worst job ever

being the operating partner in this chocolate store, i get saddled with quite a few odd jobs. electrical, plumbing, and hvac work are the ones that come most quickly to mind. one of the things i believe that makes a good boss is that the boss should never tell someone to do something that they are not perfectly willing to do themselves. up until two days ago, i was willing to do pretty much anything that needed to be done.

i then discovered the grease trap.

there is a 40 gallon steel box underneath our sink that gathers up whatever you may cram down the drain and holds it there so as not to clog up the main sewer lines. this sounds like a good idea and when it was installed, we were told that there was no way that caramel and chocolate would ever fill this thing up.

sunday night: i get a phone call that all three sinks are clogged. i tell them to do their best with the dishes and i'll look at it in the morning.

monday morning: i start my investigative plumbing. unscrew this. no water. unscrew that. "holy shit! where's my mop?". i narrowed it down to the grease trap. ok, can't be too bad. a bunch of caramel and chocolate...how unpleasant can it get? i unscrew the bolts holding the lid down and remove the cover. I get one poke at it with a gloved hand before the smell gets to me. i reach for the garbage can and proceed to dry heave. no beer shits, food poisoning aftermath, or outhouse has ever smelled this bad. finally, i sack up and manage to get a ladle in there to at least get the thing flowing again. but not before almost puking 3 more times.

monday mid-morning: i call roto rooter to have them come and finish the job and bring me a bucket of enzyme based grease trap cleaner.

it's now friday morning and i'm writing this as they clean it out. i'm as far away as my wireless let's me reach and i still want to vomit.

the glory of being in business for yourself.