Thursday, April 1, 2010
Tacoma - okay it's travel of a sort...
I had occasion to be in lovely Tacoma - actually it really isnt a bad place at all despite its reputation - people in Seattle just need somewhere to look down on to make themselves feel superior. Having said that I encountered the most amazing situation I have experienced in a very long time. I needed a visit to the bathroom - I was driving around killing time before an appointment and had had one too many coffees. I remembered the Tacoma Public Library which is a few blocks west of downtowm - I knew they had plentiful free parking - so I headed up there to pee. As you approach the bathrooms there is a sign informing you that due to drug dealing activity and other unlawful activities, the bathrooms are limited to one occupant at a time - at the doorway there is a table with a security guard - this poor guy has the job of allowing one person in at a time and ensuring that they have no bags (I got the impression he was ready to frisk people too) - after someone emerges from the bathroom he puts a barrier across the doorway and goes into the bathroom to ensure that the previous person has not left drugs in there for someone else and/or I guess used drugs. Inside there are 3 stalls, there are no garbage cans, presumably to remove hiding places. So this guy has the job of checking the bathroom after people have done their business - now presumably to detect the use of crack he has to go in there and do the sniff test - public bathroom, sniff test - do the math. He then emerges - removes the barrier and checks out the next candidate. What a job - what a situation - presumably the rest of the library is well covered with CCTV but they cant do that in there for obvious reasons. Now unemployment rates are high but who would take that job?
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My parents lived down on Case Inlet, across the Narrows Bridge, for 25 years. Lovely spot, but we had be prepared to drive through the Aroma of Tacoma (paper mills) to get there. Residents of the place quickly become immune and unable to detect the stench... but if you're traveling there with guests, DO warn them at about the Federal Way point that the world is about to start smelling like One Big Fart, and DON'T make the mistake of rolling down the car windows, thinking that a car occupant is having digestive problems... all of which explains how finding the guard was no problem...
ReplyDeleteThe Tacoma aroma is a cliche now - it has not existed since about 1990 - I lived in FW for a long time and spent a lot of time in Fife, Puyallup and Tacoma - back then yes it was unbearable - the pulp mill was obliged to make large scale changes to remove the odor and subsequently the offending boiler was shut down (1999) after the mill was using sufficient recycled paper to remove the need for boiling "new" wood. Unless I have just been lucky in the timing of my now infrequent trips to Tacoma there is now no odor.
ReplyDeletei'm laughing now,sorry...it's looks like 60's-70's China.although i have no these experience,it's really looks strange. is there no any better way to seattle that problem?
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