05077 - Tunbridge, Vt.
John Blakeney operates JB Enterprises, a portable toilet business, with his wife, Violet, and son, John, Jr. The following is an edited interview.
If you stop and think back thirty or forty years, who bought water? Who rented a toilet? Years ago you'd have gone out behind a tree and nobody would have thought a thing about it. Today if you did that, you’d have the cops right on you. Well, things change as time goes by. Go with the flow, I say.
I had no experience with it before I started, I just thought I'd give it a try. But it’s one of these deals where you don’t need a salesman, nature takes care of that. It’s an essential service. Everyone needs to go.
I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and I’ve never had somebody say I was lower class because of it. Somebody might say, “How’s business? Still shi---?” But joking, you know? I heard one person who was looking to see me ask, “Where’s the turd-herder, is he gone?”
Over the years, you learn all sorts of tricks of the trade. I like to spray the door with this deodorizer gel so it’s the first thing you smell when you get in. And there’s things that you figure out. Number 1, keep them clean. If you don’t, your competitor will. Number 2, the customer is never wrong. If you get talking with somebody and forget to load up the paper or something, it’s your fault. You’ve got to work with people to keep them happy.
When you’re pumping them, you’re not enclosed inside. You’re half in the toilet, half out, so you get some fresh air. I can’t smell that well, anyway, so the odor doesn’t get to me. I worked delivering propane, and you know how that smells? Well, if we had a leak or something I couldn’t detect it unless it was really bad.
I enjoy working with the public and meeting different people. Business is growing each year. We do fairs, campgrounds, construction sites, and other special events. Graduation is a busy weekend, Fourth of July is a biggie, and Labor Day weekend, of course.
As far as customers go, most people are really nice to you. When you drop off the toilets and when you pick them up, they might give you a compliment. It makes you feel good, and maybe your work makes their day a little better, too. I’ll keep doing this until I can’t.