The Daily O’Collegian

Josh Sandwick and Taren O’Daniel arrive at a Stillwater home every day in a white van displaying the blue words Shorts Carpet Cleaning in bold lettering.

Before they drag a hose from the van into the front door of the house, Sandwick and O’Daniel play a short game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who gets the tougher job once inside the house, Sandwick said.

They steam clean the carpets of disgusting college houses to pay their rent. Others endure the hardships of boot camp because they are enlisted in the U.S. Army to pay for their college costs, while nurses-in-training follow their dreams by wiping the cabooses of older generations.

Sandwick is a carpet cleaning master. Greg Goodson is a young man serving his country. Jaci Savage is a nurse-in-training. Each one spending time experiencing events at jobs that are far from normal.

Sandwick, an OSU fire protection senior, has represented the Shorts Carpet Cleaning company since the summer after his freshman year of college.

“I was obviously the best man for the job,” Sandwick said. “But my sister also just happened to work there.”

Sandwick said though the job pays his stack of bills, he says he sometimes wishes his bills could be left unpaid after he encounters the unpleasant carpet of Stillwater residents.

“I remember this one house we had to clean here in Stillwater that had probably 30 pets,” he said. “There were cats, dogs and ferrets running around the entire house.

“The smell was extremely bad and the pets had left little treats that the owner had neglected to pick up.”

Sandwick said the pet food and cat litter around the house seemed endless, as did the pet fur that was attached to the chairs and sofa.

“It is a good thing I don’t have allergies,” he said.

Sandwick said he came across numerous houses where the owners obviously didn’t care about the environment they lived in.

Sandwick said the surprises left on the carpet aren’t the only bad parts about his job.

“The Oklahoma heat during the summer months can get bad,” he said. “Some people even have the nerve to turn off the air conditioner while we are trying to clean the carpet.

“The hot air from outside mixed with the steam from the cleaner creates a sauna-like effect because the heat has no where to escape to.”

O’Daniel, a manager at Shorts Carpet Cleaning, disagrees with Sandwick regarding the worst part about carpet cleaning.

“We received the job to take up the tile at a Chinese restaurant in Stillwater, and the sight was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen,” O’Daniel said. “We had to wear yellow jump suits as the power washer cleaned the 2 inches of caked-on grease in the kitchen.

“And yes, I did throw up at least two times after the job was finished.”

Sandwick and O’Daniel agree on the importance of their line of work, even after surviving the heat of summer and the smell of the urination stains left by the house pets.

“I know this job will definitely better prepare me for future jobs I will have,” Sandwick said. “It helps with interpersonal skills because you deal with new customers every day.

“We actually get to know certain people pretty well.”

Sandwick describes a customer he won’t forget.

“We clean the carpets of an older lady’s house very often, and she always takes the time to get to know me and Taren a little better than she did the time before,” Sandwick said. “One time we arrived at her house around the holiday season, and she greeted each of us with a hug and an extra check as a Christmas present.

“Taren and I were a little astonished because we didn’t know how close she believed we were, but it was definitely a nice surprise and one I won’t forget.”

Sandwick receives his diploma in May, but said he plans to keep the job at Shorts Carpet until he is hired by a fire department in Tulsa.

“I have had thoughts of opening a carpet cleaning company myself after I graduate because most departments work 24 hours on the job and 48 hours off,” Sandwick said. “It would give me something to do on my days off to keep me occupied.”

Once Sandwick becomes a firefighter, he would like to buy himself a nice truck to replace his ‘93 white rodeo.

“I haven’t really been spoiled with the vehicles I have had over the years,” he said. “I’m not complaining, but it would be nice to have something reliable to get me around town.”

When the time comes for Sandwick to buy a house, he said material items aren’t a necessity to him. He desires a house large enough to support a family one day.

“If I was wanting all the nice, expensive stuff, I would be trying to find a good job in the fire protection industry, not being a firefighter,” he said.

While they are busy cleaning Stillwater carpets, Goodson is sitting in OSU classes as the Army finances his way to a degree of his choice.

Goodson, an International Business junior, joined the Army with a classification in infantry in October 2006.

Although Goodson’s grandfather served in the Army many years before, Goodson joined the Army for other reasons. The Army pays for his college tuition and fees and also pays him for drill training once a month.

“I wanted to serve my country the right way,” he said.

Goodson said the Army is giving him the chance to receive a higher education, as well as strengthening his morals about self-discipline, respect and fairness.

“Even though the Army has given me great opportunities, the hardest part is being away from my family for long periods of time,” he said.

Goodson said he went to Fort Benning for boot camp in Columbia, Ga., for 14 weeks.

Goodson said his time at boot camp started when the electric shaver got rid of his brown hair.

His hectic day began when he woke himself up before the sun rose at 4:30 a.m.

“If we were not up and ready by exactly 4:30, man did all hell break loose,” he said.

After the men’s daily wake-up time, physical training, which consisted of running and push-ups, lasted an hour each morning.

Goodson said they showered and ate breakfast after their physical training.

“Breakfast was always my favorite part of the day because the food was the best tasting of all our meals, and it filled me up the most,” he said.

After breakfast, the men trained until 5 p.m. While training, the men ate lunch in the field, which normally were MRE’S, or meals ready to eat.

“During the training, our drill sergeants were strict, of course, but they were fair and devoted their time to teaching us everything they knew,” he said.

Dinner at the barracks followed training. After dinner, Goodson said they cleaned up or did extra duties if need be.

The men received their personal time at 8 p.m., which was a time when letters could be read or written to their families.

An hour later, the bright lights turned to black.

Goodson survived boot camp, but he has to go through training once a month.

“The training I have to do each month doesn’t even compare to being away for 14 months straight for boot camp,” he said. “Apart from the hard work and being yelled at rather often, where else would someone be able to blow stuff up, while still learning to be a leader?”

Goodson has not been deployed and is uncertain whether he will. He said if there are deployments after October, he must go wherever he is needed.

While Goodson is learning to fight for his country, Savage is learning to fight to save the lives of people in need.

Savage, a training nurse at Meridian Technology Center, applied in August 2007 and was accepted in November 2007 after completing basic prerequisites. The program accepts seven people semiannually. Thirty-two students, at maximum, fill the room every six months.

Savage started planning her nursing career when she was a freshman in high school. She was given the opportunity to complete a four-year internship at the Elk City hospital. After observing the nurses for only two weeks, she knew she wanted to spend her life helping people.

“At first, I would have nightmares about what I saw at the hospital,” she said. “There was a point where I couldn’t eat ketchup without thinking about blood or fix a bowl of ramen noodles without thinking about different organs.”

Savage said blood has become a normal sight during the training at Meridian Technology Center.

A health core class, which teaches basic nursing skills, is the first step in the nursing program at the technology center. An anatomy and physiology class follows.

The students then move to nursing fundamentals, which Savage is in. During this time, students must pass certain skill labs with dummies, such as giving shots, taking blood and wiping the butts of those in need. The students are able to perform the particular skill on a person in their clinical work after the skills are passed by an instructor.

Savage is working on her clinical skills at the Stillwater Medical Center.

“The worst part about clinicals is waking up at 4 a.m. to be in the clinical setting by 6 a.m.,” she said. “I love the actual experience I am getting from working with real nurses and doctors.”

Savage will graduate with an LPN license in April 2009.

After Savage completes the program, she said she will never forget the friends and memories she has made.

“The people I am in school with know what it’s like to wake up at 4 a.m. and not be done until 8 or 9 p.m.,” she said. “They are always there to pat you on the back and tell you to keep going, knowing it will all be worth it someday.”