Skyscraper Window Washers Reveal The Weirdest Things They've Ever Seen
Got a secret, can you keep it?
What would you try to do if you were so high up in a building that you thought no one could see you? Well, these window washers saw some crazy things during their personal day jobs. Reddit user a_spicy_memeball asked:
The answers were varied, interesting, and very weird.
Kitty Corner
I played with an orange kitty through a window once. That was nice. I also kicked through someone's screen because the window was open. Surprisingly no naked people so far.
The Time Of Your Life
I worked on swing stages doing concrete finishing and I once saw a grown man jumping on his bed in his tighty whities. I wasn't even shocked. He just looked like he was having so much fun.
Surprise!
Not so much a window washer but window replacer. Woman (mid 20s daughter of the homeowner) walked into the room like she had 1000 times before, took her clothes off faster than I could say "excuse me mam, allow me to avert my gaze" but when I did get words out she screamed and ran out of the room. A little while later her mother came out and asked if that meant they'd get a discount.
Lights Off
Not a window washer but this is related. Used to work at Caravan of Dreams in downtown Fort Worth. It had a roof top bar with a very nice view of the Worthington Hotel. At night people would turn off their lights. They thought no one could see them. They were completely wrong. One waitress was so confused at what she saw, but just couldn't stop looking... it was hilarious.
Gy Rise
I was at the gyno for my annual visit waiting for the doctor to come in. I'm sitting in the chair, feet in the stirrups facing the window when I start to see the ropes of them coming up to next floor. I have never been frozen in fear like that in my life haha. Luckily the receptionist ran in at the last second and closed the blinds before they totally came up. Phew!
Right In Our Faces
Finally a question I can answer. We were cleaning a fairly tall building 12 stories adjacent to an equally tall government office building. This office building had several bedrooms on the top level, which we could see from the roof but certainly not from the ground. From where we were standing this bedroom was about ten meters away. As we're setting up a naked dude jumps onto his bed. Facing us.
Not weird necessarily but certainly unpleasant
Something I Shouldn't Have Seen
Not a repelling story but one time we were washing the interior of a house and the woman who was home was very nice. About halfway through, the person who would seem to be the husband comes home and they kiss a bunch, nothing crazy, but they kept talking in very hushed tones. Which is not that weird considering there are strangers in your living room, moving stuff and cleaning and whatever. They just kept whispering though as we moved into the bedrooms, which started getting weird. Well, we get to he master bedroom and start moving family pictures off a dresser to clean he window behind it and I can assure you that our visitor was not the husband or the father to their two blonde children. Got a very icky feeling and finished the house quickly. Needless to say she left us a very generous tip.
Art
High rise window cleaner here. The most bizarre thing I saw had to be a taxidermy alligator with bird wings sprouting out of its back, chained to the ceiling.
Woofpocalypse
Another story from the other side of the window: I was in a behavioral psych unit when I was in high school, fifth floor of a regular ole hospital. Let me tell you, it gets boring af. So one day when we saw the ropes come down, I waited by the window until the guy got to our floor and started barking my ass off. A couple of the other patients joined me, it was fun for a while. I doubt it made much of an impression, but it was an event at the time. No punishment though, I had good rapport with the staff.
Java High
Window cleaner based in Fort Worth and I once had someone open the window and offer me coffee while in mid-air. It was quite refreshing.
Banknight
I work for my dad during the summer for his window washing company ( check my post history ) and one day I'm working in an office at like 8 pm at night ( we were doing interior cleaning) and as usual every one is mostly gone but some late workers. Well that night we just arrived on a new floor and as we turn the corner to start, my dad and I walk in on 2 guys full on making out. Definitely not expected but we all laughed it off. This was an admin building for a bank in Montreal btw
Hot Fuzz
Few years back at the age of 17 I took a full 3 day safety training and did this as a part time to get quick cash. This was in Chicago at the Holiday Inn.
Me and my partner(25-ish) at the time where almost done with our shift as it become close to dark. As we get to this one room, it was oddly brighter. When we reach it, we find a group of people in animal costumes. The room was full of glitter on the floors and had a bunch of rainbow type sprayed on the walls. We wanted to finish quick. As we started descending they caught us and gave us what looked like sharp looks. We booked it and told the front desk what was up. After they checked it out they got back to us and told us they kicked them out and damages the room. So it was out of service last time I checked.
I Spy
I wasn't washing windows but I was on my first trip to New York when I was 15 or so. We had a hotel room pretty high up and at night it was so interesting how you could see into so many other windows in the buildings next door. I had a good view of 3 different buildings. 2 looked like apartments and the other was an office building. I saw a some guy at a desk, some people in there apartments just on the couch or computer. All except for one guy who kept walking in and out of a room. Turning the lights on and off each time which is how I noticed.
A Mystery
Around 7-8 years ago I was working on building restoration as a contractor, we worked for about a week from the afternoon till late. During work I noticed that in one of the buildings next to us we could see inside a room on the 12th floor. Strange thing is: in that room the lights were on everyday, like even when we started work. Even more weird: the TV was playing some pop music video clip over and over on repeat and we never seen anybody moving in the room (and it was presumably the living room with the entrance door opening from it).
This kept going on for a week, and we were all wondering what happened.
On the last day of work I went to the building to see if there's a doorman/receptionist on the ground floor who I can notify about this. Went in, told him that he'd better check that room on the 12th floor and described the odd situation to him. He looked at me weird and said that if the room I'm talking about is the one he thinks of then that room is unoccupied and unfurnished as the last tenant moved out months ago. He assured me that at night he'll go up and check. The project we worked on finished and I went on my merry way.
Our boss went back a few months later to correct some issues, and then he called me saying that the room we were on about is empty/unfurnished with the lights off and has a "for sale" sign in the window.
I found this pretty creepy and we never found out what happened.
An Old Wound
I used to work with the glazing company that had a contract to clean and replace windows on what was the 4th tallest tower in Calgary at the time, Canterra Tower.
The top floor had a two story office in it that we had to use the stairs in to reach the roof since the elevator did not go all the way to the last floor. One day, my boss asked me to note the ages of the windows, as all commercial grade double glazing has the year of manufacturing in it. One was four years newer than the rest and he told me what happened.
Buddy had a bad day, threw his chair at the window. At ground level, you could see where the paving stones had a puddle after the rain even though a drain was only a meter or so away.
Around The World On Scaffolding
I worked for FISH window cleaning but did side gigs on high rises. I once scaled in front of Alice Cooper during a broadcast.
Also, I met Dave Mustaine and Jenna Jameson the same week while cleaning their residental windows but didnt talk to either.
Bunch of random dudes walking around their apartments naked and a lot of crazy people that went crazy when I touched their windows even if we were told to by their property managers.