New Yorker Shares Horrific View of a Trash Bag Mountain Outside Her Only Window

A New Yorker has shared the view from the only window in her apartment—a mountain of trash bags—and revealed that she pays more than $1,500 a month for the privilege of living there.

Caroline Gelgot shared a clip of her Manhattan studio to her TikTok account, jokingly captioned: "Stop dreaming, start doing."

She films her modest kitchen, with a cooker, counter space and appliances, before focusing in on the window. Outside is an enormous pile of trash bags, with the stack of black and white refuse sacks filling a courtyard and nearly blocking her view of anything else.

"If you're looking for a sign to move to New York City, this is it," she wrote in an on-screen caption. The clip, which can be seen here, has racked up more than 3.3 million views since it was posted on Monday.

The trash mountain sparked a number of questions from TikTokers, which Gelgot answered in follow-up clips. In one video, she revealed that she pays $1,575 a month for the studio.

She said: "It's technically supposed to be $1,890, but because of COVID pricing they didn't want to drop the price too low. So, there's two months for free for the first 12 months, of the lease that I signed. So, after 12 months it will go up to $1,890, which I absolutely can't afford, $1,575 was the maximum of my budget so I'll be moving out after 12 months.

"It's actually a really nice apartment, like, this is the nicest one I toured in Manhattan, besides the view. It's pretty spacious for a studio, there's the biggest kitchen I've ever seen in a studio in Manhattan. And all utilities are included except for wi-fi. Plus, they didn't charge me extra for the view."

In response to viewers asking why the garbage pile was so big, she explained that it was both the refuse and the recycling.

"So, the recycling is taken out three times a week and the trash taken out twice a week, but there's an overlap so they both get taken out on Mondays at 5pm. So, that right there was taken earlier today, like, a Monday morning, so that's the worst it ever gets," she said.

"Right now, I'll show you the view. It's dark right now but no trash, just a beautiful courtyard. So, tomorrow it'll start piling up again and we'll repeat the cycle until Monday. Also, there was no garbage out there when I toured the place," Gelgot added.

Despite the trash mountain, Gelgot confirmed that she had "never seen a cockroach" outside or inside since moving in, and only "one or two" small mice running around outside.

"There's flies on the trash, like, swarming around the trash when there's a lot of trash out there," she added. But she clarified that only a few flies get inside and it's no worse than any other apartment she's lived in.

The trash pile doesn't smell, she said, adding: "But also I moved in in the middle of September so it hasn't really gone above 80 degrees. So, I think in the summer it will probably be disgusting."

A clip shared on Wednesday, showing the empty courtyard, has been watched 1.9 million times.

Gelgot said: "This is the view that I saw outside the window, when I toured the apartment back in August. I toured it on a Monday night."

Sharing a clip of the trash bins, she continued: "This is what I was greeted with when I moved in in September. Yeah, at no point in the entire process did they mention that this is where they stored the garbage. It wasn't in the lease, they didn't mention it when I toured. Never. I was emailing with them multiple times before I signed the lease.

"I emailed them about this the first week I was there, because first of all it's gross, I don't want that there. That's embarrassing, even though I'm sharing that on TikTok right now. And then also please notice this is my fire escape, I don't have another window to a street or anything. This is how I'd escape in a fire." She goes on to point out what she claims are multiple fire hazards.

Commenting on the original video, Zebra simply wrote: "I don't know how people can live in NY!"

Jessie posted: "This is why I will not live on the first floor."

"Learned this lesson as well. Never get basement or ground floor apartments in New York," Liz added.

Newsweek has reached out to Gelgot for comment.