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Video: Fearless Window Washer Working High Up Without A Safety Harness
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 23, 2013
Modified Apr 23, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 23, 2013
Modified Apr 23, 2013
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Safety harnesses are for amateurs—all the cutting-edge window washers know the real thrill of the job comes from working without any restrictions, with your body free to improvise a spontaneous interpretive dance with gravity. The unidentified window washer in this video below knows the key to impeccably clean windows is an artisan who isn't handcuffed by all the Man's ropes and straps. Confining this guy to a harness would be like trying to transfer John McClane to a desk job:
The person who uploaded the video explains, "The daredevil workman had nothing to stop him falling 100ft to the ground as he shuffled from window to window at the New York office block. Passers-by watched from the Manhattan street below and from neighboring buildings as he fearlessly perched on the ledge with not even a rope to protect him."
One tipster who works in the area tells us, "I'm almost 100% certain that this is the same window washer that works out of the Garment District — and the church looks like the Church of the Holy Innocents on 37th Street. He cleaned our windows — once. He goes door to door offering window cleaning services and when he washed ours, he smelled of alcohol and had his son in tow. It was so crazy to watch him hang out our 10th floor windows with no safety harness that I had to leave the room. We never let him back in." And it's safe to say their windows have never felt so alive since.
Tagged
safety
Window Washers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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