Maintenance, what is your best dumpster diving find?

Maintenance ( or office staff who don’t mind getting their hands dirty)!what is your best dumpster diving find?
Mine is a Set of dining room furniture that my ex sold for $6500.00 on eBay to the Wyeth gallery.
Let’s hear your “one mans trash is another Man’s treasure” story

You dug it out of an actual dumpster?

Not it was sat beside the compactor.

A puppy.
Named her McKenzie, kept her for 18 years.

Once I found a shark in the compactor

Vacuum?

Nope! We are by the Gulf and it was an actual shark. And yes it was dead.

My dog. A resident actually found her in a box behind the dumpster but brought her in the office right before closing time so I had to take her home with me for the night. 9 years later, she’s still here! She’s our little snuggle baby.

Free storage containers...used them to move my mini models. score

I hauled this cabinet from the trash and that vintage mirror from a trash out.
Then, cleaned and painted them to fit my decor at home.

I have never taken anything as I’m scared of stuff- I just get grossed out.

I am too. I had that cabinet in my backyard for ever. First thing I did was hose it down with bleach and soap. Then, let it dry and sit out before I sanded and painted it. Same thing with the mirror. I completely took it apart and replaced the back of it.

A hand made oak 3 piece Gun cabinet. With secret compartments and all. Take 4 guys to carry each piece.

Didn't have to dumpster dive for this.... resident took off on hubby and didn't say when she would be back..... they got evicted, he took all his stuff and left hers. Waited the 31 days and released the furniture and her items to the staff for removal. Got brand new bunk beds with mattresses still in the wrappers. A 55 inch TV and the guys divided the rest unmungst themselves.

Dresser, night stands, and console - they were “exposed to asbestos”

My janitor is the absolute queen of trash to treasure!!! She is amazing and refurbishing furniture!!! She has an eye to see things that even as crafty as I am I just don’t see!!

Love it! I refinish furniture - did it for my side hustle while working Dave Ramsey’s baby steps back in the day. My favorite piece I kept. A manager from a C property called me and she and her maintenance guy loaded me up. I bought them lunch. This was like 7+ years ago and is my fav piece in my house still.

Made it into my personal coffee station. The other side is all teas. Looking now, I think I need to touch it up some.

Usually it's covered in bed bugs

These two lucky A-holes were found in the compactor. A resident called and said the compactor was meowing. They were just tiny kittens at the time and I brought them home. Now they live in the lap of luxury

A 6 ft St Mary statue with real gold that was used to smuggle drugs. We didn’t get to keep it

Brand new laptop. Managed near Denver University. Very wealthy students - well, the parents had all the money LOL. Yes I actually crawled in the dumpster.

It’s crazy what people throw away instead of giving it to someone

I had parents come and clean out the apartment for their son, and asked if I knew anyone that could wear jeans she had. Brand new, hardly worn, name brand. I said, "He isn't taking these with him?" She laughed and said, "My dear, these are Colorado clothes. These are not suitable for California." I assured her I would give them to soneone who could use them. My son enjoyed all 15 pair. Even found a $20 in one of the pockets!

Saw a bunch of shoes in residents thin trash bag left in a garage after
Moving out that had Nike symbols. Opened the bag and most were brand new never worn (no creases or scuffs on the soles). One pair was vintage worth $800 on sneaker head sites. Kept them since they fit lol.

3 Rolex watches. 2 were high quality knock offs, 1 ended up being authentic.

Maintenance Supervisor found 3 Armani suits. In his size.

Wow at all the fur babies that have been rescued! I had a resident pass away and we inherited a 16 year old black lab named Mrs. Jackson. She’s with Jesus now though, but lived out her final 1.5 years with us.

80% of my furniture is from our properties' trash rooms. My coffee table, my end tables, my office chair, my tv and small dresser/tv stand in my bedroom. I have a huge bookshelf from a resident that offered it to me because she just didn't want to move it. And my bed frame and mattress were brand new and a resident at one of our properties just didn't pick it up from the package room for 6 months and then moved and said she didn't want it anymore. Oh, and I found a brand new PS4... it was just missing the cords which were like $20 to replace.

Same for the furniture. I’ve even given away the things I bought because I found better stuff in the trash