Sweater Fish

While at work, a member came to the front desk and informed me that the shower was clogged. I relayed the breaking news to my manger, Boulder, and he regarded me with determined eyes and said, “Alright, are you ready to go fishing?”

He pulled off the drain cover and in went the end of a metal clothes hanger and after a few plunges and a few twists of the wrist, out came a hairy ball of sludge. A satisfied grin spread across his face as he let it drop into the bucket with a loud plop and a spatter. “This really smells bad, but have at it. Just keep fishing till you can’t catch anything else,” he said with a smile as he handed over the sludge covered wire. “Good work.” He praised as he took his leave. “Oh, and catch the fish in ever stall,” he said before he dipped into the gym. With that he left me with a smelly bucket of glop and more sludgy sweaters to hook.

It reminded me of the scene out of the movie, “Sorority Boys,” when Roberta is on bathroom duty and has to unclog the sinks. He pulls out a two-foot long knot of hair and holds it beside his head while he wails like Chewbacca. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3sBks5o_8

The experience made me appreciate the outdoors once more. A place where you don’t need a pair of flip flops, a coat hanger, and some rubber gloves to enjoy a dip, where there is running water and where hair won’t clog the drain.

I must admit, the bigger the hairy nests of goo that I hooked and extracted from the drain, the more satisfied I became. I don’t know if this is totally gross or just human nature.