Former drivers remain furious over years of abuse. “Who does this fuckin’ scumbag think he is? He looks like he crawled out of a dumpster.” And now the drivers are an existential threat to the business. In June 2015, more of them sued, seeking more unpaid overtime. But this suit has class-action status; more than 1300 pump-truck drivers are currently represented. Charlie has always settled, but not now. “This is the case where I have had it, and I want to fight back to the end. And now the drivers have to, you know, pay.” If Charlie goes to trial and loses, the damages could be in the 10s of millions of $. Call-a-Head would be finished. Charlie has new competition, too: Private equity is making a porta-potty play. In July 2017, Platinum Equity, a Beverly Hills–based investment firm, bought United Site Services, the nation’s largest portable-toilet conglomerate. Charlie frequently fields calls encouraging him to sell. His payday would be enormous, perhaps as much as $40M. He always refuses. And then, in December, Gary Weiner dropped a bombshell. He had just sold himself to United Site Services. Mr. John was throwing in the towel. Within days, the toilet giant was calling Call-a-Head’s clients, offering a 30% discount on rentals. (Weiner disputes this.) A battle with Wall Street and “a lot of college-educated people from Harvard” loomed, but Charlie saw only “bean counters” who didn’t understand the industry. “This is my life. I love it. I’ll always be doin’ it.”

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