Okay, sue me. In my last entry, I talked about the Meat Department coolers when I realized that I hadn’t even explained our sanitation solution. Sometimes we have too much stuff going on and it is difficult for me to decide what all to report on. But given how we are surrounded by the undead, I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear us say that cleanliness quickly became an issue.And I think how we solved this problem is pretty darn genius.
Highlighted in red are our bathroom facilities. We have a total of 5 toilets and one urinal which has been more than enough for everyone thus far. The bathrooms have been established just for “waste extraction.” People get ready for their day in separate areas just to keep the congestion down. And if you ever have to follow Charles or Lance after a Mexican TV dinner, you want to find somewhere else to shave. (I can say that because Chucky is my battle buddy and I love him.)
We knew from the very beginning that the Produce Department and the Meat Department had limited shelf life. (Even now as I write this, the Produce Department is down to almost nothing and it has only been 11 days. We are still transforming it into our QZ.)
Charles disconnected the cooling units in the Meat Department cooler that you see highlighted in blue on the map. This area has concrete floors equipped with drains and features stainless steel walls and ceiling. The meat guys used to hose out these coolers every night to clean them so it seemed only natural to transform this area into our shower area. We have hot water and plenty of hose length.
We modified the aluminum racks and plastic trays used in the department to make shower stalls with shelf space for shampoo, conditioners, bars of soap and all the showering needs. Then we used length of bailing wire from our cardboard baler, elephant clips from the office and plastic table cloths to make shower curtains to provide a small level of modesty. The bailing wire really allows the curtains to slide back and forth very easily.
The cases where the vegetables and fruit are stocked in the produce department have this mirrored acrylic that we have disassembled and mounted in the shower stalls for shaving. It works pretty darn well.Both Jennifer and Kim are kind of clean freaks (hard to believe considering they both worked in Pharmacy) so they went through and assigned flip flops for everyone to wear in the shower. They sized everyone and used Sharpie pens so everyone would know which pair is theirs. It is a very cool system. And thanks to the fact that the store was gearing up for the summer season, we had plenty of beach towels and flip-flops on hand. The towels are not very thick and pretty scratchy but it is better than drying off with paper towels.
We are working on a scheduling system to keep everyone happy but it quickly has degenerated down to a locker room mentality. Men try to avoid the women and vice versa and I think everyone just kind of pretends not to look. Speaking of the flip-flop dispensers, it’s pretty tough if Jennifer is in there and Kim’s fake boobs don’t make it easier either. (I thank goodness Janet doesn’t access this blog. Note: Kim is the one in the sunglasses.)Personally, I’m way too self conscious about my weight so I pull the curtain on the stall first. Some are more modest than others. But the pendulum swings the other way too…
Case in point, Kanen barely keeps his clothes on period and he will just let the sausage swing regardless of who is in there. But he works out constantly and I think he has a tapeworm so he has nothing to be bashful about. (Want proof? I had Kim pull this pic off his cell phone. Cannot even be certain he is wearing pants in this pic.)
Most people just pretend not to notice or they try not to encourage him. There was one time where last Tuesday, I think Sharon had had enough and held like a twenty minute conversation with him in the shower while Kanen was in the buff. It was like a naked version of a Mexican standoff. Funniest thing I had ever seen.Still, with an entire store stock to pull from, soap, shampoo, conditioner and all those beauty aids are just up for grabs.
It may be the end of the world but we certainly do not smell like it…
