Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Strangest Things Window Cleaners Witnessed


Someone on AskReddit got a thread going about window cleaners' most memorable experiences on the job. For whatever reason, we have a knack for forgetting that people can peek through our windows if we don't have the blinds down. And on top of that, that certain buildings hire certain professionals to clean those windows. From there, it quickly becomes clear that so many of us can be complete animals when we think that nobody is watching. 

1.

Text - maytswizzle • 5d I worked retail and once a month a window cleaner lady would come in and clean the store windows. She told me that one time she was cleaning the windows from the inside of the Apple store and a man walks by and licks the outside part of the window she was cleaning. She was upset since she had already cleaned it and would have to clean it again, but responded by telling the man, "Good thing I haven't cleaned that side." The man got upset and went to look for a manager. Rep

2.

Text - Shinynales • 5d Not a window cleaner, but my mom used to work on the top floor of a 32 floor building and there were some window cleaners a couple of floors down. My mom heard alarms going off in the building suddenly and she didn't know what was happening but it seemed bad. A few hours later she found out that the wind was so bad that day that the window cleaners where getting thrown around and smashing into a bunch of windows. Apparently the videos on the news showed them being pulled 2

3.

Text - primea123 · 5d I used to work during my high-school years for my uncles company off hours as window cleaner. One late afternoon when most employees of that office building already left, I saw a rather escalating fist fight between two employees and a rather helpless women trying to intervene a broomstick. One of those unreal moments of disbelieve and relieve to be the window cleaner on the other side. Reply 1 243 ...

4.

Text - Evalori • 5d I used to clean wineries and winery businesses in California, and this lady had her desk stationed with her back to the window. She was playing world of Warcraft at work. It was pretty dope. I've also just had people stare at my ass. Reply 1.5k ...

5.

Text - kealynne • 5d I work with kids and there was a window cleaner yesterday. The kids love watching him work and ask all kind of question (what is he doing, how is he doing that, how does he get so high up,...) the man was really chill. He high fived all the kids and answered some questions. He made their day. So if you are a window cleaner and you do this: thank you! Reply 109 ...

6.

Text - Weapon_X23 • 5d My cousin was a window cleaner until he fell from 3 stories high(he survived and made a full recovery). That was the only interesting thing he said that happened the entire time he worked there. Reply 1.0k ...

7.

Text - tunersharkbitten • 5d Had a friend that washed windows in Silicon Valley. Made pretty good money for a low impact job... Turns out one day to a 3 story building and noticed a very jovial meeting in a conference room. Champagne bottles and glasses all over. something was being projected on the wall and he noticed that there was a large number in green. He took that to mean profit. When he finished the job that day, he looked on the side of the building and remembered the name. When he got

8.

Text - strengr • 4h S 2 Awards I am a consulting engineer working in building science and structural restoration. a number of years ago while working in Toronto at a 38-storey high rise, we (2 contractors and myself) were reviewing glazing and sealant bead and came down upon a window where a woman was grooming her bikini area. We are always taught to see something inappropriate and look away. Apparently we looked so far away we missed the metal flashing lip of the next level down, our swingstage

9.

Text - jbob172 · 3h Once I was doing this two story house, with big square plates of glass pretty much everywhere. The guy had every single painting on his walls covered with sheets, and absolutely would not allow us inside to get to the double hungs on the second floor.

10.

Text - mfinleyv • 6h Not a window cleaner but I was at a boring industry black tie event at a posh hotel in London a few years back. Woke up very hungover on the 12th floor, stumbled to the window and pulled open the curtains. 2 blokes stood there staring at my fat naked self, they were on one of those tall building platform things. Took me a moment to understand what the fuck was going on. Closed curtains. Moved on with my life.

11.

Text - amjadpac • 3h My (maternal) grandfather was a window washer in the 1930s. He saw my (eventual) grandmother on the other side of the glass.

12.

Text - theunrealabyss • 6h I don't know. I think many of these stories here are made up. Did some window washing during my college time back then and these are scheduled appointments - so there are really no surprises here and owners are usually prepared that we are there. One time we did a rich guys house and it was just him and his girlfriend there. They got into a massive fight towards the end and she just walked out. Literally walked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and we pi

13.

Text - El-rond • 7h The window cleaner commented on the huge spider on the inside of our office room window. He assumed it was caged in some way, but we explained how it's free, but stays on its web which spans the one metre width of the window recess. Quite a few of us in the UK keep exotic spiders other than just tarantulas! Mine is a Nephila inaurata madagascariensis for anyone interested :)

14.

Text - Vuldyn • 2h I used to be the janitor at a busy McDonalds next to a university campus a while back. Early in the morning I usually cleaned the windows outside before the drive through started to get too busy. Usually saw some fairly strange people, but one that stuck out was a very unkempt and definitely hungover man foraging for cigarette butts in the trash, and on the pavement. After he gathered a handful, he sat on the curb nearby, crushed the tiny bits of old stale tobacco out of the b

15.

Text - Dosu_Kinuta • 1h When i was a cleaner there was a old lady who had me do her windows. In the corner of the windiw on her third floor was this massive tarantula that was completely loose and just chillin. When I told her about it she said her nephew was "supposed to fix her spider issue"

16.

Text - ElevenSleven • 4h My dad owns a window cleaning company. It's mostly residental. Usually it's people changing or showering. Which is weird cause they know we're there. My favourite story is of a retirement community that didn't allow fences and sheds and had a bunch of other rules. When inquired about the sheds she said cause people grow dope in them

17.

Text - Not a window washer, but I used to install them. One afternoon we'd gone out to a job where some asshole neighbourhood kids had smashed several back windows of a nice elderly couples place. We worked our way from top. First two windows belonged to an ensuite bathroom, while the third was the bedroom to which the ensuite was attached. The master. My job was to clear any remaining glass from the area so the other bloke could put the new panel in. Anyway, I noticed a small urn on the desk by

18.

Text - bfly1800 • 8h S 2 Awards A tornado. We'd had little warning before we saw it about 1 kilometre away. It didn't appear to be moving side to side much, which indicates that it's coming towards you. We winched down about 4 floors, jumped onto a fire escape and got inside the building. Rode out the storm inside and then went home.

19.

Text - anteas06 • 5h I saw a window washer sneeze on the window and just spread it on the window with a towel like it's a cleaning liquid.

20.

Text - ytoast • 4h Housekeeper checking in. This one lady liked to feed birds, like 50lbs every two weeks. No screens, sills caked in filth and the windows themselves had been neglected over time. They were Anderson windows so you could pull them in from the inside. Well the tension string broke and I'm literally holding the window by a string and this bird straight up flies into my face. I was shocked, the bird was shocked, I screamed, I like to imagine the bird did too. Bird flew away and I go

21.

Text - ionakana511 • 5h I was washing windows at this one building. It was any ordinary day until i saw the biggest celebrity ever walk in. He was applying for a bank loan. But after a few minutes i saw that something was going on. The bank manager and several reps came out to discuss the justifications for his denial. I felt bad for the guy. He put his head down and walked out of the bank in shame. It became clear to me.... The Human Torch was denied a bank loan. TLDR: The Human Torch was denie

22.

Text - Platinum_Mad_Max • 1h Favourite thing I saw was we were doing the windows for an older man who had his granddaughter over probably no older than 5. She got excited watching us so the guy gave her a wash cloth and she would try to mimic us cleaning while we did our work on the outside. That or the people that would come out with watermelon or water on extremely hot days. We rarely got a chance to stop, so once we ran out of water we were usually out for the day which made people like this

23.

Text - Leila_Koch • 5h 1 Award Not a window washer, but I saw a window washer dressed up like Batman while cleaning the windows of the cancer ward in the hospital (grandmother had cancer). The child cancer center was through a different door on the same hall as the elderly (60+) cancer center. I was 9 at the time and thought it was awesome, cheered me up for a while.

24.

Text - lokidopolous • 2d Not as exciting as the other stories but something l'm blown away by when l'm on ropes is how many people feel guilty about not working when I'm around. When you look into peoples work stations you can see that almost no one works, most people are on Facebook, YouTube or on news sites. But the second the notice me outside the window they quickly switch to an excel spreadsheet. Like they think I'm some kind of productivity spy about to rat them out to management. Keep cru

25.

Text - The lady clearly thought I was a neanderthal. She later complained that she had to do all the work, pointing it all out to me. I tried to explain that I could sit in a bus and point out the route, but that doesn't change the work the bus driver is doing. She complained that I couldn't be that smart because I was a window washer and window washers are lazy. I explained it was one of two jobs I was working while taking a full course load at the university. TL:DR I met someone who was Classi

26.

Text - zappasbestfriend • 2d Once while cleaning a high rise apartment, an old lady kindly ask me if I was hungry and proceeded to open her window and hand me a pizza slice. Sol sat there, 27 stories up, tangling on my chair and eating pizza. It was a good day.

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