My First Time Trying That Big Street Cleaning Machine

So yeah, my city park maintenance job finally put me on street cleaning duty last Tuesday. Boss just pointed at that giant beast of a machine parked near the garbage bins and said "Figure it out, Tim." Cool. First time ever touching one of those things. Looked like a weird cross between a truck and a giant vacuum cleaner on steroids. Feeling kinda clueless.

Getting Stuck Before Even Starting

Walked up to it, all confident-like. Saw a bunch of levers and buttons inside the cab. Like, way too many. Sat in the driver's seat feeling dumb. Don't know which button makes the dang thing go. Tried pushing a random red one – nothing. Another green button? Still nothing. Realized maybe I needed to turn the key first. Oops. Found the ignition after scrambling around near the steering wheel. Turned it, engine roars loud enough to scare pigeons off the roof. Success!

Next problem. How do I make the actual cleaning part work? Saw a big panel thing on the outside. Opened it. Found:

• One big hose
• A water tank cap
• A thing that looked like brushes underneath
• A dial marked "Water Pressure"

Right. Time to fill it up. Grabbed the water hose nearby – took me five minutes just figuring out how to screw it onto the tank. Filled the tank right up. Now, how the heck do I get the brushes spinning?

Making a Huge Mess (By Accident)

Back inside the cab, I spotted a joystick thingy near my knee. Figured that controlled the brushes. Pushed it forward hard. Suddenly, WOOSH – brushes drop fast and scrape the pavement like a metal monster. Loud scratching noise made me jump. Water starts spraying everywhere like a broken fire hydrant. Hit a parked bicycle someone left near the curb. Damn it. I'm just making things dirtier!

Panicked and yanked the joystick back. Brushes lift up, but dirty water puddle's already on the street. Boss shouts from across the street: "TURN THE PRESSURE DOWN FIRST, MORON!" Oh. The dial. I hadn't touched it. Turned the pressure knob from "MAX" down to "MID". Should've done that before, huh.

Actually Cleaning a Street (Sort Of)

Okay, reset. Ignition on. Gently pushed the brush joystick forward. Brushes lowered slow this time, just grazing the pavement. Eased the truck forward super slow – crawling speed. Brushes started swirling, picking up old leaves and candy wrappers. That pressure dial thing? Made the water spray hit just right, washing away grime but not soaking shop windows.

Drove that sucker down Maple Street, sticking close to the curb. Saw the brushes eating up gum wads and dust bunnies. Water washed all the crap towards the gutter where the big sucky hose thing (whatever it's called) slurped it all up into the tank. Like magic! Kept checking behind me: clean wet line followed me down the whole block. Actually working!

Took ages though. Realized speed matters – going too fast leaves streaks, too slow wastes time. Found a sweet spot where it cleaned proper without taking all day.

The "After" Part Nobody Talks About

Finished Maple Street feeling proud. Parked it back near the bins. Turned ignition off. Almost walked away. Then remembered: that tank's full of filthy sludge now. Forgot about emptying it! Hooked up a different hose to the drain valve thing. Brown muck pours out stinking like week-old garbage soup. Had to wash out the tank with clean water twice before it stopped smelling like death. Lesson learned: cleanup starts AFTER the cleaning.

So yeah, that was my day wrestling the pavement shark. Looks simple watching city guys do it, but trust me – filling it up first, lowering brushes soft, pressure dial low to start, going slow, and emptying that gross tank after? That's the real secret for sparkly streets without flooding the neighborhood. Or hitting bikes. Still can't believe they pay me to do this.