Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dean Taberner on August 05, 2013, 02:49:34 pm
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Hello,
I've just got back from watching a postmortem at our local hospital through my job in the Police.
After spending the day watching what happens to people in their final days before they get buried/cremated it really has changed my outlook on life. I won't go into the details but it really is pretty gruesome.
Like I say, it has changed my entire view on how I'm going to live my life. Anybody who is stressed or gets worked up of trivial matters, my message to you is just enjoy your life and be thankful for what you've got while you've still got it. Life is too short.
I've said my piece now,
Who's buying Richys round by the way?
Dean.
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good post Dean, thanks
You are a cop and a windy?
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Its allowed these days.. didn't used to be.. We will see more of it as successive governments slash at your policing budgets.. A lot of cops are building side businesses in the hope of getting out..
Dean sent you an email..
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Hi Ben/Jim,
I'm a Special Constable with Staffs Police and have been in for 9yrs now. I love it, its a welcome change from Window cleaning that's for sure.
I'm on my phone at the moment Jim, I'll take a look. :)
http://m.staffordshire.police.uk/about_us/specials/
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Its allowed these days.. didn't used to be.. We will see more of it as successive governments slash at your policing budgets.. A lot of cops are building side businesses in the hope of getting out..
Dean sent you an email..
was just a question! thanks for the answer Dean
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Its allowed these days.. didn't used to be.. We will see more of it as successive governments slash at your policing budgets.. A lot of cops are building side businesses in the hope of getting out..
Dean sent you an email..
was just a question! thanks for the answer Dean
Just saying , its a subject close to my heart…. :)
Dean Fair play to you mate I wouldn't do it again, 25 years was more than enough… Windows is probably doing for me what Copperin is doing for you right now..
I take my hat off to all you specials that keep coming in getting physically and verbally abused week in week out.. Just for the love of it..
Ben Sorry got my Deans and My Ben's mixed up… Old age I think.. lol
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nice Dean Do you get pay for that?
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Sounds grim Dean.
When i was 15 my ex-girlfriends mum worked in a private funeral home. We used to go to see her in work and we would often sneak downstairs where all the dead people would be in their open coffins in various states of being embalmed. You wouldn't catch me going downstairs these days though. :-\
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Like I say, it has changed my entire view on how I'm going to live my life.
You've had an experience some would call it a 'spiritual experience' (to do with the human spirit; nothing 'woo woo'). William James wrote quite a famous book about these type of experiences and he describes them often as being transitory, a bit like alcohol or drugs.
In a years time you may have pretty much forgotten about what you've seen and just revert back to the old Dean. Maybe not though?
I also think that in the West we hide our dead in coffins, like they're something unclean or not to be seen. In other cultures that's not the case. Dan Worgan once stuck up some pics of his father-in-laws funeral in Indonesia; there they just laid him out for everyone to see. What a great reminder that our time on this planet is short, that we all die.
We all know we're going to die at an intellectual level, but at a heart level we don't really realise it. It seems from what you viewed, you understand that heart knowledge a lot deeper than what you did.
There's a meditation that some Buddhists do; it's a meditation on our death. We basically settle down and imagine ourselves dying. It's also a time to reflect on what are the really meaningful things we've done with our lives. Is it building a good business and making far more money than we need? Or is it something else? I know when I did this it had nothing to do with money or material wealth and everything to do with other people. The result should be we live our life better, putting our energy into the things that really matter, and letting go of the things that don't.
Knowing we're going to die, really knowing it at a level deeper than intellectual should be transforming; it should clarify what's important in life, and what's not.
I think you had a corking experience; hang onto it.
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It certainly was life changing,
I can't get the thought of it out of my mind. :-o
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Its allowed these days.. didn't used to be.. We will see more of it as successive governments slash at your policing budgets.. A lot of cops are building side businesses in the hope of getting out..
Dean sent you an email..
was just a question! thanks for the answer Dean
Just saying , its a subject close to my heart…. :)
Dean Fair play to you mate I wouldn't do it again, 25 years was more than enough… Windows is probably doing for me what Copperin is doing for you right now..
I take my hat off to all you specials that keep coming in getting physically and verbally abused week in week out.. Just for the love of it..
Ben Sorry got my Deans and My Ben's mixed up… Old age I think.. lol
I do love it Jim, its a kind of release from the windows, I get what you're saying about window cleaning being similar to you as policing is to me. :)
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nice Dean Do you get pay for that?
We don't get a wage as such Ben but we do get expenses such as fuel and food allowance. It isn't something that I do for the money, I do it for a change from my day job. I've done so many things through the police that I never thought I'd ever do, from flying in the force helicopter, drug raids, communtiy events, postmortems etc. If I didn't work in the police, window cleaning wouldve probably driven me insane by now.
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Its allowed these days.. didn't used to be.. We will see more of it as successive governments slash at your policing budgets.. A lot of cops are building side businesses in the hope of getting out..
Dean sent you an email..
was just a question! thanks for the answer Dean
Just saying , its a subject close to my heart…. :)
Dean Fair play to you mate I wouldn't do it again, 25 years was more than enough… Windows is probably doing for me what Copperin is doing for you right now..
I take my hat off to all you specials that keep coming in getting physically and verbally abused week in week out.. Just for the love of it..
Ben Sorry got my Deans and My Ben's mixed up… Old age I think.. lol
I do love it Jim, its a kind of release from the windows, I get what you're saying about window cleaning being similar to you as policing is to me. :)
Dont get me wrong it was great for a great number of years, and Blue lights and fights have to be up there among some of the ultimate Buzz's. I have been left with a myriad of tales and war stories to tell. Im just the wrong side of 50 for it now.. And windows don't generally fight back…. lol
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I have never seen a dead person.
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I have never seen a dead person.
That's 'cos in the West, we hide them, like they're a bit of unclean rubbish. I think it's a stupid attitude.
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I have never seen a dead person.
That's 'cos in the West, we hide them, like they're a bit of unclean rubbish. I think it's a stupid attitude.
Seen my father, my uncle, my father-in-law. All cancer victims. Not pretty.
Oh, and a lady who died in a car crash - not sure if she was dead when I saw her but she was deffo out of it. Looked quite peaceful but with a bloody nose sat at the wheel of her battered but fairly intact Volvo. She was helicoptered to hospital and the coppers who interviewed me about the crash (eye witness, not involved directly) told me she was certainly dead on arrival.
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I've had a complaint that this subject aint 'window cleaning', but I think I'll leave it here. I know there's a few of us that came to window cleaning because we wanted a stress free 'alternative' life style.
I can't say it's stress free, I've just done a magical mystery tour of the Wye Valley looking for a property to quote by some numpty that has just moved in the area and couldn't give me accurate directions, but I think Dean's post is in the spirit of that 'alternative lifestyle'.
So I'll leave it here.
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I have never seen a dead person.
You need to get out more - walk down any High Street the world's full of them!
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I've had a complaint that this subject aint 'window cleaning', but I think I'll leave it here. I know there's a few of us that came to window cleaning because we wanted a stress free 'alternative' life style.
I can't say it's stress free, I've just done a magical mystery tour of the Wye Valley looking for a property to quote by some numpty that has just moved in the area and couldn't give me accurate directions, but I think Dean's post is in the spirit of that 'alternative lifestyle'.
So I'll leave it here.
I can't believe that somebody has complained Tosh, they need to get a life.
Running a business can be seriously stressful at times, I've driven myself to despair because of it in the past.
I put the post up to remind people who are also stressed by their businesses/lives that its all a flash and not to take it too seriously.
I could have put it in the non cleaning topics section but a lot of the people who I wanted to see it probably wouldn't have seen it.
Thanks for keeping it up Tosh. :)
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Good luck trying to sleep tonight dean
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Good luck trying to sleep tonight dean
Lol, I've had nothing to eat since last night, the thought of it makes my stomach churn. :-/
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been next to an ira bomb when it went off, not a sight i'd want to experience ever again seeing friends blown up, never forget it, turning point in my life, wouldn't want anyone to experience it, ever !!!
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been next to an ira bomb when it went off, not a sight i'd want to experience ever again seeing friends blown up, never forget it, turning point in my life, wouldn't want anyone to experience it, ever !!!
Where was that? I only ask because my brother was in the Blues & Royals when the Hyde Park bombing took place.
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Used to sell cleaning chemicals, got a prospect, and later customer who worked in a funeral directors chapel of rest. He suggested I went to have a look at the kind of surfaces, substances to be cleaned.
Oh boy! went in to 5 bodies on stainless steel tables awaiting the final makeover. Pretty fantastic actually, they had photos of the people and used all sorts of products to remake them as they were. Quite skilful and nice for the relatives. Bit weird though!
As a manager we had a ' prospect day ' in Birmingham, Two of my cheeky reps opened an account at a massage parlour with paper towels and hand sanitiser!
Just read the last two posts, one cannot imagine how anyone can get over witnessing such an experience,
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It certainly was life changing,
I can't get the thought of it out of my mind. :-o
Chin up mate it's dirty work is life. Be kind to the people you encounter, help others the best you can and protect the innocent from wrong doers. When your dead your dead just like the individual corpse you saw laying on the slab. "lifeless and gone" just like billions before it. Religion is Mans invention to take away the cruel fact that we and all we love are worm food.
Concentrate on those who are alive because once your gone you are GONE and all religion is man made and very much a waste of precious time .
Anyway I respect the work you are doing and the complete horror to the relatives and people this must effect on a daily basis
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I used to watch Quincy when I was younger. Does that count?
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What my problem is that after you've seen the dead bodies butchered to oblivion you then start to realize that those people have lived their own individual lives, been to school, got married, had kids, had a job, been on holidays, been fed up, been happy etc but now it doesn't matter because they're cut up into pieces waiting to be buried/cremated.
Life is pretty horrific if you waste it doing something that isn't worthwhile.
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Life is pretty horrific if you waste it doing something that isn't worthwhile.
Thank God for CIU, then ;D.
Seriously, though; good point, Dean.
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been next to an ira bomb when it went off, not a sight i'd want to experience ever again seeing friends blown up, never forget it, turning point in my life, wouldn't want anyone to experience it, ever !!!
Where was that? I only ask because my brother was in the Blues & Royals when the Hyde Park bombing took place.
Belfast, northern Ireland, got use to unpleasant sights and experiences over there! Glad I'm a civvie now! :) Had to seal one of my friends up in a tin coffin witnessed by officers so they could sign the release forms for customs to ship back to England. the worst bit was watching friends give him a funeral service and carry his coffin away. found it hard to hold back the tears! Had to leave in the end as I didn't want to be going home in a coffin for my parents to experience.
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A member of my family is a Pathologist and the Mortuary manager for the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. Popped down there to see him and had an impromptu tour of the place a few years back. Fascinating work and he thoroughly enjoys it - not my cup of tea though.
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What my problem is that after you've seen the dead bodies butchered to oblivion you then start to realize that those people have lived their own individual lives, been to school, got married, had kids, had a job, been on holidays, been fed up, been happy etc but now it doesn't matter because they're cut up into pieces waiting to be buried/cremated.
Life is pretty horrific if you waste it doing something that isn't worthwhile.
I remember when i joined the Specials back in 2000, my first blue light run (second shift) was to a coach that had collided with a taxi on a bend. We were first on the scene, nothing much left of the driver but the two special needs teens in the back were all in tact. It was like something off of a movie, will never forget it, i was sick in my mouth! Have been to many sudden deaths, and the smell when they are lifted by the undertakers, can smell it now. My regular that i used to mirror, always carried a can of Lynx in his bag to spray the room after they had left, more for the family than us! We had an arranged outing to the mortuary, 6 of us, and there was only 2 that wasn't sick ;D
I transfered to BTP, only 2 years there, but saw some nasty sights there! A mate of mine keeps getting on to me to re-join, i do miss it in a way :)
How long you been doing it Dean?
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What my problem is that after you've seen the dead bodies butchered to oblivion you then start to realize that those people have lived their own individual lives, been to school, got married, had kids, had a job, been on holidays, been fed up, been happy etc but now it doesn't matter because they're cut up into pieces waiting to be buried/cremated.
Life is pretty horrific if you waste it doing something that isn't worthwhile.
I remember when i joined the Specials back in 2000, my first blue light run (second shift) was to a coach that had collided with a taxi on a bend. We were first on the scene, nothing much left of the driver but the two special needs teens in the back were all in tact. It was like something off of a movie, will never forget it, i was sick in my mouth! Have been to many sudden deaths, and the smell when they are lifted by the undertakers, can smell it now. My regular that i used to mirror, always carried a can of Lynx in his bag to spray the room after they had left, more for the family than us! We had an arranged outing to the mortuary, 6 of us, and there was only 2 that wasn't sick ;D
I transfered to BTP, only 2 years there, but saw some nasty sights there! A mate of mine keeps getting on to me to re-join, i do miss it in a way :)
How long you been doing it Dean?
Hi mate,
I've been in for 9 years now, I love it. I've always fancied the BTP myself and did apply a few years back before I started to take window cleaning seriously. I've even gone as far as ringing them up to ask if I could do a shift with them but with them not being home office based I was told its not possible.
How long have you been out of the job? You need to get yourself back in. Jim Waugh on here also has very strong police interests and is a good bloke :)