Truly unsung heroes

[Warden Callaway]

I thought about this yesterday as we were out getting supplies.  As we came back in,  I stopped and picked up our trash can at the end of the drive (a full half mile from the house). I was pleased the whole chain of supply and services were still working. 

 

In the social media I see people giving thanks to the medical workers, truck drivers, and the many other trades that serve us.  But I've not seen any thanks to the trash collectors.  These people have a dirty job to begin with.   But now add add picking up trash that contains all the nasty stuff we've discarded that may have the virus.  Then times a thousand households. 

 

I did a Googe search and the things I explored were more on the lines on new guidelines for trash collecting.  

 

So..  Thank you trash collector person! 

[Pat Riot]

I agree! ALSO:

Thank you to the people supplying our utilities, water, sewerage, cable, internet, mail & package deliveries, roadway workers, etc. Thank you to all of those that supply the support and services that we all take for granted. 

[DocWard]

Interestingly, I was running behind getting my trash out a some weeks back, and had a couple of bulky items. The guy on the back of the truck motioned the driver to wait and comes jogging down my driveway to help me. Really nice guy, commented on how long we've been customers and everything. I told him they do a great job and I appreciate the hard work, and reached out to shake his hand (when you still could). He looked pleasantly surprised and pulled his glove off and shook my hand, with a big smile.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Thank you to all the meter maids who are staying home as non- essential.

[Warden Callaway]

Our trash guy is not young, maybe in his 50s. He's not big, maybe 5'-9" and I'd guess his weight at about 150 pounds.  I've spoken at him a few times and he'll not slow down to make a conversation but will acknowledge my comment.  He works alone so he has to climb into and out of the truck untold numbers of times in a day moving up to next house. The floorboard of the truck is near his height. Then he works at a fast trot. I've driven trucks and big machines and even a few times in an out works on my legs and joints. I couldn't do his job.  

 

When a young man with a family,  I worked at a sewage treatment plant for about 6 months until I could get better employment.  What a stinking job. It was an old facility that basically separated the sewage and ran the solid mass through a digester. Liquid just pasted on through to a lagoon.  As bad as that was, two guys had it even worse.  Their job was to go down into sewers and clean out clogs. I picture them in their jump suits and rubber boots. You can imagine the rest.  But they were a jovial pair. Always with a story to tell. Nobody stood close to them.  It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

[Sedalia Dave]

I never understood why some people look down on janitors, sanitation workers and other in similar trades.  Best vacuum I ever bought was because I asked for advice from the crew that cleaned out office spaces. Figured a guy that made his living with one would know a thing or two about them.

 

That Sanitaire picks up dog hair like nobodies business and at the time I bought it was way cheaper than anything sold at a big box store. Been running strong for over 15 years. A belt and a beater brush is all that has ever been done to it.

 

Couple of places I was stationed the same crew picked up trash every week. Used to leave hot coffee and snacks for them on the extra cold days. 

Did the same for the mailman when we were stationed at China lake. He was a really nice guy that looked out for those on his route. He saved a woman's life when she didn't pick up her mail one day. Knew she lived alone and had a pretty strict routine. So instead of just leaving the second days mail in the box, he knocks on her door and hears a cry for help. Calls 911 and when they get into the house they find out that she had fallen and broken her hip. Lucky for her, she fell in the laundry room where she stored bottled water.

[Cypress Sun]

If I home when the truck runs, I'll take a cold bottle of water out to the guy on the back of the truck. These guys work in all kinds of weather conditions, hot, cold, rain and snow (no snow around here).  

 

I often use the garbage bill as a leverage tool when negotiating prices with the internet/cable providers. I'll say something like "Why am I being charged $200.00 a month for internet/phone/cable and you guys don't even leave your office".  "Meanwhile, I have a company come to my house twice a week to pick up and remove the nasty, smelly trash that I don't want for $28.00 a month". They never know what to say and usually will offer a better deal.

[Pat Riot]

I occasionally see the men that drive the garbage trucks in my neighborhood. It always seems like different guys (they run 3 trucks for trash, garden waste and recycling and drivers move to different routes) but I always stop and wave at them.

One day the guy was running the lift that picks up and dumps the cans and he apparently made a wrong move and launched all the cardboard in the recycling bin right over the top of the truck and into the street. Not sure what happened there, but I hustled our to help him pick it up and once we did that I told him “Hey, thank you for picking our trash every week. We really appreciate your service.”

He looked kind of surprised and then he smiled and said “I appreciate that, but I am just doing my job.”

I followed up with “Well, we do appreciate it.”

I have seen that same guy a couple of times since and he ways smiles and waves. 

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

Thanks to Henry, our UPS delivery man.  He makes sure that our deliveries are placed on our porch so that they do not get rained or snowed on, and if it is perishable he will call us to let us know it is there.

 

Duffield

[Subdeacon Joe]

Last summer when Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was getting ready for a potential power shut off I saw a PG&E pick up come up to one of our neighbors places. Guys got out and were looking around as if trying to find something.  I went to see if I could answer any questions.  They were there to let the guy know about the potential for power being out because he is a Lifeline (or something like that) customer who uses some sort of medical device that needs electricity. I let them know where the front door to his place was - not obvious from the street - and that they weren't home.  Thanked 'em for their work and commented that they must take a lot of abuse what with the fires and now the power outages.  They laughed and rolled their eyes and said "Yeah."  and that they had been expecting to take a ration from me when they saw me come out.  I said something like "I don't understand that.  You are the guys who quite literally put your lives on the line for us, out in the dark, in the rain, trying to restore power when storms knock it out.  Or, out in the heat during the summer doing the same.  It's the REMFs who deserve the abuse."  

There is a huge largely unseen and un-thought of infrastructure that keeps us running. As others have pointed out, mostly in hard, dirty, and often dangerous jobs.  Remember the (quite literal) stink raised in NY back in the '70s when the garbage workers went on strike for almost a month? Unfortunately the lessons from that didn't stick.  Every time teachers go out on strike one of the lines that gets dragged out is "Teachers are important!  Why are they paid less than garbage men?"  Because, you idiot, you can't get sick from teachers being on strike.  You can't be overrun with vermin if classes are not in session.  No offense to teachers meant here, just pointing out that sanitation has almost immediate and dangerous effect on society.