Detroit's bone collector

[Matt]

DETROIT — With all the spectacular ways to die in this dying city, the fate of a man named Allan was almost pathetic. There he lay, in a weedy lot on the notorious East Side, next to a liquor bottle, his pockets turned out.

But as it goes with such things, one man’s misery is another man’s money. The body retrievalist for the county morgue had arrived on the scene. He was happy. He sang strange little ditties. Cracked odd little jokes. Said things like: “We got plenty of room in this here van, yes sir.”

Do not judge him. A happy attitude is necessary in his profession. It keeps the mind from shattering, salts one’s sanity. Call the job dirty. Call it 14 bucks the hard way — $14 a human body, $9 an animal. He said he made $14,000 last year. He made most of it at night.

His tax forms officially read “body technician.” Unofficially, Mike Thomas calls himself body snatcher, grim reaper, night stalker, bag man. Whatever you call it, it is one man’s life.

Read more and watch the video interview: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/us...in&oref=slogin

Unfortunately, for Mr. Thomas, he might lose his job because of the interview:

Chatty corpse collector now may need new job

Profile in national paper didn't help Detroit's image

September 21, 2006

Detroit's self-proclaimed body snatcher talked too much and it may have cost him his job.

In a New York Times report published Monday, aspiring rapper Mike Thomas waxed about the rigors of his job retrieving bodies in one of the most dangerous cities in America.

The same day, his boss at Professional Removal Services suspended him. Then, on Tuesday, according to Thomas, the boss fired him.

On Wednesday, the boss took issue with that, saying he didn't fire Thomas, but put him on indefinite suspension.

Either way, Thomas is out of a job.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2006609210312

[Fool]

I hear you get 10 cents for every rat head you turn in.

[Hermy]

I will give you $1 for every fully developed female marijuana plant.

[Uncle Mxy]

Can you imagine going to a job interview for this sort of work?

"Are you good at getting bodies? How much field experience do you have?"