When most people think of doing something nice for their garbageman they think of the holidays.You know...when the people who help our lives function get recognized with cards of thanks, monetary gifts, etc. While this is fine and good (potential future post, maybe) have you ever thought to just say hello and see how you can help make your garbageman's job easier?
Let me explain.
I had a conversation with the gentleman, who, every Tuesday picks up our recyclables. Through this brief conversation I learned that he was (repeatedly) frustrated with our neighbor.
Why?
Our neighbor (a very kind man) through no fault of his own was making our garbageman's job a little tougher and a little more frustrating (every week) by none other than placing his garbage can right next to his mailbox. This was causing a problem.
You see, today's garbage trucks have mechanical arms that reach out of the truck and lift the can and it's belongings into the main collection bin. If anything (like a mailbox) is too close to this mechanical arm the garbageman can't efficiently do his job (for fear of ripping the mailbox out of the ground). He must now stop the truck, get out, re-position the can and then use the mechanical arm to lift the can to empty its contents into the bin.
Can you imagine how frustrating this would be day in and day out (as I'm sure my neighber is not the only one doing this)?
So, take a moment and talk with your garbage man! You never know what you may learn.
After learning my garbageman's frustrations I let my neighbor know (in a nice way) that the garbageman said it would be helpful for him to put his trash cans on the other side of his driveway so as to avoid damaging his mailbox during his weekly Tuesday visit.
My neighbor happily obliged.
Problem solved. A little thoughtfulness lead to one less frustration for our garbageman. Could you imagine if everyone did this? Garbage men everywhere would be so happy!
***(Because I grew up with the term garbage men I in no way mean to disrespect the profession by not using the politically correct terms sanitation engineer and sanitation worker throughout this post. I also know that not all garbage men are men. Women do this job too. For my first post, I chose to write in a way that I would speak normally. Please do not take offense to my word choice as my intentions are to make these folks jobs easier)***
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