05-03-2024: The Apartment
My job is to take photos of houses. I only recently started working at my current gig, yesterday was the first time I was asked by a coworker to document an apartment with the residents stuff still inside. One of the higher-ups came to me early in the morning asking if I knew how to take photos (lol), and how good I was at handling gross stuff. Having been on the internet long enough to browse many "battlestation threads" showing off some of the world's most cockroach infested, piss-jug packed basements ever documented by HAZMAT teams, I figured it wouldn't be such a huge deal. I said OK, bringing my 360 cam up to document the biohazards waiting for me. I mentally prepped myself to peek in, and grabbed a couple shoe covers in case I decided it was worth venturing into. The first thing I saw peering into the place was the numerous opened jars, dirty bowls, pans, plugged in rice cookers, mouse traps, and opened rice bags. Despite initial disgust, it was like walking into a kitchen that your dishwasher-avoidant roommate had commandeered while you were away for a long weekend (Thank god for tile flooring). At that moment I understood that this was a "Battlestation Thread Disaster" in its infancy. Not wholly disgusting, but you could immediately see just how terrible things could get given a week or two. Rarely do I sense such palpable anticipation from mold.
The living room was strange. Despite the state of the kitchen, the living room gave indication that the residents were attempting to clean and pack up their stuff before leaving. Several semi-full trash cans were scattered around. Cheap plastic and pleather chairs were scattered out from the table, taking up the bulk of any spare space. The nearby broom and mop led me to believe they at least tried to sweep up, if just for a couple minutes. Each room had a small pile of packing boxes. It was like they were in a hurry to get their security deposit back and suddenly got raptured. There were three bedrooms in total, with an extra fourth bed in the living room. Do you know that feeling you get when you go to an estate sale, do some Spring cleaning, or set up a yard sale? The amazement over the sheer amount of bullshit you have sitting around your house? It doesnt take much to stir that feeling in me. In this apartment was sterilite bins full of masks, cleaning solution, stationery, unmarked pills, and half opened wrappers. A different feeling began to stir in me. I could use some of this stuff.
The process of photographing a house in 360s is easy. Place camera on tripod, connect remote to camera, get outta frame, and take your photo. Its a process that has a lot of downtime, I gotta be honest my job has A LOT of downtime. It makes up for the "market determined value" of my labor. As I move through the tour to cover the bedrooms, hallways, and closets I start noticing some of the less heinous items lying around. brass coat hangers, an unopened immersion blender kit, faber castell pen kits. Things you can't exactly fit into a regular budget but either cant or won't cause it sits too low on your priority list of things you need to buy. Its feels like a holdover mindset leftover from the days of scraping by in university transferring itself into a period where your life where the imminent threat of poverty and joblessness is ever present. "Why spent $70 on an immersion blender when ive been doing just fine without it for so long? That $70 might be desperately needed if I ever lose my job." After getting the photos I needed, I packed my stuff up in the car and went back in, eager to take my picks. I waslked outta there with a set of electronic tweezers, two cork rounds, an unopened hairdryer, an immersion blender kit, various expensive drawing pens, and an unopened set of multicolored lightbulbs. A decent haul...
My manager came in the next day asking about the house, curious about the sorta stuff in there. I mention the sorta stuff inside. Standard IKEA furniture, a guitar, skateboards, an unopened hairdryer. Finally, I talk about a plastic shrub in the living room corner. My office is located underground, so getting any sort of greenery is impossible. He understands the struggle of finding home goods as a recent college grad and says "Hey, not a bad idea. I've taken plenty of stuff from homes left abandoned." I soon went over to the unit to scope it out, see if there was anything interesting I missed, and the whole perspective of the situation changed. Looking at that plastic shrub I kept thinking "There's no way to clean this thing. If there's bugs in there, there's no getting them out." The place that once held potential goodies turned into something gross and unnverving in an instant. It was only 18 hours since I was last in there, too. I made up my mind not to return there unless it was absolutely necessary. The experience sat in my mind as an intersection between thrifting, dumpster diving, stealing, and whatever they call just picking up furniture on the side of the road. How often do we readily accept goods from unknown places like a thrift store without questioning its origin or conditions? We trust these companies to handle donated goods, to clean and resell them. It's true for clothes but Goodwill isn't cleaning out every panasonic dvd player coming their way. If all those items in the house I found were sold at a secondhand shop how much would they go for? Removed from its context its a completely different story.
To be finished at a later date. Whatever yknow i dont care too much if the story isnt commented before complete lol.
