It took New Jersey artist/construction worker Rick Syers and Halloween to prompt the New York paparazzi, numerous celebrities and national media to look at the portable restroom in a whole new way.
Syers, with help from portable sanitation contractor Johnny On The Spot of Old Bridge, N.J, landed in a full-page cover photo in the New York Post dressed up as a guy reading a newspaper in a portable restroom. Syers was interviewed on CNN, met daytime talk show host Dr. Phil, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, and won $5,000 in costume contest prizes.
You can see Syers walking the streets of New York at www.youtube.com. Type Syers’ name in the search box and you’ll find numerous videos.
The Halloween hoopla began a week earlier when Syers called Johnny On The Spot president Jesse Thompson and asked if he could use some of the company’s restroom labels for a unique costume. Syers is a construction worker who was familiar with the JOTS restrooms, having used them regularly on jobsites, Thompson said.
“He’s a construction worker who’s a fan of ours. We didn’t know him,” said Thompson, who granted the unusual request, not realizing the costume would create such a stir. “I mailed him the stickers and never thought I would hear from him again. Boy was I wrong.’’
Takin’ it to the street
The New York Post called Thompson on Halloween and wondered if he sent Syers out with the costume to generate business, explaining that thousands of people were taking photos of him on street corners in Manhattan. Thompson later found out about the CNN interview, Good Morning America coverage and Syers’ brushes with celebrities who emerged from television studios to take photos of him. Later in the day, Syers won costume contests at Manhattan nightclubs.
“We had a lot of buzz here; the phone was really frying that day,’’ Thompson said. For all of the publicity, the stunt didn’t generate any immediate business for the restroom provider, and Thompson is reluctant to let the joke go any further. Thompson said it was all right to have a little fun at the expense of the industry, but wouldn’t hear of the potty humor under any other circumstances.
“In the context of Halloween, it’s good fun and we loved it, but 364 days a year, I would have cringed if I saw that,’’ Thompson said. “We never go the humor route. We don’t say we’re No. 1 in the No. 2 business or anything like that. We don’t take a tacky approach.’’
Thompson said Syers would like to continue to use the costume for other purposes, but he will ask the artist to remove the restroom service company’s stickers and paint the fake restroom so it no longer resembles their trademark green and tan Satellite Industries Tufway units.
Johnny On The Spot was started in 1969 when septic pumping company Central Jersey Septic expanded into portable restrooms. The two companies employ 125 people and serve New Jersey and counties just beyond the state border.
