The Awesome Respect That the High-Rise Window Washers of New York City Have For the Job

The New Yorker recently profiled John McDermott and John Wren, two veteran high-rise window washers, who have been cleaning the windows of New York City for over thirty years. Each man spoke of how he got started, what kept him going and the awesome respect he has for the job.

Window cleaning is not for everybody. I mean it takes a certain kind of character to do it. Somebody who’s missing the self-preservation chip, I guess. …you know that if you fall for five floors, you die. People do go down and its a shame when it happens. …The more chances you took, the more money you’d make. It was insane, I know but we did it.