The Cleaner

Cum doesn't clean itself. At one popular adult video store in Manhattan, that job falls to "T."

T works the night shift, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, making $6.25 an hour. "Mainly I'm the cashier," he says, sitting behind the register, a pile of girl-on-girl DVDs stacked behind him. "But I also clean the booths." He uses disinfectant, windex and bleach.

T is from South East Asia. He's been in New York for two years and plans to stay for one more. He says the money he's making will go a long way back home. He lives on Staten Island, and found the job through friends in his community.

Before coming to America T, who is 39 and unmarried, taught English to elementary school children. He hasn't told his family what he does, though they vaguely know it involves movies.

"They would never believe that these things are going on," he says. "You never see these things in our country." The store is stocked with girl-on-girl, boy-on-boy, boy-on-girl-on-boy, fetish, kink, everything. It sells dildos and penis pumps, latex and leather.

"I feel guilty doing this sometimes," T says. "But I need the money."

American society, he says, is "dirtier."

"Growing up, we had this idea that America was heaven. People talk like it's the best country in the world. No homeless people, nobody's poor." He looks over at his friend and fellow employee, also an immigrant. They laugh.

A couple of men shuffle around in the back of the store, perusing the DVD selection. One of the booths is in use, and several minutes later the man leaves and walks with his head down past us and out the door. Time to clean.

"Some are friendly, some are troublemakers," T says about the customers.

Two months ago he had to call the police because a group of guys were just "hanging out and refusing to leave." They weren't spending any money and started fighting with each other.

A couple weeks later three guys walked in, grabbed a bunch of DVDs and ran out.

"We had to chase them," T says with a smile.

But no question about it, the worst part of the job, T tells me in an embarrassed whisper, is cleaning the "cum, you know, sperm" in the peep show booths.

But that's not the extent of the nastiness he finds in there.

"Some people pee in the booths. It's disgusting. You're not allowed to, but sometimes two people go into a booth together to have sex. Then I've got to clean up after them."

-Robert Zeliger