I was unlucky enough to catch the second half of a documentary my wife was watching last night. Channel 4 series Cutting Edge delivered another in depth real life documentary. The subject of the programme was a guy called Matt Brooks who makes a good living from removing undiscovered deaths and suicides (the cleaning guys call them “body jobs”). Although the subject under discussion was a little gruesome it held my attention right to the finish.
The programme actually highlighted a fact of everyday life that most of us don’t want to think about and that is death. While inevitable, some optimisits among us like to imagine that it might not happen to them. The characters performing the cleaning work were a mixed bunch and tolerated the conditions thrown at them very well. I for one could not clean up human remains and blood from a flat or apartment. I don’t think my stomach would hold out for long.
It was actually a very interesting factual documentary about a job that most would refuse to do, but thankfully some will undertake. So many people live alone today and some end their lives in such sad circumstances and die alone, remaining undiscovered, sometimes for weeks. The producers of the programme were careful not to reveal to much in the way of gruesome content or scenes that may have caused too much distress to viewers. Some of the descriptions given by the workers were enough for me.
A humorous moment in a grim situation was when one of the guys was clearing a flat. He was stacking the furniture and other items in the back of a truck along with rubbish etc. He brought out a mountain bike and stood it very neatly at one side of the truck near the back, maybe planning on not throwing it away? When he came back there was a guy rooting through everything in the truck and someone had already nicked the mountain bike from under his nose. While someones death is sad and not to be mocked, this incident was actually very funny. The cleaner didn’t think so.
Another company also featured in the documentary. Steve, a biology graduate and Nick who was an estate agent offer the same type of extreme cleaning service. At one point they are working on a job when asked by someone to go and help them. One of the guys then describes how a man has been crushed under 10 tons of marble slabs in the back of a container. Not a pretty sight I would imagine.
Amazing what people will do for money don’t you think
Small words from a tall fool 