Trauma Restoration Man | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #392

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world and it's um. it's that job when. when there's a fire or a. murdering. or a. hoarder. or trauma. somebody's going to go into those spaces. and um and clean up. somebody's got to go do the the. dirty work baby you know somebody's got. to be that little shawshank baby. crawling through the muck. and uh and we have that man here today.

he is a trauma restoration man. and he's out of minneapolis and we're. grateful for him. today's guest is trauma restoration man. mr bobby cotton. [Music]. i'll sit and tell you my stories.

[Music]. [Applause]. yeah where are you from rob minneapolis. oh nice dude yeah we went out there and. did some shows not too long ago. uh minneapolis is so strange now it. feels like like the downtown it feels. deserted yeah they're making everyone. like the city and the state is actually.

after businesses to bring people back to. the cities really. yeah they want them back in the offices. because they uh. like all the like there's nothing down. there it's just deserted so like all the. little businesses and shops are all. closing down because no one's down there. yeah it's like the mute it's like a. bunch of murals and nothing else yeah. i'm funny it's like that everybody left. and they just drew people in the. buildings. yeah and. and you know they had all the george. floyd stuff all them riots that happened. yeah man it was just the whole vibe down. there it was crazy everything got.

smashed out you know because i you know. in restoration like a big part of what i. do is like when there's a fire a window. gets broken i run out in the middle of. the night and boarded stuff up oh really. i mean [ __ ] i mean i was i was working. like 120 hours a week boarding up all. the. all the buildings i had you know 300. sheets of plywood going up a day it was. crazy well so you're saying so um. i'm sitting here with rob cotton and. he's a uh. trauma restoration man. and so.

you're saying that during the um and. we're gonna get into your job we just. started chatting uh. so in minneapolis during the george. floyd stuff you guys were going out you. guys go out and board stuff up yeah yeah. so whenever there's a you know riot you. know we do board up so anytime there's a. fire or there's a robbery or something. you know you got to secure those. buildings. and uh during the george floyd stuff we. were doing stuff preventatively people. were worried about getting robbed and. there was a lot of looting and stuff so. i mean we're boarding up and securing. buildings trying to prevent people from. smashing the windows in wow i mean we.

were working like 24 hours a day taking. naps in the truck dang yeah it was bad. were there certain things you would. write on the certain boards. to kind of keep people out where they're. like you know like uh. was there any like kind of trickery like. that like verbal word trickery i mean we. didn't do anything like like that but a. lot of the business owners you know they. put on like minority owned or you know. we support blm or lots of stuff got put. on those boards and. yeah i don't know uh i don't know if. there was trickery or not i don't know. if people were maybe a little dishonest.

on that but yeah yeah that people were. putting stuff on there wow. yeah because i guess you you most people. think that just businesses go and do. that for themselves but do you get hired. by businesses to do it yeah so either by. the insurance or. if they're in a really high risk area. like their insurance company might uh. call to have the boards put up as to try. and prevent the loss you know because. it's obviously you know when the. buildings get burned and stuff like that. sometimes the the losses or the. insurance claims are millions of dollars.

so for. five or ten thousand dollars you can get. all your windows boarded up. that could save you that could really be. the difference between um your whole. business going down yeah absolutely i. mean there was a. there was a liquor store they. they're right in minneapolis there and. they lost like 1.5 million dollars in. inventory plus there was a fire in the. building oh yeah well that's the problem. you get a little bit of liquor and you. want to have somebody wants to have a. doral or you know yeah or you know roll. up a john or something and the next. thing you know the whole place is going.

up oh it's crazy and i mean even you. know i had a gun pulled on me when i was. cleaning graffiti down there uh-oh yeah. and why'd they do it. uh they were just unhappy i was taking. down graffiti and i mean you know. whether or not that's out of turn i. don't care if you put more graffiti up i. got hired to take the graffiti down the. second i leave you can do it again right. right yeah you're just doing your job. yeah. so just just doing your job is really i. mean your job is. um.

basically like your job is basically. restoration. trauma cleanup. how do you. like give me an example of kind of what. that entails sort of let's start well so. like the the name of the industry is. restoration and so restoration could be. fire water mold. trauma. um so it can be anything from a natural. to disaster to a pipe burst or you know. the. the ground thawing outside or suicides. murders and stuff like that basically if. something terrible is happening you're.

building where the guy's a call. and do you guys go in there feeling like. the ghostbusters do y'all just feel like. a bunch of like. uh garbage men is there kind of a vibe. that you feel kind of going into a. certain environment no one is ever happy. to see us okay you know because okay you. know it's like and then fires are. generally the worst i mean. like when you do a trauma cleanup you're. not normally seeing anyone. that lives there or anything like that. because they're typically almost always. gone okay um but like when you're doing.

a fire cleanup or something you know and. everyone's personal belongings. everything every picture every birth. certificate everything's gone and you're. shoveling it out with snow shovels. you know it's it can be. tough. okay so stuff like that environments. like that where you're cleaning up a. place and there's a lot of personal. effects there it really gets pretty it. probably you know it probably squeezes. your heart huh you used to i mean it's. it's hard you get really desensitive to. it desensitized to it yeah yeah so take. take me like into um an example like you.

go to a company something's happened you. go to a business take me into some. trauma clean up yeah well so just use. that as an example so it's middle of the. night it was a manufacturing facility. and there was a lathe. so lathe you know you make like like for. example like a baseball bat so it spins. a piece of wood and you're cutting on it. a lathe lathe yep okay and bring that up. raleigh if you can on the screen here. okay so something like that yep yep so. just like that piece of machinery yep. that green one is just about the same. one there okay and uh so the guy was.

wearing uh a glove. and so he ended up getting caught in. that and so it pulled his skin off from. like his elbow. all the way off his hand it's called d. gloving and so that got caught in there. so it spun around because obviously it's. still spinning so the thing's just. spinning around with the. yeah they spin like crazy speeds like. thousands of rpms wow red rover red. rover boy yeah yeah and uh danny right. over that's so so this thing's still. spinning you guys you guys get called in.

the guy's been de-gloved d-gloved and. that means so the skin just peels off. like if you had a glove on you took it. off except that's your skin. and so i was spinning and obviously we. shut out by the time we got there but. that blood was all over everywhere so it. was all you know the ceiling's 25 30. feet tall. and it was a big manufacturing facility. so they didn't want to shut it down so. it'll you know hang plastic all around. where we were cleaning and all that. stuff had to be scrubbed down and. repainted.

okay so you guys hang plastic around the. actual site of whatever's going on yeah. if they don't want to shut it down dang. they got to keep that money coming in. huh yeah so i mean the whole time it was. really crazy you know we're cleaning. skin out of this machine and on the. other side of the plastic you can hear. people talking. and what type of uh what were they. making in there overall you think you. know honestly i'm not sure. okay. yeah i'm not i'm not positive maybe. you're like a cabinet shop or something. yeah. it was a woodworking facility okay wow.

and so you guys get called in something. like that what do you do with the actual. do you actually take the skin the hand. yeah so anything that's like affected. and there's a bunch of different like. categorizations of like materials so. like wood that gets. impacted really needs to be cut out and. replaced but like concrete you can clean. that so anything that gets. you know that we have to cut out and. throw it away you put it in these. special bags and then you put that in a. biohazard box and then a carrier that. specially disposes of that takes it away. and typically they're going to go to.

like an incinerator okay oh wow so that. thing it doesn't get returned to the. rightful owner it gets they the skin. yeah no. you're not getting that skin back damn. have you ever had an employee try to. sneak off with something sneak off with. a thumb or something. never. a rotting thumbnail yeah or just a. middle finger maybe they're just going. to pull it out at the bar so no no that. would be something though so you guys. hang up the plastic and you guys go in. there as a team if there's some type of. a trauma like in a workplace or or any.

place really um and so how long does. something like that take like are you. guys they try to send you in in the. middle of the night and get it done fast. do they so it really depends so there's. certain things like manufacturing. facilities and stuff because like a big. manufacturing facility you know they. might be making a million plus dollars a. day yeah hundreds of thousands of. dollars an hour and products oh yeah. i'm trying to think of some different. ones. hormel. trying to think of different anything. mitsubishi.

trying to think of any other i mean. there's tons of oh yeah yeah yeah i mean. even a good buddy of mine had a call out. to florida uh for a machine that broke. down and it was a kitkat machine they. made kick hits yeah like and i saw a. little video of it i mean it's just. millions of cupcakes and you know who's. eating all these kitkats yeah and. they're all under they're all stressed. because the kitkat line is shut down. like the world's going to end up. don't have any cats well squirrels love. them dude my dad he used to sometimes go. park his car at the park and he would. get like a um.

he had a buddy that used to get kind of. old kit kats. and they were like a couple years old. kind of but they you know you could. still eat them but the chocolate was. turning white a little you know what i'm. talking about fermented i don't know if. it i mean i don't know if it had become. like alcoholic or not but i know it had. uh it was a little bit decrepit bring up. uh. old chocolate. please. yeah old chocolate aged. like a nice fine there you go click on.

one of those raleigh. oh no that's too old uh yeah that's. molded out just give me something that. um. give me something that i should have had. at christmas you know. nope. okay but i'll say this is that uh so. yeah anyway we would get the kitkats. we'd take them to the park and the. squirrels would come eat them man. squirrels love them and we they would. see squirrels jumping from just miles. away just in the distance you could see.

squirrels just hopping over trying to. get them. so squirrels love them but um so anyway. you guys get called in any type of. environment. right. and so that's like an example of like a. business uh. of like a kind of a travesty that. happened at a business uh and. what is do you have a pager on you how. do they. just phone calls. i am just absolutely trained now i mean. you can call me at three o'clock in the. morning i'm not even awake yet and i got. the phone to my ear wow. and so take me on to taking on another. journey of like what uh.

what a trauma restoration man gets. well i mean i would say for the most. part it's people that have been deceased. for a long time okay uh almost always. it's the post carriers that are calling. it in for a wellness check yeah because. no one's picked up the mail for a week. or a month or whatever that happens to. be can't get any more mail in the mail. slot and they're calling for the. wellness checks. so i mean. you know you get a call and and those. aren't really pressing you know that's. not like a 3am call if someone's been. dead for a month right that's a.

voicemail more. yeah yeah and uh so it's kind of wild. you know when someone dies. first you like bloat up. and uh then as you decompose it like. goose starts coming out of everywhere. so it can be real bad where it's like. you know they might have died on a bed. or a couch or something that couch will. be soaked. with stuff you know goo with human goo. and so that goo is what all is it plasma. feces blood everything and then just you. know your insides decomposing on you oh.

yeah and so you guys roll in mm-hmm and. now now were you the first people to. roll in or the police roll in first well. so the bodies are always going to be. gone so the police are going to do the. wellness check and then the coroner's. going to come. to remove the actual body or whatever. that they can remove typically they're. going to try and remove like one large. piece so sometimes you know there's. still skin or depending on how long it's. still there really shoes maybe. well they weren't wearing them right but. uh you know and so if you died on the. second floor if you've been there for a. long time that stuff will all drip down.

through the ceiling underneath and. then into the basement maybe so all that. flooring has to come out so the flooring. comes out your subfloor comes out if. it's affected like joists sometimes you. have to do some structural removal. all the way down to the concrete. basically. so is and is there like legalities where. if something dies in a place if a human. dies you have to do certain things to. the to the. building yeah so there there's really. stringent like processes that you have. to do so there's specific chemicals that.

have to be used that have to meet these. certain regulations. um or standards and. so everything has to be removed and. there's a book called the s 500. that is a restoration book so that's. going to have like your processes like. if you had a question. um. you know you'd be able to. sorry no worries. no no. no no i'm not taking any calls right now. but um. yeah so there's a book of standards so. there's there's really.

strict processes that have to be. followed so you can avoid liability you. know so like. you know on a water loss if you have bad. mold and someone gets sick and you. signed off that that building is dry. uh you can be you know either your. business or sometimes personally brought. up in like. court cases so you have to everything's. documented some liability yeah and on a. large like loss i'm doing a a hotel. right now in north dakota um. you know it's 40 44 affected rooms.

and i'm going to submit probably 1100. pictures wow so and then processes. moisture readings all that stuff you. know right hours and hours and hours of. paperwork so you gotta yeah you so you. go in there and do a lot of paperwork. too it's not just you're out there. um. you know cleaning up the environment. yeah you guys are doing a lot of the. backlogging as well documentation yeah. there's a ton of documentation that goes. along with everything so take me on a on. a on a journey if you got you got called. in give me a take me into a story where. it was a. a mur or decease or something like that.

you know uh. non-living human yeah yeah um. well you know i've done a bunch from. over the years but uh probably the worst. one i've ever done uh was in an. apartment building. and uh you know so we get the call. corners release the scene so. everything's out. and uh this fella met the wrong end of a. shotgun. okay and so it was a 12-gauge shotgun so. all those bbs went. through multiple walls and through. multiple apartments. so because those are contaminated and.

carrying everything so you have to find. like where all those holes went so i. mean. when we got there you know so first. thing you know you're going to clean up. as much of the. let's call it raw material as you can so. you can avoid like. bug problems okay so you got to get up. all the hu all the living stuff whatever. could have been living or semi-living. the leftovers as much as you can yeah so. i mean you're scraping that floor off. you know you're using like a flat blade. shovel and scraping stuff off day old. bread baby you got to clean it yeah yeah.

and then. yeah so then you're setting up ozone. machines uh. air filtration you're setting up an. environment so like if we're in this. room you need plastic over the doors and. and stuff so. you so that you're trying not to. cross-contaminate anything else okay so. you you tighten it up the scene mm-hmm. okay you kind of. get that kind of like a. plastic off the scene y'all use visqueen. fist queen you ever use it no bring up. this queen raleigh.

there you go oh sure yeah yeah you can. barely see it because it's actually. see-through plastics yeah yeah just just. like that polly yeah we just call it. like polly and it comes with different. thicknesses yeah yeah i used to call it. bisque queen back in the day but. um okay so you guys you guys will kind. of cordon off the scene and then what so. then you're going to set up uh you need. to have air filtration. air scrubbers. and this guy had taken his life or he'd. been shot no he had taken his own life. yeah and so then you have to go through. and find you know where did those all. stop and did they exit the roof you know.

and we ended up having to do some. patching on the roof too. wow so a guy took his own life and is. there still people in the building or no. yeah it was an apartment building and uh. it was real gnarly so then after you've. identified everything you know you're. making sure the roof's not gonna leak. and stuff because you don't want any. secondary damage yeah um then then it's. just all about. taking everything apart so every. affected stud needs to be taken out. replaced all the drywall that's affected. it's got to again be taken out okay yeah.

and so what and who's still in the place. is is. did he have family or no so he was the. only one in that apartment but there was. other people in the rest of the. apartment building it's not like they. moved everyone out right i see. yeah this is an interesting guest um and. i'm letting you know that today's. episode is brought to you by ritual. yeah protein powders can be intimidating. but the fact is that we need protein. you know your body's made out of protein. so you have to continually have protein.

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all orders ship within the u.s and. canada. okay so yeah take me into a uh into a. scenario where you had to go where there. was a where there was um. yeah take me into one of like kind of. the gnarlier scenarios that you had. dealing with like a human corpse. yeah so the easily easily the only one. that's ever really bothered me the one. that really kept me up was uh. a guy unfortunately took his life in his. basement. with his family upstairs he had two kids.

you know teenage. children and his wife were there okay. and they didn't leave. they. so the whole time that we were there. working. they stayed so we are carrying stuff in. the room in the basement. they were upstairs yeah and uh but no. you know and normally they they would. always move out. right you know until everything's. completed and put back together in this. case they they did not want to leave so. you roll up to the place.

and who are you with is it just you do. you have a little buddy with you this. one was just me. um so i'll generally just go for like. i'll check it out and if i need labor. i'll call for it okay um but i i. generally don't ever ask anyone to do. these gnarly ones with me damn i'm just. doing satan's minion baby out there yeah. you know i'll have people but like i. never want i never like to ask other. people to do this kind of stuff because. it can really kind of weigh on you okay. so okay right no i can only fathom that. and we'll get we'll get into that a.

little bit but so you get to this one. locale and what's going on so like i. said and generally i'm dealing either. with the police or the coroners. um. this is the only situation where i've. like met a family member at a. okay like a suicide particularly. sometimes if someone's died of natural. causes you know i'll meet a son or a. daughter or a wife or something like. that. but this one i knock on the door and. this lady answers it answers the door. and she was the homeowner so they were. still there like he's killed himself.

yesterday and they're all still in the. house. um. and so you know i'm down working in the. basement and i'm carrying up boxes and. bags of you know contaminated stuff. past them wow so you're just bringing up. like basically stuff that has like human. matter on it yeah like you know oh it's. horrendous so he's like you're looking. did he did the man. yeah gun himself in the head. and so a lot of your head just kind of. goes wherever.

yeah does your head go in one piece or. does it go in a bunch of pieces no and. it depends on the type of gun or the. caliber but typically it's just gonna. you know if you shot yourself with like. a hollow point. you'll like blow a hole out of the back. of your head but if it's a if it's like. just a normal handgun or something it's. actually a pretty clean hole normally oh. wow but um. yeah it's this was yeah so at the end. every day i had to tell you know she's. asking me questions and. and it's just like i you know you look. at her in the eye and saying it's like. oh we're going to be.

finishing taking your husband out. tomorrow you know it's. crazy and did they come down and want to. do any prayers or did they want to like. spend any time pray was there. was it. did they like the husband you know it. didn't seem like they had a good. connection with the who knows i was. really trying not to talk to him oh you. were yeah it was that that really. bothered me yeah oh i can only fathom. man i mean that's a man. yeah i'm just trying to yeah i guess we. don't know all the circumstance but if a. man yet took his life as families right. there i can only imagine this how.

and then or i just wonder if they're. looking at you like you're helpful or. like. who knows i have no idea yeah but that. man i still think about that one that. one was. tough. yeah and did the kids try to communicate. with you or anything there was no no i. mean they were obviously grieving but i. mean it was it was wild that they. wouldn't go to a hotel or stay with. family or something yeah at least headed. down fairfield inn and suites or a days. in um. you know and i love hampton and actually. but yeah i can't imagine if that.

happened that i wouldn't want some space. or. maybe you want to be as close as you. know i don't know i don't know but that. was a unique circumstance. one and only time and hopefully the last. time that ever happened because it. really made it it really added what like. another yeah. yeah you know because you like i said. you get really desensitized to it and. and you know it's just like you're just. cleaning up a mess you know but when. they're there it's like i'm cleaning up. dad right yeah.

right right. like our allen or whatever they got yeah. yeah. yeah harold or something yeah yeah it's. more i i can't imagine that. gosh i'd almost feel. bad in a way yeah yeah it really gave me. the heebie-jeebies. and so on a cleanup like that where do. you go for lunch on a day like that like. what is is there do you have like a are. there some days you go for different. lunches or but say if it's a you know do. you have a typical spot you like to go i. get a real problem with chipotle you do.

yeah yeah i feel like i should buy stock. in there maybe they should give me stock. at this point oh you've been there a lot. a lot. yeah. well look i'm just saying if you know. what goes with cleaning up a a deceased. you know i guess it's chipotle yeah. yeah or a couple of beers you know yeah. and get through it yeah oh yeah god's. chipotle baby. surveys us. um. wow that's so fascinating what about. like living people do you do you come. into like trauma where the people are. still alive or is it all kind of post.

life. uh well so trauma probably makes up sub. 10 of what i do on a. weekly basis that's not all i do so okay. restoration on as a whole you meet a lot. of strange people um you know okay so. trauma is just dealing with the deceased. yeah okay so that is specified that is. trauma cleanup. somebody is deceased yeah and if you're. non-deceased this could be part of. restoration yep okay yeah so every so. restoration covers that it's a big.

umbrella of a bunch of different stuff. but you know i've done some really. gnarly animal hoarders oh yeah really. like where the floor or walls are. rotting out because there's so much you. know animal urine that bootleg noah's. ark oh god i mean sometimes when they. got animal piss in there oh yeah oh dude. i'll tell you this so i stayed at my. buddy johnny's house one time right i'm. over there i don't know if anybody ever. stayed there except johnny and uh hit. one of his folks so they put me in the. guest bedroom one of the dogs had been.

urinating in there for probably seven or. eight years right and i don't know if. anybody been in there there was like a. sewing machine. and like um somebody. like quilted like a little thing that. said like be back soon or something they. kind of had a sad vibe in there but. anyway i go in there the carpet had like. almost had a yellow dust in the air from. all the piss yeah it's called urea. crystals is it really yeah pull it up. raleigh. yeah. that yeah those uh urea crystals and i. know a lot of [ __ ] are buying these.

these days and wearing around their neck. over there in venice beach. look at there you go look at that boy. get you a couple grams of that sell that. on the beach baby. that's that piss cane baby right there. son yeah urine dries in uh that that oh. and it's terrible and and they attract. so every time you get humidity they. attract or they kind of rehydrate so. every time it gets humid you just just. smell it oh that piss comes back. yeah well look uh because i remember. being in my buddy's place and i i would. breathe and sometimes i had to blow my.

nose the air was so thick because i. would have to i would remember being. like oh my god something feels like it's. like my nose is and it would be i would. just be blowing animal piss right out of. my own nose yeah it's horrendous just. fascinating to be a part of yeah i gotta. i got a call. this is a few years ago now that the hoa. required like it was like a house you. know and uh the hoa had sent her. complaints because you could smell it. outside wow. and and i got there and i mean she.

must have had. 30 40 cats there. now when you roll up are the cats on the. outside or it's all in it's all inside. and and unfortunately i mean this lady. had some something going on upstairs. and the the other thing you run into a. lot is. nudity. i i i just something's not firing. upstairs you know okay so take me. through the cat lady let's walk through. that a little bit so i can just have an. experience of what that's like with you. you know you're walking up to the door. yeah do you know in advance it's cats do. you know it's generally just animalia so.

what do they tell you we know that. there's animal issues okay so not a ton. of information. so i pull i i call her on the way there. and i'm like hey you know this is rob. i'm gonna be there about half an hour oh. and so i get there and i'm knocking on. the door and she is yelling through the. door who is it okay i'm like it's rob. and she's like i don't know any rob and. i was like i just talked to you 30. minutes ago oh yeah denial yeah and it's. just like okay and so she opens the door.

no shirt on and she's like i just need. to go get dressed real quick why don't. you step in so she so no shirt tits out. just tits out older lady just a set of. swingers on her really and uh did you. feel like she's flirting no no no no no. i mean this lady was in her 70s she's. loose so her brain's a little bit loose. yeah something's not firing on all. ceilings okay and so i step inside and. soon and i can smell it outside i step. inside i mean it is so horrendous i mean. eyes are watering there's birds and dogs. and cats i mean it is crazy oh.

everything's in there everything is in. there wow and birds too yeah i mean what. kind of birds was it. maybe a parrot or. wow parrots and cats something i think a. peridot will kill a cat will you bring. that up to riley. i'm sure i could get it. they're mean. there you go can a pair kill a cat most. parrots won't attack cats for the fun of. it. but may attack out of fear or. self-defense even if the cat isn't. actually trying to cause harm wow that's.

wild so so my bad man so you're in there. you got the parrots the cats you got a. lot of animals oh yeah and are they just. kind of running around everywhere yeah i. mean they're just everywhere so she. comes back in a robe and she's like i. got three plates i needed to clean at. the time i was i was there i was there. for a carpet cleaning call okay so i get. out there and she walks me in and as. we're walking i mean the carpet is wet. not like damp wet like it is literally. squishing under my feet and it's just. like holy [ __ ] i mean it is terrible and.

you can smell a pistol you have on a. face mask or not i should have i should. have i made a mistake but you're going. up straight in there you raw dog how. dark yeah damn boy and uh yeah they're. huffing seat piss baby just horrendous. just horrendous and so she walks me over. the landing of the stairs and as i'm. walking out of the land of the stairs. she is like standing between me and like. the exit and i like walk up and i'm. standing on the stairs and the stairs. are soft the floor is rotting. and she's like i just need to get this.

cleaned up and i just like i i don't. think that this is like carpet cleaning. territory anymore like she's like well. how much do you think that's gonna cost. and i was like well i'm gonna need to. get bids. you know we need to get carpenters and. stuff out here and she's like well how. much do you think that's gonna be i was. like maybe ten thousand eleven thousand. off the top of my head and she doesn't. even blink she's like i thought i i. thought i had a coupon for 179 dollars. for three rooms and i was like. carpet cleaning is not gonna help this. yeah. and and so now it's like i'm starting to. panic because this lady is just yeah.

she's like give me those weird crazy. eyes yeah she's gonna trade you you pcc. oh my god and and the the the piss is. you know two and a half feet it's. creeping up the wall it's soaking into. the walls you can see it yeah and who's. doing it do you know the cats are doing. it can it be also human piss. could have been. it could have been it wouldn't be the. first time i've had to clean up a. significant someone that's incontinent. unreal. yeah okay so you got it so now you guys. have to go in and what get all the. animals out who do you call them for. help oh well in that case she we did not.

do anything she just wanted us. she just wanted the carpets cleaned wow. um i am. i am positive that she got moved out of. that yeah yeah i mean that that's that's. the situation where social services gets. involved. yeah the hoa. rder baby that's hoarder huh is that. order yeah that's a that's called an. animal hoarder. yeah and so is it a mental well is it. mentally unwell do you see what's caused. it is it loneliness did you do you get.

any idea what the root cause of it is. it's some sort of mental disorder okay. yeah. and they want the cats and are they. enjoying the cats are they petting them. or is it more just. they. they're trying to have a little little. jungle do you get any idea what they're. trying to do. no idea it yeah like i said i mean it's. just it's compulsive. you just keep bringing them home and. they can't care for them you know. sometimes you know you find. in an in hoarder situations you know.

you'll find cats or dogs that have been. dead for a long time and they don't even. realize they've been dead. you know you'll be clearing stuff out. and all of a sudden you come across a. little corpse. really yeah and nobody will say hey your. cat's dead and they're like oh. yeah i threw a ball and i didn't get it. or something yeah well you know they. don't have names for all the kids you. know oh man dude we had this lady when i. was growing up she used to give us a. dime right to go get her cats right this. older lady. so she said yeah i got like 30 cats you.

know bring them in here to me i'll give. you a dime for each one y'all catch. well she only had three cats. but we'd let we go show her the cat get. that dime and then let that [ __ ] loose. and then go get it again. and we just kept running these three. cats until we had probably a buck 50. and then go get us a little video we'd. do a video rental or sometime you get a. video and a pound of shrimp over there. they had a place called pat's video and. shrimp bring that up riley. pat's video and shrimp pat's video in. shrimp.

covington louisiana. i don't know if you still got a video. store going on out there yeah oh that's. a good point yeah i just thought they. might have some old imagery yeah yeah. wow man so you really are kind of like a. do you get a feeling that you're like a. rescuer or that you ha does it start to. create any kind of feeling of like a. social or human responsibility in you or. does it just feel.

like you are. when it when it's dealing with uh with. humans does it just feel like you are. kind of like a. does it feel janitorial does it get. human at all some of the feeling of it. no no never and i mean i joke about this. a lot with my buddies but i just never. say no. and it's just like all these jobs have. just escalated wow and and i just work. for myself like i don't have any. employees or anything i work as a. subcontractor for other companies. typically as like a project manager and.

so i'm using their people so i mean i. just never say no. and you know so it's just the the jobs. over time have just gotten worse and. worse and worse and worse you know. like so like when companies don't have. anyone that feels comfortable doing like. a small restoration company they they. don't have anyone that maybe wants to do. trauma or something like that they'll. call me bobby cotton the unfazable bob. bobby cotton dude they call you bobby or. not. regularly. bobby kind of get often the unfazable.

bobby cotton man and they call you in. and so tell me like an example of. something have you ever found anything. unique in a property you undid some. flooring or something and found a. treasure find a skeleton or something. not anything i wanted to find okay. yeah i mean like i said i found a lot of. a lot of small animals you know um. found like a significant amount of money. that like someone had left before and. hidden yeah yeah god i like that yeah so. what about some more like human take me.

on you a call you get you go to a place. and there's a human there and you have. to interact with it with a human and. maybe uh. something outside of animalia maybe. well i got another hoarder call okay so. this is on christmas eva this year. and uh so we get the call early in the. morning it's a sewage cause that just. means there's different categories of. water losses so water clean water gray. water sewage okay um so this one was uh. sewage and so we get the call and i get. out there and i got one other guy coming.

with me and so i get out there first and. i walk into the desk. and it's a condo building. and uh they're like hey i just want to. let you know that the source unit is up. on the like 10th floor or something he's. kind of a character okay he's like so. alarm bells are already going off. and do you keep a piece on you no never. yeah. um. so you know check it out i look around. you know a couple different floors and. so i got to go check to see the source. unit now so i knock on the door and it's. an old folks home and i knock on the. door and the guy answers the door he's.

in a diaper wow so he's in a t-shirt and. a diaper and i was like and the smell. from in here is just horrendous and it's. a grown man definitely yep yep yeah. man's maybe 75 years old oh yeah and so. walk in. and i asked him like where's where's the. where where did it start from he's like. oh the toilet backed up okay it's like. okay and man has a diaper on man has a. diaper on does it seem like he's well. and he has a diaper on does it seem like. it's just hot it's a hot day or does it. seem like he's oh we'll get there okay.

we'll get there so we walk in. and there's piles of newspaper piles of. mail and the floor is soaked. so again you're just squishing. and uh so walk in and he's gonna he's. like oh it's back here so i'm following. this man's diaper is. full. saggy really yeah he's so he's walking. me back there you think it's piss or. duty it is duty. and so he walks and this thing is. swinging no oh wow and so we're walking. past and we walk back into the back.

bedroom and there's a batch on him a. pile of diapers okay sitting in this. water a pile of them two feet tall. and uh and everything these newspapers. are all sitting there so now he shows me. where it is and this toilet is just oh. so now i'm looking for a broken toilet. because i if you've ever backed up a. toilet it doesn't just keep flowing over. that's that batch of dirty diapers oh. yeah oh and so this this original. cornhole game i think it looks like the. the living conditions in here are. horrendous and so i look at the toilet.

i'm looking for it to be broken okay. it's not broken. and i asked like well so what how did. all the water happen he's like well this. it plugged up at like 10 o'clock last. night. and. i was like well how did it flood. everything he's like oh i just kept. flushing it so for like six hours this. dude is just flushing this toilet over. and over and over again. and. like it's a. like a. video poker or something huh he's just. sitting there playing it yeah just over. and over again so and just winning just.

just winning his own money just winning. his own just winning [ __ ] back and i. mean so it's right there so it's you so. it's a full it's a toilet and there's. duty in it oh oh everywhere it's covered. i mean it's just like somebody shotgun. blasted. duty all over everything oh man so we're. going and we. we are shoveling all this stuff into. bags because it's all sitting in all. this water everything's garbage i mean. we're talking years of newspaper years. of mail this guy just got piled up and. it's all and all the water kind of has a.

little bit of feces in it. so so we finish everything out we cut. out all the carpet everything and the. last thing we got to do and my buddy's. there now and uh the last thing we got. to do is pick up these diapers so he's. holding a bag and he's like trying to do. it we're in full tivac suits you know so. we're in plastic suits respirators. everything. and he's standing he's like i can't do. it i'm like all right i'll try and i'm. staying there because we were like. arguing about who's going to do it and. you know so i go down and i reach for. the very first diaper. and i'm wearing gloves and i i go to.

pick it up right in the middle like and. it's like a burritos oh and this man is. now naked from the. waist down watching us so. he has lost the diaper and he has told. us that he can't wear the pants. sometimes because he has to go to the. bathroom real fast no way so so would. the pants prevent him from doing it i. guess i don't know i don't know what it. is and you could see his wiener and oh. yeah right in the middle one-eyed willy. just hanging out and what style of. wiener was it was it like a. real old one really saggy yeah bring up.

um. you know what they do have a chart song. people use sometimes i've seen uh bring. up a mushroom chart if you can riley a. mushroom if it's a pecker if it's a. petrini or whatever zoom in on that a. little if we can get some names off this. bad boy. because yeah. oh this is a poisonous mushroom chart no. it was in fact a poisonous mushroom. that's a good point huh. man that's not really one go back again. riley sorry that's two poisonous i think.

let's just look at that let's look at it. one more hey go down a little um. i wish they had something had some names. on it okay go up. maybe go over to the left. move something so i can see something. yeah just move somewhere on there. uh are we to the left or not yeah okay. yeah hit on that one then let's see what. we got.

oh that looks like those look like. realistic ones. yeah let me see on that. can you make that one big. zoom in on it there we go zoom in more. let's see if we can see some of the. names on there. the shaggy mane right there the f. that fly agari. what they got that honey cup what are we.

looking at here you think. uh. rob if you had to look at one oh if you. go over the left there go to the left. uh like like something uh like that go. poor porcini oh damn okay yeah there you. go. damn he had that beat that ballpark. frank on him huh oh yeah okay so okay. yeah so this guy's just now completely. naked from the waist down he is donald. ducking it okay indeed do you have do. you feel the responsibility to stay in. there can you leave do you feel like the.

guy is like. gonna attack or anything like that. nothing like that i i feel confident in. my ability to fend off a 75 year old man. okay. um so i pick up i go to pick up the very. first diapers now there's probably 75 of. these things we're going to pick up and. they're all soft and wet and because. it's soft and wet it has lost its. structural integrity so i go to pick it. up and my fingers just sink right into. it and it's oozing out and i'm just i've. got a strong stomach after doing this. for a long time. and it i'm i'm losing my lunch so i.

i rip off my mask and i just like take. the one step over the toilet and i just. open this toilet it's just covered in. [ __ ] we didn't clean the toilet first. and i am projectile vomiting in this. toilet. and i look over to the guy my guy i'm. working with is standing there and he's. like oh and he tries to get his mask out. and he pukes straight into the mask and. he runs over to the other bathroom so. we're both just vomiting you can. straighten your mask that's like a frat. part of your heart so he just puked. straight into his mask yeah oh it's.

terrible and she puked right into the. toilet that was already i'm trying not. to touch it oh it's horrible and so then. i look up and i'm on my hands and knees. on the throwing up in the store and i. look over the door again and this dude. is standing in the doorway so i'm on my. hands and knees i'm right looking this. dude's willy right in the eye and he. started jerking off no. no no no he's just standing there. watching he started jerking no. he's the ryan sandberg of creepy [ __ ] he. started doing that unfazed like this is. a cycle then baby yeah this is this is.

just like a normal tuesday afternoon for. this guy. just watching. just and do you think loki he he had. people come all the time and created. this kind of scenario i have no idea i. mean it was just it was that's one of. the worst ones i've ever done and so how. does that scenario get from right there. to actual some sort of solution well i. mean so. everything has to be taken out so like. all the flooring all the carpet all that. concrete needs to get cleaned. um and then you know you just rebuild it. so all that drywall that gets cut out.

you know you just got to replace it. repaint it new carpeting so at some. point you guys left that premise and it. was nice again and you put the man back. in there. yeah wow. yep man. that blows my mind. yeah that was terrible and how much what. how much uh are you wearing like are you. what kind of suit you were you like an. astronaut or are you like uh well so. that's so like the ones the ones that. you pump air into so like if you're. dealing with something like really. hazardous it's called a positive air.

suit okay um. uh you know if you're doing like. somebody. dropped a vial or something of some. dangerous disease i mean i've i've done. that before but um. we're wearing what's called a tyvek suit. so it's got boots it's just one. continuous suit with a hood on it and. then a respirator. and a set of rubber gloves wow almost. like a walter white wears kind of yeah. just like that that is a tyvek suit. that's what those are. so do meth heads ever roll up to you. while you're going in and out of the.

building trying to holler like is there. ever that kind of vibe where people. think you're making drugs no no nothing. like that but you know it tends to. attract attention yeah you know you're. carrying boxes out or bags out in a full. tyveks who people want to know what. you're doing yeah yeah bet i'm sure you. get a lot of onlookers or people that. are stopping you you wanting a curious. folk. oh yeah and you never tell them anything. really yeah because you don't like the. the property owner doesn't want people. to know that someone's died or that. there's been a loss or even some uh even. some customers like big customers.

they've got like stealth protocols they. don't want any company vehicles parked. outside they don't want you to wear. anything that says a logo on it or. anything. they don't want people to know that. something's happened. yeah because i guess people don't want. to mess up their resale value or get a. lot maybe uh somebody. or if it's a product if they're making. you know honey baked hams or something. and somebody loses a limb they don't. want people saying oh they got. limbs in the ham or whatever you know. like you know people don't anyone. claiming that there's a fingernail in.

their ham you know yeah yeah yeah they. don't want people yeah they don't want. people kind of uh i guess. just ruining their business you know. that they work so hard for wow. hair loss scares people sometimes. you wake up and you one of your side. burns is on your pillow or your mustache. is on your wife's back. or somebody. that's scary that's hair loss. and two out of three men will experience. some form of hair loss by the time. they're 35 that's true.

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yeah there's been horrendous ones. and when you're doing that do you feel. like god is with you or you feel like. you strayed from the pack do you feel. any human response like a personal like. okay maybe i'm making some choices that. are kind of wild do you do you think. like that you're kind of like the bear. grylls of like of like. you know uh. duty and and and. death. well um. i feel like i should have finished high. school yeah. did you finish no.

no never did i've been i've been joking. about getting my ged for years but uh. you know i i've got my life together. real well and i always joke that you. know people with geds. uh you know they always used to say that. you know if you only have a high school. diploma or a ged you make a million. dollars less than if you went to college. and i was like well i don't want to do. that then yeah you know i don't want to. oh you don't want to go why go get that. if i'm going to guarantee make a million. less yeah exactly. never hear anything about people that. don't finish high school dude well. that's freaking interesting man because. you really have kind of it seems like. carved out your own space um yeah take.

me on a little bit of a journey of like. what are some of the calls that you you. like you you wish you hadn't done is. there any other one oh there where are. you walking sorry go ahead well i mean. the one i was just telling you about uh. there was a a pump station so in the. where i live at there's a river the. mississippi or the minnesota river and. they pump sewage to a facility on the. other side of the river okay so there's. a gigantic pipe that for whatever reason. got plugged up and so this pump is. running and there is one cul-de-sac. before it goes across the river so.

there's only like six seven houses on it. that's on the other side of the pump so. everyone else is on you know the this. side of the pump then the pump pushes. across and there's one more spot where. it goes in okay so it plugged somewhere. under the river so this pump a gigantic. pump is pumping. and because it got blocked up it ended. up forcing the sewage into those houses. so when i talked to the guy that lived. there he said they were sitting around. in the house and then all of a sudden. there was like a noise that came from. like the sink and it was like shooting. up like a fountain out of everywhere out.

of the toilets out of the. sink set it everywhere of dirty water uh. yeah sewage yeah oh and and it ended up. like those chocolate things they have so. i'm at a wedding yeah. yeah chocolate fountain of goodness. um and so it was like shooting up and. hitting the ceilings and like spraying. out and then ended up filling up this. guy's basement. oh so we got big you know pumper trucks. and uh so they're taking it away and so. i'm in chest waders holding this hose.

like sucking stuff up and it keeps. getting plugged from stuff in there so. i'm i'm in a tyvek suit and chest. waiters so the hose keeps getting yeah. so like i'm i'm down there like holding. it because if you just let it go it'll. get stuck to stuff and i mean oh god it. was terrible. and uh. yeah so i'm wading through sewage like. six feet of sewage. yeah it was pretty awful and do you have. any other little henchmen that roll with. you kind of or you said it's kind of you. roll in and then work with like do you.

then like subcontract other guys to help. you how does that kind of go yeah so. like i said i generally. i never work under my own contract so. it's like if you if something happened. here yeah and i showed up and you called. whatever restoration company you'd never. know that i worked for a different. company. or that i'm self-employed because i just. typically manage those projects okay um. but i normally show up on the data loss. and stabilize the situation then there's. a lot of clean up that has to happen. demo drying whatever that needs to be.

um so i'll typically use either their. labor or their subcontract labor. so i don't typically ever hire anyone. personally i'm using their resources. do you notice when it comes to more of. the people that have some real issues. right is it more men or women do you. notice like do you have any clue where. the mental unwellness comes from is. there do you start to get any. grasp on what could have happened to. some of these folks. yeah i i really don't know if it's like. a trauma thing or if it's uh.

you know just something's never quite. been right upstairs or something i i. really don't know but uh the the common. the the common thing is. it seems like people. like start like they just can't take. care of themselves and when they don't. have like the resources or the family to. to help them everything just spirals out. of control. and and i mean uh just the the living. situations that people are in i mean we. really need better mental health. something around there but uh yeah we.

need i mean i need everybody's we're all. trying to get it um. what about take me on another journey. something like uh with some of these. hoarders what are some other things that. you see people hoarding because you had. the man with the duty diapers and. um. what are some other things that people. keep that you notice. it tends to be like dated stuff so i. mean a lot of times it's. like just knickknacks or something like. that it's like they go to the garage. sale and buy the whole garage sale it. feels like um otherwise it's like i said.

dated stuff so newspapers are really big. mail is huge and i mean it's like yeah. sometimes like rooms full of newspapers. you know for these older folks and. you'll find newspapers from the 80s wow. is it pretty cool some of them yeah i've. definitely flipped through some of those. newspapers it's been kind of neat and. what about any pornography you notice. anybody hoarding that kind of stuff or. not really yeah i mean you do find you. do find weird stuff uh you know i've. definitely found plenty of. like playboys and stuff like that.

another thing i've noticed is men hoard. sex toys really yeah i've definitely run. into that a couple of times i mean we're. talking. 200 dildos or something wow really and. is it gay men or straight men do you get. any idea if it's one of the other. i don't know yeah i'm not sure but. something phallic they want to have that. that. deal that's a weird one sex dolls. sometimes sex dolls as well yeah yeah. like the big ones like that i've i. forget what they're called and what do. you mean like bbw like kind of thicker. ones are you talking about like it's uh.

no it's like a full-sized person they're. like a real doll or something like that. oh i see what you're saying and what are. they made of they're probably made out. of uh. it feels like skin. oh it does damn and so you've been in a. place where guys had a couple sex dolls. in there mm-hmm damn. another weird thing is when that movie. came out um. 50 shades of grey. a ton of people started getting like red. rooms. and it's like a sex dungeony thing and. and a lot of people kind of got off on.

like showing you that and it's like oh. sorry i forgot to shut this door. oh you mean if you go to a place yeah. people will have that just in their. house yeah they'll like leave it open on. for on purpose like they get excited. from you seeing that or like stumbling. into it have you had a lot of like uh is. there ever been in a place where. somebody's trying to get you in there. just to attract you or something or do. sexual or something like that. no uh like i said i do some carpet. cleaning too i use it used to be really. weird so i'd clean a lot of bars eat you.

up at bar clothes. and i oh my god people to ask me oh what. are you can i help you over close oh i'm. here to clean the carpets i i must have. had. 200 women say oh i hope you're here to. clean my carpets really oh yeah it's. terrible beating joke so you think you. could have probably had sex with them. though or at least tried to engage if. they wanted we could have engaged on. that yeah but yeah that was just a weird. thing it happened all the time like i'm. here to work yeah and it's like i'm sure. you're there's plenty of men here at. this bar for you to talk to but like i'm.

this new person coming in at bar close. time i don't know i could see that the. worker comes in i'm here to clean the. carpets it's also such like a. you know it's almost a pickup line that. a guy at the bar would be using yeah. yeah and ah it was just it was so. bizarre i don't i don't know what that. was about either. and what about like urine do people keep. urine as well i know you've had a lot of. the uh yeah people keep jars of urine. that's not. that's happened more than once where. i've run into somebody who's got. like shelves and jars of urine yeah yes.

what is that i don't people just have. like a fixation with like bodily fluids. yeah i wonder if they don't want to let. part of themselves go or they. because it's fascinating because a lot. of college people do it too a lot of. dudes will pee in a jug or something. they don't want to take it to the. because it's laziness yeah yeah i think. anyway um. but yeah i always wonder why do people. keep so much piss by them some folks oh. yeah i mean and it'll just be like jars. and jars and jars like small jars like a. baby jaw as well.

oh okay mason jar really yeah just right. off a god still baby that freaking uh. kidney i mean that's happened at least. three times damn you run across some. good piss out there ah yeah. it is an experience oh i bet man it's. crazy enough to even see somebody peeing. in the bathroom really closer. you know but to see them standing there. with a couple jars of their own piss i. feel like seems. you know we've really lost that. experience since we're getting rid of. all those troughs at like the stadiums.

so yeah they're not anywhere anymore oh. that team pissing yeah yeah where you. really experience another man pissing. right yeah yeah you're right there yeah. the craziest part is when you his arm is. touching your arm you can kind of feel. the vibration if he's really got a. [ __ ] you know if he's really doing. really connecting with strangers yeah. yeah you can really feel like how each. other's kind of flowing it's almost like. a little go-kart race kind of i feel. like we're losing our community based on. you know. everybody wants to piss on their own. separate space in the future they're. just going to give you a jar when you. walk into a jets game you're going to.

have to you know. keep it to yourself. yeah take me down another road there. take me down uh yeah so i was in north. dakota for another job on saturday so. i'm sleeping in this this you know motel. and so i wake up. and i'm sleeping with another guy in a. room and he's like it's wet and i was. like what do you mean it's wet and he's. like the floor is wet. and and i i swung my feet after bed and. i put my feet down into puddles. and i was like you've got to be kidding. me like it's chasing us and i was like. did i fall asleep on a job site i'm.

having a nightmare right now you know. and so i walk out of the hallway and. there's an inch of water in this entire. floor oh and i was like you've got to be. kidding me right and so i i jokingly. text one of the contractors at work for. he's like hey i found you a job and he's. like what's going on i was like oh you. know i fell asleep at the motel and it's. flooded you know. and uh so and i'm just kind of joking. with him about it like someone local. take care of this you know and so we me. and this other guy hop out in the truck. and we're gonna go we're gonna go out to. breakfast you know. and so as we're pulling out i see a.

restoration company pulling in so i like. hop out of the truck i'm like i'm gonna. go talk to that guy real quick. and uh so i go and i talk to this guy. and i'm not gonna say the company name. but i was like i'm in town of this. restoration company he's like you're. kidding i was like no he's like will you. walk through this job with me i was like. yeah sure and so we go and we walk. through the job and the guy's like oh i. just i don't think i've got the. resources to do this right now it's all. flooding in grand forks right now. and he's like is this something you. think you can do. i was like really it was like yeah i was. like okay so i call that contractor back.

that i. was i'm like hey we're gonna do this job. up here and it's gonna be a six figure. job wow and he's like and i'm like this. is why i'm your favorite subcontractor i. bring my own work. and so but we had to get equipment all. shipped up from iowa and generators all. up there oh yeah and you know my guy at. sunbelt rentals really pulled through. um yeah it's a rental company and what. kind of stuff do they rent for folks. everything you can rent a lawn mower. from them or you can rent a generator. big enough to power a skyscraper i mean.

you can they rent everything forklifts. bobcats whatever sunbelt rentals is the. company yeah shout out to rick what's up. rick damn baby damn rick is usually. somebody else rick can go either way. i met some real dicey ricks and i met. some real quality wrecks yeah that's. where i'm going back after this though. really oh you're going back to. north dakota i got to finish that job up. and then i'm down to phoenix for a job. and so what's is it hard to keep a. personal life do you have a wife or. children no i got two roommates to take. care of my house wow.

yeah so do you uh do you feel like you. could stay in restoration forever uh. does it wear on you as a human after a. while or at a certain point it's just. kind of. yeah i mean i i definitely can't do this. forever i mean the hours i work. sometimes i mean it's not uncommon to. throw in a hundred hours in a week. um. so i mean i've gotta like have a. retirement strategy i'm putting money. together by real estate right now yeah. um that's kind of my exit strategy to. start buying apartment buildings and. then once i've got enough income from. that i'll just manage those wow.

and i guess you get so much recon and. research because you're in and out of. them all the time i know what to do yeah. you know how not to get screwed on. insurance. has it been hard to uh date during that. with that type of a lifestyle or do you. just kind of make you just i mean has it. been hard have a serious relationship. yeah yeah yeah it's definitely hard you. know i was like i don't know i'm on a. i'm on those those apps a little bit and. you know i've met some girls and then. you know it ends up not working out you. know i'm gone a lot i'm working a lot. you know so. you think some women would like that. kind of a man that's on you know you.

know here you know he he's here and then. he's there you know yeah yeah. and and i mean the money's great in this. industry but yeah there's no personal. life so it's like we can go on vacation. and really ball out of control but he's. like i'm not going to be home every. weekend or at the end of the night every. night you know. well shoot if we if some ladies watch. this man we'll have to have him chime in. if you. ladies want to chat with rob cotton and. uh. you want them to come over and and. restore something you know clean your. carpets there you go. yeah you could definitely do that dude.

um. yeah i had a. a question i'm thinking of is how do you. think that you could hide a body do you. learn anything from this type of stuff. do you think i am positive that i could. make a body disappear wow. yeah. i. yeah it's something that's doable yeah. yeah and what gives you that knowledge. just like doing it like how you clean up. a body like i mean you can just. yeah i mean. yeah i mean just like doing it you know.

it's like if you can clean. blood and guts off of walls or a floor. you can. just clean them the same way. if you actually took someone's life yeah. i mean not that i ever would obviously. but i think that the actual dis like the. actual. like logistics of. making a body disappear i think is. pretty easy and pretty practical but uh. obviously it's it's the making someone. disappear. yeah that's the difficult part right. do you ever like look at a corner or.

something like that who comes in before. you. on a human trauma site and think like. man i wish that that like do you ever. want to get into that line of work is. there anything about. it that makes you think that you kind of. moved a little further up the food chain. kind of of death. no no i mean i like i said i'll just i. just never say no so i mean to me work. is work i have no real. interest in restoration really i if i. was someone offered me five more dollars. an hour to dig ditches i would dig.

ditches right so to me it's just about. the compensation i can't think of a. a different industry with my set of you. know circumstances or qualifications. that i could make more money doing right. um. what yeah what can a restorator make if. they have a good business going. well i mean. as a company i mean i think one person. like with no employees if you were just. subbing everything out you could. probably do seven figures a year wow um.

that's if you really base it well and do. large loss restoration because a ton of. it is just equipment. and you know if you've got good demo. companies and stuff like that to do like. your actual flood cuts or anything else. like that i i think practically one. person could probably clear seven or. seven hundred. a million dollars a year. and how far. how far away can you smell piss from you. think honestly. i like i. i can. it really bothers me when i like walk.

into a house because i'm so dialed into. like that. that ammonia smell a long ways away. a long ways away like like if your dog. goes outside into the backyard and. you're like i can like i feel like when. i walk into a yard i can tell if a dog. lives in that house wow. that's a skill man. yeah that's the skill to be able to. smell piss from so how many feet would. you say. i don't know uh. 20 i don't know. 20 feet 20 is not that far.

i mean it's it's a pretty good distance. smell of piss but. yeah i guess that's true actually my bad. yeah that is true my bad man um yeah. yeah i guess i was hoping for i guess. part of me honestly was hoping for more. it's crazy quarter mile i don't know. i was like oh yeah he could snout a. batch of freaking. body sauce at a quarter mile um. do you think there's a time of year when. more trauma happens that you notice more. human trauma is there is there winter. time really yeah like especially around. the holidays that's when i get the most.

suicide calls for sure. i wonder what that is you think i mean i. guess that's kind of a known thing that. people take their life around the. holidays maybe they're lonesome or yeah. i think it's just like you know people. are depressed and you know they're not. happy with like their famous family. situation or whatever. and if people doing suicide do they do. more do you ever see any rope suicide. still or is it all gun work. generally i'm only going to get calls. for gun stuff because there's not. generally a lot of cleanup if you hang. yourself okay. yeah and it's kind of crazy i mean this.

is kind of dark but it's really. inconsiderate to kill yourself with a. gun in in a house you know because like. now someone's gotta deal with all that. yeah yeah yeah people don't think about. that you know people just think about. themselves when they're killing. themselves you know unfortunately and. uh which is part of the issue anyway why. you know they're just kind of stuck in. their own head and what's in in their. own pain. um. what about birds and bird [ __ ] you. running any things like that like. extensive because i've seen bert like. dude i remember one time i parked over.

by i guess i was going into a. sava center or something or uh. it could have been. uh what's that place called um. where my folks like to go all the time. rouses. so it could have been a rouses market. but anyway i parked dude i swear to god. i was in there probably 16 minutes i. came out and birds had. completely [ __ ] up my vehicle. do you get a lot of stuff like that is. it feces i have never gotten a call for. a bird issue really never not at once.

so i don't know if you can just like. scrape it off or something and you know. you don't ever need like professional. intervention. but i guess i'm thinking in a business. if birds have been like sneaking up in. an area and defecating for so long oh. yeah i don't know. chandelier falls in or something you. know it's like or you know a ceiling. come in you ever see the birds at like. home depot. yeah. how do where's all that [ __ ] go i've. never seen a bird [ __ ] in home depot. that's a good point there's lots of. birds maybe they have a different level. of respect for the place i don't know.

that's a good question actually a good. guest yeah yeah that is a good guest. what do you enjoy doing on your personal. time brother i've really gotten into. raves lately really i really like edm. music okay yeah i'm looking forward i'm. i'm planning on going to uh edc which is. a big music festival nice that's gonna. be good and when y'all do like a lot of. people you do you get into some of the. drug culture the pill culture it's kind. of popular yeah yeah you'll get out. there and have fun oh yeah have a good. time. have you ever had any drug experiences. we had to call 9-1-1 on yourself never.

i uh although. i i almost have yeah i mean chet i i've. gotten myself into trouble with too many. like edibles oh oh my god. you know you're you're contemplating. life oh yeah when you start i can't. believe i got a call for that hey we got. a guy over here who's just had too many. edibles. that happens a lot yeah i had a buddy in. my fantasy football league it was the. night before the draft he ate like a. little bit of an edible up in uh toronto. and next thing you know he was just. walking in a circle for about an hour.

and a half in his room drinking orange. juice and milk. not doing well dude those things sneak. up on you yeah holy [ __ ] and that's not. fun i don't think doing that having. those beverages and just keep moving. like that. you know to me that's not a party. no no uh who do you like rufus to seoul. do you like stuff like that or do you. like like are you getting into some like. real uh nordic kind of german trance. stuff or what are you into no no i mean. definitely my favorite for sure is timmy. trumpet he is spectacular live izzy can.

you pull him up there riley. timmy trump and it's a man. yeah mm-hmm. yeah he gets up on stage with like uh an. actual like trumpeter trombone mm-hmm. and i mean yeah that's him right there. okay yeah he is spectacular like uh. i'm seeing steve aoki in minneapolis in. a couple of a couple of this. that's fire yeah it's going to be a good. time. nice man and uh so you just kind of. travel around and do this this is what. you do.

will you travel how many different. places will you go in a year. um. i don't know i mean that nothing too. crazy i generally stay in the midwest um. this this one is like the first one i've. done in arizona um i used to before this. before i did this i uh. i i. built and like maintained water towers. that was a lot of traveling oh really. you mean like in towns that have water. towers smaller towns. yeah and then transmission towers and. television towers like.

changing light bulbs that was like. four cities a week that was like a. traveling comedian that's like that much. climb up those towers. wow. yeah so what's that like take me through. a water tower so a water tower like in a. small town or i get does it matter small. town or big city does it um i only. worked in small towns i mean obviously. they have them in large towns but you. know it was a lot of times. they would like just kind of put them on. a hill and it wasn't even really a water. tower just like a big tank on a hill. okay um and it's full of water though.

and the reason for it it creates the. pressure that's how so like the reason. the water tower is up in the air is. because that's what provides the. pressure to your house okay uh it's not. like there's a pump or anything the pump. pumps it up in the air. and then it's just gravity is how you've. got your. like your pressure your tap. so a lot of people don't realize that if. there were no water tower in their town. they wouldn't have any water pressure. is that the same in cities and in. smaller towns well if you're that small. of a town you might have a well and then. you'd have a pump but if you've got like.

city water yeah that's how that works. wow. interesting. so. even the water here you think yeah it's. probably because there's a water there's. a water tower in the area yeah okay and. so a larger place will they have more. water towers per population or yeah and. then when you get into a big enough town. like in like new york city or whatever. the water towers that provide the uh. the water towers are on top of the. buildings. it's like those tanks are on top of the. building yeah that's the provides the. water to that.

building oh i see so though it'll even. get more localized to the actual. building where you get that little tank. up top that top tank dang. and so take me through that so you get. to a small town you roll up on a water. tower and there's a lot of bees and. stuff i bet huh yeah there's bees and. then the wind is what really kills you. um. it's really not that bad because i. worked on a service cruise so we didn't. generally build them okay um so a lot of. it was just like. doing inspections and and i would i.

didn't do the inspections i was just. like support. um. or changing light bulbs you know you. know those those red blinking light. bulbs on tall structures there's heavy. fines if those go out oh really. so who finds the people. who who would find a town oh oh i mean i. wasn't in sales i mean there was. full-time sales guys they would right. but who finds say if the water tower or. light goes out. who gets fined for it oh the whoever. owns that structure so like if it's a. water tower it would be the city and. that's okay fines from the faa oh wow.

like if you don't have functional lights. um transmission towers are gonna be. owned by like the radio station and the. television station so once you get up to. the actual tower you get is there. usually like a platform around the base. of the actual water bowl or bulb yeah uh. so it depends but uh generally yes. there's like a walkway okay uh on the. top and on around the like outside. um and then it's just a stick ladder up. wow. and what kit how do you get onto the top.

cause it usually rounds up bring up a. water tower. brother. which what kind are we talking about. here um so generally i worked on those. top ones. okay um where it's like a metal tank. there you go let's link on one of those. there riley. yeah so there's gonna be a walkway and. then there's a there's two walkways. there okay and then there's a ladder. between them and then there's generally. an access panel on the top. can you largent up that. yeah so that one doesn't have the second. that one doesn't have the second walkway.

but there's going to be a ladder on that. tank so there's a ladder that goes up. there and then there's a second ladder. that'll take you from the platform to. the top okay and then if you zoom way in. on that picture up at the very tip top. that should be an access panel right. there i see yeah. and when you get can you get into the. water yeah so when they do the. inspections they actually scuba dive in. the tank you would have to do that well. i didn't but yeah someone on the crew. would yeah and it's a licensed scuba. person wow. so somebody goes in there and what are.

they looking for they're looking for. corrosion generally okay uh corrosion. any. like foreign materials but yeah. generally it's just an inspection on the. welds or the bolts make sure that it's. not. corroding okay so somebody goes in there. and inspects it and you guys ever find. anything in those things um not really i. mean sometimes it would be like. something that got pumped up like some. debris or a stick but almost never but. nothing like the level of stuff you're. finding now no no.

the the transmission towers were worse. you know the transmission towers you. know there'd be 1100 1500. i think the tallest one in the united. states is in north dakota. um and that one's like not uh i might be. speaking at a turn but it's like. 2050 feet oh feet up in the air yeah so. these you're not at a ton of risk up. there for like well you said wind is a. little bit issue when you're on these. water towers if it's a windy space then. you you yeah you got to really do you. kind of like uh. attach yourself as you're going up yeah.

like a carabiner or something yeah you. you're you want to try and keep like a. hundred percent connection so like. you've got a. a harness on and then it's got a y hook. onto it and then that y hook so you hook. one up and then you climb a little bit. you hook the other one up so that you're. always connected even when you're moving. it yeah like le clerk like that boiler. clerk have you seen in the alpinist no i. haven't oh man it's good. um. and so when you get to the transmission. towers that's even that's way up there. and what is that.

transmission tower raleigh yeah look up. television tower. television transmission tower yeah so. the taller your um. like antenna is or your broadcast pole. the less power it takes to go further. so if you get that you go up there yeah. no. what damn y'all up there huh and can you. hear television when you're up there no. no you can't hear any of that but a lot. of times i have cell phone towers or.

like cell phone antennas on there you. got to be careful about that because. normally they'll only want to shut off. one side so you get a climb on one side. um. and if you accidentally climb in front. of one of those. like cell phone transmitters you'll get. a sunburn through your clothes yeah. because they work on microwaves i think. it's like just for like a second you. like you go in front of it because. they're so high powered you you're like. microwaving yourself no way so you would. like take your shirt off your sun burned. from just walking through the pathway if.

you stayed in the path could you die. i'm sure you could i mean i would. probably take a while but it'd be a. crummy way to go and what's going. through you just all the calls and. everything all the information yeah what. yeah all that stuff yeah so that was. pretty nutty. they find you and you just have a nike. advertisement on your chest. you just have something yeah for butcher. box. wow bro that's bananas yeah that was. terrible. dude you've done some pretty unique jobs. man. just don't say no. wow and is that a model yours overall in.

your life kind of a little bit. yeah i really do try um you know it's. like you know that's that's the only way. that i feel like i've been able to like. maintain like a um. like my personal life is just like i'll. work like a long time. and you know it's like well my friends. are going to a show or something like. that and so we'll go out and go to the. show show's done at like 1 30 and then. i'll go back to work sometimes yeah i. mean that's happened. you know but it's like if i don't just. do it then it's like you're just not.

gonna have a personal life and it's yeah. it's the same thing and i was like when. you work like a lot of times i work. seven days a week you know it's like i. still want to go out to brunch and stuff. like that you know and even if you're. tired or whatever it is like but if you. don't like work to maintain it. it'll just go away you know. i love that man yeah cause i find. sometimes i i'll get too caught up in. what i'm thinking or feeling instead of. just staying busy with my work you know. yeah and a lot of times just staying. busy will keep you out of like. you know i'll get caught up in like. self-pity or just thinking about myself.

too much it's like i guess the busier. you stay it really does just kind of. keep things moving yeah yeah and it's. like i've tried a lot of stuff i'm. always down to try stuff i mean it's. crazy that i'm here right now yeah i was. like yeah this is crazy man it's awesome. dude it's so fascinating to hear. what goes on who does this kind of stuff. because a lot of times we think that. things just get done somehow yeah you. know it's like oh that just gets done. yeah. but to think that somebody actually. comes and. and takes care of certain things.

yeah it's interesting man because a lot. of us would never know what that's like. well it's like my next step what i. really want to get into is i'm working. on getting into large loss so like you. know million dollar projects and stuff. like that but i really want to do cat. work and that's like the hurricanes and. stuff so i mean like when there's. the hurricanes rolling through louisiana. someone's got to clean up all that stuff. i want to oh yeah my buddy giddy does. that and i think my buddy tully does. that from growing up they travel around. if there's a big hurricane or storm and. they do. i guess loss but that might be insurance.

loss or something like that that might. be an insurance adjuster but you want to. get in there and really do the uh i want. to do the work yeah you want to do the. work yeah like i got a good buddy of. mine um. uh that they were down in texas for that. real bad freeze-up. and so like there was apartment. buildings that the every water pipe. burst and so i mean you're talking about. an apartment building it's got three 400. units in it and every single one's wet. and molding. and all that stuff's got to get gutted. like that's what i really want to do is. i want to do like the real large lost. stuff.

wow and what's fascinating about i mean. i guess obviously it's a higher paying. job yeah and i mean it's just like the. idea of like doing the larger jobs where. it's like i've got one job for like the. next month instead of like the traveling. around all the time and the middle of. the night calls and stuff like that is i. i'd really like that i think. and how uh what do your folks think of. your work um. it's it's kind of funny so. uh my father just passed away. but. yeah thank you what happened with him a. cancer oh it just ate him alive.

yeah it was saint patrick's day this. year no way. oh man was he pretty pretty pretty. pretty neat guy oh super cool i mean he. he's got a really crazy life story too. and family and everything wow um but so. when i was in high school and i was. really kind of [ __ ] things up um. he pulled me aside one day and he says. you know there's only three ways you can. be successful in this world you can do. things better than anyone else can do it. you can do something no one else can do. or you can do things that no one else. wants to do.

and i was like that's what i'm gonna and. that was not how he meant that but uh. you know. [Laughter]. that's a really fast it's a really good. square way to kind of communicate with. your child yeah these are sort of the. options because it sounds very like okay. that. that makes real clear sense yeah. yeah i mean he was a well-spoken dude he. was an aircraft mechanic and my mother's. a therapist. and they meet each other at.

through a. through a fedex driver oh damn yeah. that's that's a yeah so the my mom was. working at her mother's business and. their fedex driver was my dad's friend. okay and so you know he's meeting this. pretty girl at the fedex thing he's like. you gotta meet a friend of mine yeah and. so literally the fedex driver set them. up they were married for almost 30 years. that's delivery baby that's dang. yeah dude and look fedex i've always. thought first of all obviously they're. doing great things for people i don't.

think amazon's really making love like. that but fedex man they should do. airline. because there's been times where i've. mailed a package somewhere and then i. tried to fly this commercial airline and. you i quit they're like we have a. something the flight's delayed or. whatever yeah but the package isn't that. thing goes out every time yeah if it. doesn't get there in a day they'll. refund you dude if fedex did an airline. i would be all over that like a. commercial airline it'd be so sick. yeah um well i bet your dad was really. proud of then how you became just so uh.

so much your own ingenuity you know and. just taking control of your own destiny. yeah i mean there. he definitely shared with me that uh you. know what because i moved out you know. and i just dropped out of school i moved. out of the house yeah those are like. warning signs to a parent yeah they were. like oh we really weren't thinking that. this was going to work out you know. well made it work somehow do you think. there's any way to avoid trauma in the. world we've just finished with this. question like i said man i just think. that there's got to be better mental. health something i don't i don't know.

the solution i don't pretend to know the. solution but. just like more care for people that. can't get care of themselves yeah you. ever roll up with anybody and they're in. a costume or something like that they're. dressed like a uh. you know they got a crown on or anything. like no nothing nothing crazy like that. but uh like i said i deal with some. people that uh. maybe not firing on all cylinders oh. yeah and uh. nudity is the. is the thing that happens a lot like. that's the first thing you know yeah if. somebody's new you kind of yeah if. you're if you're answering your door and.

you're naked there's something not going. on right yeah there's a glitch there's a. little glitch in the system do we had a. guy buzz he used to he used to poop in. this va he had like a vas in this town. or vase or vaz. and uh. in his house and he would tell us go. look in the vas right and we'd be. pooping there. and we'd always be like there's not. still going to be maybe like a year or. two later dude and every time there was. still it was like oh come on man but. it's crazy how many times you'll go back. to the well sometimes when somebody's.

tricking you you know [ __ ] tricking you. [ __ ] drinking bobby cotton dude thank. you so much for coming in meg good luck. out there at the raves um and thank you. first of all i just want to say thank. you so much for. just uh. for getting things back to their. original form man for repairing things. that need to be repaired in the world. yeah and thanks for having me i've. really enjoyed this yeah this is awesome. man thank you so much for uh. for your time man and um we'll share rob. socials if you guys want to hit him up. and yeah that's trauma cleanup man rob.

cotton thank you bob thank you. now i'm just floating on the breeze and. i feel i'm falling like these leaves i. must be. cornerstone. oh but when i reach that ground i'll. share this piece of mind i found i can. feel it. in my bones. but it's gonna take. a little. time for me to set that parking brake.

and let myself on my heart. shine that light on me. i'll sit and tell you my stories. [Music]. [Music].

and now i've been moving way too fast on. the runaway train with a heavy load of. my hands. [Music]. built.