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| Red colors indicate our bathrooms and Blue is the shower areas. |
Given how we are surrounded by the
undead, I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear us say that we all
developed an obsession with cleanliness. Hand sanitizer seems to be carried by
everyone.
Highlighted in red are our bathroom facilities.
We have a total of five toilets and one urinal which has been more than enough
for everyone thus far. The bathrooms have been established just for “waste
extraction.” People get ready for their day in separate areas just to keep the
congestion down. And if you ever have to follow Luke after a Mexican TV dinner,
you want to find somewhere else to shave. (I can say that because Luke is my
battle buddy and I love him.)
We knew from the very beginning that
the Produce Department and the Meat Department had limited shelf life. (Even
now as I write this, the Produce Department is down to almost nothing after 30
days.)
Tommy and Luke disconnected the refrigeration
units in the main Meat Department cooler that you see highlighted in blue on
the map. This area has concrete floors equipped with drains and features
stainless steel walls and ceiling. The meat guys used to hose out these coolers
every night to clean them so it seemed only natural to transform this area into
our shower area. We have hot water (hot = clean) and plenty of hose length…
ladies.
We modified the aluminum product racks
and plastic trays used in the department to make shower stalls with shelf space
for shampoo, conditioners, bars of soap and all the showering needs. I really
think that this will be one area where rationing is not going to be an issue.
We literally have hundreds of bars of soap, bottles of shampoo and all the
cleaning products you could imagine.
We used length of bailing wire from
our cardboard baler, elephant clips from the school supplies and vinyl picnic table
cloths to make shower curtains to provide a small level of modesty. Again, this
is where working at a Walmart would have been more ideal or even having access
to the General Dollar across the street would be nice but you work with what
you have and I think we did quite nicely. The bailing wire and the elephant
clips really allow the table cloth/curtains to slide back and forth very
easily.
Now, this is part that I am proud off.
The cases where the vegetables and fruit were stocked in the produce department
have these mirrored acrylic panels. They measured 30” x 46” and we have 21
individual panels. We assembled the acrylic mirrors in the shower stalls for
shaving and personal grooming. It works pretty darn well.
Luke and Tommy both have great
skills when it comes to the modifications here in the store so they have been
working well together. Both Jennifer and Kim are kind of clean freaks so they
went through and assigned flip flops from the Seasonal Aisle for everyone to
wear in the shower. They sized everyone and used Sharpie pens so everyone would
know which pair is theirs. They even went a little overboard with decorating
the flip flops but we have a lot of Sharpies and they have a lot of time on
their hands. It is a very cool system.
And thanks to the fact that the store
was gearing up for the summer season, we had plenty of beach towels and
flip-flops on hand. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, some of the towels were
dedicated to become blankets and the rest were designated for the showers. They
are not very thick and pretty scratchy but it is better than drying off with
paper towels.
We are working on a scheduling system
to keep everyone happy but it quickly has degenerated down to a locker room
mentality. With this many people, you have to expect some cross traffic. Men
try to avoid the women and vice versa and I think everyone just kind of “pretends”
not to look. Speaking of the flip-flop dispensers, it’s pretty tough not to
notice if Jennifer is in there and Kim’s fake boobs don’t make it easier
either. (I thank goodness Janet doesn’t access this blog.)
Personally, I’m way too self-conscious
about my weight so I pull the curtain on the stall before I start to undress.
Some are more modest than others. But the pendulum swings the other way too…
Case in point, Kanen barely keeps his
clothes on period and he will just let the sausage swing regardless of who is
in there. But he works out constantly and I think he has a tapeworm so he has
nothing to be bashful about. (Want proof? I had Kim pull this pic off his cell
phone. Cannot even be certain he is wearing pants in this pic.)
Most people just pretend not to notice
or they try not to encourage him. There was one time where last Tuesday, I
think Sharon
Still, with an entire store stock to
pull from, soap, shampoo, conditioner and all those beauty aids are just up for
grabs. And there is some stuff out there that I just never tried but now I can
because price is no longer an option. Does it make me a giant douche to admit I
like Axe Body Spray? Regardless, it may be the end of the world but we
certainly do not smell like it…
