Coke Oven Operator. We start this episode at a coke oven. Coke is carbonized coal. Or something. Basically they take a bunch of coal (20 tons at a time) and cook it. That’s right, they cook coal. I thought if you cooked coal it was burnt. But then, they cooked trees to make charcoal in Micro-Algae Man, so what do I know? It looks like it’s hot. And it is definitely dirty. They won’t even let Mike go into one room, and they don’t let him operator anything more than a shovel. This place is dangerous.
Oyster Shucker. After someplace like that, I can understand wanting to tone it down a bit. So we visit an oyster shuckery (I just made that up). But these are no normal oysters. These are mutant oysters. I have seen a fair number of oysters in my day, and I even fell on a bunch of oysters and tore up my leg one time. But I have never ever seen oysters that are as large as these.
Parade Float Dismantler. Finally, we get to a place that makes – and then un-makes – floats for the Tournaments of Roses parade. In case you’ve never seen it, this is like any other parade, but every float has to be covered with organic stuff. That in itself isn’t bad, but then consider that these floats aren’t just taken apart after parade day. They sit around for a month or two afterwards. What happens to organic compounds when they sit? They rot. And it rained last year. Water helps that process. Our television doesn’t have smell-o-rama, and I’m glad.
