Job got you down?

November 8, 2002 9:24 AM

Job got you down? Why not switch careers to the exciting field of necro-janitorial service? Join Crime Scene Cleaners today and be like your favorite movie hero, The Wolf. (Test your personality here). With high murder and suicide rates, you'll have that job security you desperately seek. Grab a broom and get busy!
posted by thewittyname (9 comments total)

I know someone who had to hire a crime scene cleaner once. They charged an arm and a leg.
posted by alms at 9:38 AM on November 8, 2002

Of the cleaning profession, in my opinion, The Cleaner is one of the most efficient and effective cleaners in the world. Certainly other cleaners aspire to the levels of respect he has garnished for the profession. And to be a cleaner? The training must be intensive. For instance, a cleaner must be skilled in chemical and cleansing techniques.
posted by quam at 9:55 AM on November 8, 2002

The San Francisco Bay Guardian also had an article about crime scene cleaners.

The 1996 movie Curdled is a remake of a 1991 short that was the inspiration for the Mr. Wolf scene in Pulp Fiction.

Speaking of Harvey Keitel, he also played Victor the Cleaner in Point of No Return the shite remake of La Femme Nikita--"a literal carbon-copy of Besson’s film, with most of the good director-stuff taken out."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:58 AM on November 8, 2002

In Gig, that book that the Word.com folks put out, one of the interviews is with a guy who started a crime-scene cleaner business. In it, he claims he was literally inspired to do it by the Mr. Wolf character in Pulp Fiction. Go fig.
posted by furiousthought at 10:11 AM on November 8, 2002

A couple months ago I was at a punkrawk concert in Southern California and the "scary muscular tattooed gang like member" guy sitting in front of me had a t-shirt on from Crime Scene Cleaners. I thought it was just one of those unusual t-shirts you see at a concert until I found out he really works there. I always tried to imagine what a death cleaner upper might look like. Now I know and he looks nothing like The Wolf.
posted by oh posey at 10:11 AM on November 8, 2002

Nice post.
I always wondered who cleaned up after the police left. The article mentioned that each job is priced on a case by case basis but does anyone know a ball park figure for a murder/suicide?
posted by keithl at 10:54 AM on November 8, 2002

This American Life did a crime scene-themed show a couple of years ago, and featured a crime scene cleaner as well (I'm pretty sure it's the same guy interviewed in the previously mentioned "Gig"). A compelling listen, if you have the time.
posted by pfafflin at 10:56 AM on November 8, 2002

That interview in Gig is one of the most graphic things I have ever read. Not for the squeamish. The description of the body they find in the motel bathtub, or the room full of bugs ... no horror movie can compete. (By the way, Gig is an amazing read. Go get it if you don't already have it.)
posted by risenc at 11:17 AM on November 8, 2002

Go back in there, chill dem nigga's out, and wait for The Wolf, who'll be coming, dierectly!
posted by WLW at 4:33 PM on November 8, 2002