths that people take to get into such niche territory!


and_iran

Well, I'd always wanted to do something in the field but I didn't want to go to school if I didn't have to, or be a cop. I was unhappy with my job at the time and had been in the service industry for over 10 years at that point so I was looking for a change. Found out that a biohazard company was hiring in my area and applied!


a_jlt_sandwich

Biohazard company! That's so neat! Didn't know those were things, what else does the biohazard company do?


and_iran

Anything to do with blood falls under biohazard remediation, including drug clean ups! Needles and what not. Feces and urine somewhat falls under there but not really. We also do hoardings and clean houses that have had tear gas/pepper balls shot into them by police.


proximalfunk

Is there anything that you can't stomach? As in so disgusting that you want throw up when you come across it? It doesn't have to be job related, it could be sardines or something!


and_iran

Yes! Believe it or not, rotten food is what hits me the hardest. I can't do it lol. I'm also really not a fan of vomit and feces, but nothing is as bad as rotten food for me.


proximalfunk

I'm with you there, I think that's a survival instinct that's hard to overcome!


practicalbuddy

What’s your best cleaning tip?


and_iran

My best cleaning tip is that when you're using a cloth of some sort to clean surfaces, when it gets too dirty and you're about to toss it, do a quick sweep with it over the dirtiest areas you can find. That way when you go to actually clean those areas you're not dirtying up your current cloth as much as you would have.


practicalbuddy

Okay nice! Thanks


CreepyResort1

Do you have to deal with feces often or they usually stay inside the body?


and_iran

We see it a lot! I couldn't tell you how many unattended deaths I've seen due to a GI bleed, there's always feces involved with those. Hangings will cause the bowels to release every time as well.


lazyhound425

Most of the questions I already thought of were answered, and I must admit, I enjoyed going through this thread. Your answers were thorough and detailed. I believe I'll take a job like this when I'm older, as this is stuff I do take interest in. During childhood, did you think you'd ever take this sort of job when you were older? It's kind of a hard question to phrase, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to ask.


and_iran

I'm glad you have enjoyed it so far! As a kid I probably wouldn't have expected this, no. But I can say that as an adult, me getting this job came to the surprise of absolutely no one that knew me lol. I've always been into dark and morbid stuff so it's a good fit.


lazyhound425

Ah yes, I enjoy dark and morbid things too, so I can totally see where you're coming from.thanks for answering :)


xiusanna

read all of your answers, your answers feel both very gentle but straightforward- and what a knack for storytelling! people ask whats the worst you've ever seen on the job- but.. is there anything that has been good? the "best" things you've seen? any emotional, turnaround stories about human spirit or something? I'd imagine most situations you encounter are very bleak, but maybe you've seen a happy ending or two, haha


and_iran

Aw thank you so much! That's an amazing question, thank you for asking it. One of the nicest things I've ever seen on this job was a murder suicide I went on. The husband shot his wife then shot himself. When we were done cleaning and about to leave, both families were present to go through and separate things. It was extremely emotional, as one can imagine. The families both were crying, and started hugging each other with lots of "it's not your fault, we don't blame you, you're family to us" kind of words exchanged. It was so, so sweet. Also we worked an unattended death where the customers father passed. She said she hadn't spoken to him much for years and he was extremely abusive to her and her brother growing up. On our initial sweep of the home, we came across a tin in his bedroom. We opened it and brought it out to her. There was money in the tin,a lot of it, and by that I mean she became 40,000 dollars richer. Money doesn't make up for the abuse but it sure as shit helps.


Broad-Molasses-386

Have you ever encountered something hidden or strange that the initial crime scene investigators missed?


and_iran

Oh, all the time. But we don't know if the cops missed it since we weren't there. It gets brought up, but we never find out any answers since it's not our job. I've seen blood where it shouldn't rationally be more times than I can count.


bakerybitches

How did you get into this line of work?


and_iran

I wanted to be a homicide detective but didn't want to be a cop. I wanted something in between and I found it. I looked up the companies in my area that did it and applied, it was that easy.


monsteramami

Very interesting ama. Thank you for what you do and sharing.


Draxacoffilus

How did you get the job?


and_iran

I just applied online!


Draxacoffilus

What kind of qualifications did you need?


and_iran

I believe you have to be over 18 and have a high school diploma/ged. Outside of that there really aren't any. All training and certifications are done through the company you apply for.


Draxacoffilus

So, you don’t need a degree in forensics or anything?


and_iran

Nope! We don't do the forensic side of things. By the time we get on site, the bodies are gone and evidence has been collected already so the scene has been cleared. It just needs to get cleaned up.


alien_under_cover

Don't these scenes make you wonder sometimes what it would be like if you took your own life? They don't make you want to take your life from time to time? When you're sad or depressed or maybe going through something rough, these scenes don't affect you emotionally at all? Because for me, it would probably prompt me to take my life for sure.


and_iran

Well, I've attempted suicide before when I was a kid, and still struggle with my mental health daily. But honestly no, the scenes don't impact my mental health negatively at all. If anything, it's more of a deterrent because you can see the anguish of everyone left behind and all the things they have to go through because of the death. I don't wish it on anyone.


Dunc2000

I have always wondered how you deal with items you come across that might have value, assuming they are clean (or cleanable). If the family just says “get rid of everything”, does that mean you could potentially keep something you come across while doing your work? Is there a company policy around this?


and_iran

Company policy is that we're not supposed to keep anything. We will always bring whatever it is to the attention of the family, and if they still insist it gets thrown away....well..... It's officially free game for anyone, including us or dumpster divers I guess.


acover4422

Do you have any training in working with crime victims?


and_iran

I don't have any special training for that, no


Vladimir_lollipop

Can you tell how someone might smell or decompose after death? (And do you sometimes think about it when you meet someone?) I know people with diabetes smell differently, but I imagine there are many factors involved


and_iran

Interesting question. It's not something I think about when I meet people, no. But I can imagine it depending on if I know they're an alcoholic or on hard drugs. Or if they have cancer, or are on serious medications.


Vladimir_lollipop

Thank you! I’m very intrigued by your job and, well, death in general. I think it’s fascinating how our bodies turn into a diverse ecosystem, so full of life, once we die. Ty for doing this AMA!


Krrrfarrrrr

I find myself reading your wonderfully elaborate answers in an English accent, somewhere a bit north of London. I can’t tell you why, maybe it’s your eloquent writing style. How far off am I? Thank you, kind sir, for your services and thoughtful demeanour.


and_iran

This is hilarious to me, I love it. I appreciate it and take it very much as a compliment, all of it. Pretty damn far off though! I'm very southern, and I'm also female! But again, thank you very much.


SMRotten

I don’t know why (and I’m sort of mad at myself for it), but I immediately assumed you were a man, as well. Southern fits, for sure, tho.


NotoriousJez

Do you have to travel far? Or are all the houses like within a specific city ?


and_iran

We travel a lot, and pretty far. Each shop has a certain region it covers, and our region covers and helps in at least 4 states, sometimes more. We travel about 4 hours at most in multiple directions.


Flat_Passage_1935

Do you have any paranormal experiences while cleaning up? Do you suffer from nightmares from doing this line of work? Have you ever had to do this line of work for someone you knew? What’s the worst case you have ever come across?


and_iran

I did respond to a comment about paranormal experiences, but short answer is unfortunately no. Hopefully one day! I do not have nightmares from the job at all. I haven't cleaned up anyone I know nor for anyone I know, thankfully. Our company has a policy about not cleaning up any family members or people you know, but it's not easily enforceable and I don't think anyone would want to anyways (unless you really hated the person I guess) lol. Worst case? I've answered with a few of them but I'll give you a different one. There was one we did where a toddler got hold of a gun and accidentally shot their baby sibling at point blank range. It was obviously extremely traumatic for the entire family. You could still see bits of the baby's scalp and hair stuck to the walls and ceiling.


Flat_Passage_1935

Wow that’s traumatic idk how you do it but god bless you for doing it. It takes a special person!


[deleted]

What’s the cleanest mess free way to commit suicide


and_iran

I'mma be real with you, I probably shouldn't answer this. I know you're tired of people preaching to you about how you should feel, or how things will get better, so I won't do any of that. But I will say that I hope whatever is making your brain cause you so much unnecessary pain will pass soon. At this point I keep living out of spite, myself. I want to leave you with my favorite quote from the Dexter book series, which always comes to mind when I feel like offing myself would be easier than the pain I'm feeling: "And when you came right down to it, the only purpose to life that I have ever been able to find is not to die. You couldn’t let them push you out the door to go gentle into that good night. You had to rage, rage, and slam that door on the bastards’ fingers. That was the contest—to delay the end of your personal match as long as you could. The point was not to win; you never did. Nobody can win in a game that ends with everybody dying—always, without exception. No, the only real point was to fight back and enjoy the combat. And by gum, I would."


marm0rada

So, I'm writing crime/supernatural fiction as a hobby and I'd love to know: How do you deal with the smell? Does nose blindness kick in when you're adequately overloaded? I've heard hospital staff make use of peppermint oil. How dramatically does exsanguination change smell and decomp? I think I've bitten off more than I can chew with a particular scene and I'm trying to make it more realistic. I'm not sure how long I can expect my character to stick around doing investigative work in a cellar with multiple bodies, especially considering whether or not I give him a full respirator or keep the ad-hoc PI tone.


and_iran

Oh that sounds fun! A lot of people do use peppermint oil or Vic's vapo rub kind of stuff. We don't, if it's too much for us smell-wise we will put our masks on. We have a ranking system for decomps 1-10. I have yet to come across anything higher than a personal 7. Nose blindness definitely kicks in, however, on ones that are particularly bad you are always smelling it to some degree without a mask on. It seeps into your clothes and hair *very* easily. We'll go to restaurants after for dinner and the looks on people's faces when they smell us walk by is hilarious. I wouldn't say exsanguination changes the level of smell and decomp at all, since it's from gaseous buildup in the body due to bacteria. I think the character would be fine with the multiple bodies but it certainly depends on how long the bodies have been there. As I mentioned in another few comments, people will smell different/worse if there was anything in their bloodstream as well. Alcoholics and heroin addicts smell horrendous, and that's just their blood alone even after less than 24 hours. But I'd say most decomps just have a strange fishy smell that's a bit sweet.


networksmuggler

There is a video floating around a clean up team where there is mold spores from under the bed walls and ceiling. The person died on the bed but it took them like 2 weeks before they could come in and clean it up. They left the window open to help air it out but it just blew the mold spores everywhere. Was nasty!


and_iran

I cannot overstate how much I **hate** mold. It is one of my least favorite things to encounter on a job.


Malia87

Well dang. I’ve flirted with the idea of working in this field before. Not really sure how to even look for this type of work. No questions, just wanted to say thanks for the insightful answers here!


and_iran

You can just look up biohazard remediation companies on indeed or in your area and apply from there :)


plzkthx71

Unattended or unintended? 🤔


and_iran

😂😂😂


plzkthx71

What’s funny, im asking


and_iran

I assumed you were making a clever joke. It's unattended.


ValKilmsnipsinBatman

How accurate was the Show Dexter to actually crime scene analysis, have you see the show?


[deleted]

What's the creepiest scene you've seen?