A Simple Rule

[jamesq]

If you use something, clean it up when you're through.

Jersey Girl (my sister-in-law) cleaned out the fridge at Casa Cyr when she moved out. That's fine, it was her food after all. But she left everything that she didn't want. To rot.

The fridge is something I'm getting. I don't really need it, but I'd rather take it and get it fixed then see it abandoned. The fridge is only eight years old and that's young for this class of machine. Problem is, it doesn't get that cold. You can keep beer cold in the freezer section and it won't freeze. Pop and water will, so it's probably just a hair below zero. That's at the coldest setting.

It's been like that for months. When my dad was still alive and at home, Jersey Girl bitched at me.

"You have to give us money for a new fridge, it's spoiling food", she said.

"Before we do that, pull it out and clean it's fins. If it still can't get cold enough well have a repairman come look at it. If the repairman says it's not worth fixing, we'll get a new one." I reply.

"We can't afford a repairman."

"You won't have to - it's Dad's fridge so we'll pay for it. You have a blank cheque here for emergencies - use it."

But she never did. I don't know if it was chronic laziness or just that she didn't get her way. They kept having food spoil. My brother didn't care because he was rarely at home and on the occasions when he was there he drank beer.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. We've just had my father's funeral and the three siblings are discussing who gets what. I get the fridge. Jersey Girl cleans it out and leaves the following:

A half eaten chicken (one of those pre-cooked birds that Safeway sells in its deli).
Numerous rolls.
A wide assortment of vegetables.
Condiments.

Fast forward to tonight. I arrive at the unhygienic cesspit that was once my parent's home. Thank God Mom is already in her urn, because if she saw what had happened to her home she would have died on the spot.

The chicken was now two weeks old. It was stuck to the plate by some kind of congealed goo that I shudder to remember. There was the usual assortment of tupperware containers containing nameless horrors. There was lettuce that had gone beyond wilting, tomatoes that had turned black and mushy.

You know how potato's eyes will sprout if left for a long time? I found a potato that looked like a sea anemone.

Well I dumped everything into a variety of bags which went straight out to the garbage. When I was finished I pulled all of the removable parts, dragged the fridge out of its recess and unplugged it.

i filled a bucket with warm water. Added concentrated Lysol cleaner. For good measure I topped the whole thing off with bleach. Yes Snoo, I did all of this outside on the off chance the Lysol had ammonia in it (bleach + ammonia = chlorine gas. Not good). it didn't and I proceeded to scrub every square inch of the interior and exterior of the fridge (excepting the underneath). Then I did the same for all the bits I removed. I took the small pieces outside to rinse them off with the hose only to discover that they took the hose too. WTF? Back inside to clean out the sink so I have a place to work.

I left the cleaner on the inside surfaces of the fridge. I'll rinse it off tomorrow. Snoo says it's safer that way what with the chicken refuse and all. She works in a lab so I'll bow to her superior wisdom in these matters.

I also swept the kitchen floor, filling two grocery bags with crumbs and stuff. That there were no beetles/cockroaches is astonishing.

Things that make you want to yell "For Fucks Sake"!

Comments

[beast69.livejournal.com]

Wow that sounds crazy, I hate bad house keepers. I had to clean every fridge and stove when I moved into rental places, but I always left them clean when I moved out. We bought a house in February and the lady had NEVER cleaned her stove, gross. I have three guinea pigs and they are all clean as well:)