In this boatyard the hierarchy of mechanics dictated that the newest employee in that department had the job of “sanitary system engineer”. The job description included anything to do with a sanitation system that no one else wanted to handle, basically that was everything.
Anyway one fine day, a large chartered sailboat that was under the care of the yard had a “plugged head” during the charter. As the boat was nearby, the captain elected to stop by the yard for a quick repair.
That week a new mechanic had started at the yard. He was informed of the situation and asked to take a look at the problem. Unbeknownst to him the charter guest and the captain had tried to clear the blockage the “manly” way first, by just pumping the head for all they were worth.
The story as told by the “victim” played out in the following way:
He told of arriving on the dock to find the captain, the charter guests, the boat owner and the yard owner all talking. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work. First he noted that the toilet flush lever was all the way up and not budging, not even a little. He then checked for an open seacock, y-valve issue and found nothing that looked suspicious. Now, he decided that he would simply remove the discharge hose and see what he could learn. Holding his breath he removed first one clamp and began loosening the other when the highly pressurized discharge hose shot off and proceeded to spew forth the most vile substance he could never have imagined existed on this planet! He said he was covered from head to toe as was the entire head compartment. In shock he carefully left the head, made his way through the main cabin, went up the stairs to the cockpit and from there to the dock where everybody simply stared at him. Not knowing exactly what to do next he hesitated and stood there.
The people continued to stare and he continued to stand there for long seconds until the spell was broken by the man chartering the boat who said, “hey look, there’s the snail salad I had for supper last night” upon which the mechanic threw up first and jumped into the water second.
True story!
Bruce