Now it might inspire the next “Cheech and Chong” film.

Two state workers have been suspended for secretly operating a clandestine party lounge called a “man cave” tucked away inside a maintenance area of the East Garage off Phillip Street, officials said Friday.

Louis Marciano, 50, of Rensselaer, a supervisor at the state Office of General Services, and sidekick Gary Pivoda, 48, of Latham, a janitor, set up couches, a television, DVDs and scales to weigh marijuana inside the man cave, state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s office said.

The IG office raided the hangout Tuesday night.

Pivoda was using his OGS truck to make drug deliveries to electricians, plumbers and other state workers, officials said. He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor use of drug paraphernalia and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Marciano has not been charged with any crimes.

The two men regularly clocked in around 4 p.m. Instead of working, they would get high and snooze while other workers cleaned Pivoda’s section in the East Garage at Madison Avenue and Eagle Street, the office said.

The pair also gave co-workers special access to the locked room. The raid uncovered rolling papers, DVDs, board games, playing cards and a refrigerator, officials said.

Fisch’s office said State Police were still investigating and did not rule out additional charges.

Two of their co-workers were arrested for smoking marijuana at work in December, Fisch’s office said.

To reach the man cave, one could turn left onto Phillip Street from Madison. The garage was by a ground level exit and entrance, officials said.

OGS Commissioner John C. Egan put a statement reading: “We will continue to report these activities to the authorities to ensure that our employees respect the law and realize that they work for the taxpayers of the state.”

Pivoda was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in state prison in March 1992 for an Oct. 30, 1990 burglary in Waterford. He was also arrested by the Capital District Drug Task Force in August 1990, charged with cocaine distribution as part of a ring. At the time he was identified as one of the “multi-ounce cocaine peddlers.”

Both workers have been suspended without pay.

Pivoda, a state worker since 2000, was making $29,600 annually. Marciano, whose state employment dates back 31 years, makes $37,470 a year.

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Discussion questions

1. Does man cave take single quotes, double quotes or no quotes? Either the editors couldn’t decide, or the person whose job this was has been laid off.

2. Whence the phrase “man cave”? Did it originate with the persons arrested, the police, or the reporter?