Saturday, September 12, 2009

Reader: Fruit flies inside the Modesto Bee building... Update: garbage removed!

A reader points to unsanitary conditions in the Modesto Bee building.

Modesto no longer has a cleaning crew, they are depending on employees to clean, well its not working advertising has not had a garbage pick up for 2 weeks. People are putting their trash cans in the hallway, because of the smells. Now our hallway stinks to the point no one can use that hallway. Imagine your neighbor having a banana and yogurt 2 week ago. We have fruit flys flying around the rooms. Its terrible. All to save a buck!!

I emailed Modesto Bee's management to ask about this; will let you know the response.

Update: as of 9:30 PM, no response from Mod Bee management.

Update #2: a reader says the garbage has been removed.

"... happy to report garbage was removed Friday morning!! If they wanted us to put our trash in Centralized areas I would have no problems doing that - just tell us and supply the cans. That would be better than smelling 2 weeks of trash."



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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Kansas City Star employees also have to take out their own trash to "centralized" areas.

Anonymous said...

The Health Department would be the best one to contact.

Anonymous said...

I guess the reporting isn't the only thing that stinks at The Bee. Ya don't get what ya don't pay for. Is this a reflection of your home lives, or are you doing this as a protest to the poor working conditions you are willing to accept?

Anonymous said...

What? You mean not one of those employees can take out the garbage? What happened to doing what you have to do to function as a newspaper. Not for the sake of saving McClatchy any money, but for the health of your co-workers, and your own self-esteem? Geez!

Anonymous said...

They are still trying to figure out if a fruit fly is a special kind of fly or a fly that is gay.

Anonymous said...

2:02 PM Fruit Flies are definitely a California phenomena as they used to set many traps for them. It actually used to make the news when they were caught. Now however, the Fruit Flies control the show, headquartered in San Francisco.

Anonymous said...

The Kansas City Star employees also have to take out their own trash to "centralized" areas.




You'd think the Star would have trash removal as a special perk in their contracts. After all, they are second only to Defenbaugh the hiring of convicted felons in the entire four state region.

There's bound to be a special relationship there.

Anonymous said...

well happy to report garbage was removed Friday morning!! If they wanted us to put our trash in Centralized areas I would have to problems doing that - just tell us and supply the cans. That would be better than smelling 2 weeks of trash.

DonnyMac said...

There can't be much savings. In 1972-73 I was the Modesto Bee "cleaning crew". I made $4/hour working for a janitorial firm that was hired to clean the Bee. We originally bid it at 4.5 hrs/day but it turned out to be a 6 hour job as the many smokers and the use of newsprint (pre-computers) meant that paper, paper dust and cigarette ashes and butts were everywhere. Once I tried to actually clean the desk area encircling the editors and I was reprimanded for moving (stacking) someones papers so I went back to simply picking the stray cigarette butts off the desk area. The kitchen was area was the least difficult to clean - mainly emptying the trash and moping the floor.

Anonymous said...

It was that way in the Fresno Bee Newsroom. We had crap in the corner of the stairway and it was a game to see how long it would be before someone swept. More than a month for the main access to the second floor. No vacuuming either. They shoved the microwave into the old film lab because one person's nose was offended. This room also regularly backed up with sewage from the floor drain. They sealed that off and instead it backed up through the sink. Spilled out and flooded an equipment room, features editor's office and main walkway through the newsroom.