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Talkin’ Trash
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Human-to-Human Service
Posted: 01/28/2011
While walking the streets of Boston today, I noticed all of the people whose jobs are a lot more difficult because of the snow banks and the narrow, icy sidewalks. This blog post is dedicated to everyone who works outside in the mess that is winter. To the mailman navigating the narrow sidewalk with his cart in tow; the cab drivers dropping off slow-moving passengers with impatient people beeping their horns behind them; the pizza delivery guy climbing over the snowbank; the Fedex, UPS and every other delivery driver negotiating icy stairs, the moving crews and construction workers; and especially all of the trash men and women climbing through the snow and throwing the trash over the piles of snow to the truck.
Waltham Street is a one-way side street in Boston that is always fertile ground for a confrontation on trash day. On many occasions I’ve seen the huge, yellow trash truck turn the corner onto the street and stop so the workers can pick up trash from the curb. Moments later a car turns onto Waltham St. and encounters the truck blocking the road, and instead of backing up onto Tremont St. many drivers will lean on their horn, or worse, get out of their car and scream at the trash crew. Their job is hard enough without being yelled at and threatened. The next time it happens, I’m going to take pictures of the offenders and their cars (and license plates) and dedicate a blog post to THEM.
I had a chance to briefly chat with Vladimir and Nilson, the two guys in the picture below as they were working today. Despite getting yelled at a good portion of the day and working around the huge piles of snow, they both had a great attitude. I promised them I would say hello and feature them here in today’s post. Thank you for doing a great job guys, despite the terrible conditions. Enjoy the weekend.
Are there any workers impacted by the winter weather that you’d like to recognize?
18 Responses to “Talkin’ Trash”
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Permalink | Posted in Human-to-Human Service | 18 Comments »
Patrick –
You’re absolutely right about the trash guys. As a former (and soon to be returning!) resident of Boston, I found these guys to be unfailingly polite and good-natured in the face of terrible work stresses.
Whenever Boston gets hit with yet another terrible storm I think of all the hardworking and often underpaid folks who don’t have the option of working from home. First Responders, emergency room workers, MBTA employees, the aforementioned trash guys, NStar workers, etc. The folks who keep the city running.
When I had my beloved Simon (dog) I used to talk to the trash men who cleaned up Peter’s Park. I believe they really enjoyed the attention; they would talk to me about their lives. I remember once when I was walking Simon on Washington St; I heard a honk, turned to the street, and saw “my” trash guys in their truck. I miss talking to them.
Beautiful recognition. Cheers to the “trash guys” in all of us!
Thanks for making me more aware of all the peolpe that endure the winter weather to make our life easier! Another interesting topic!
I’d like to salute our delivery drivers- meat, wine, bread, produce and dairy! They slog through Boston’s South End,(Famous for its inability to park anywhere,) to deliver everything in every kind of weather condition! I especially love our Savenor’s delivery man, Dan, for walking four blocks with an entire lamb carcass on his shoulder when he couldn’t park any closer because of the snow! That must have been a sight for the faint of heart! Keep it up and keep inspiring us! Thanks, folks!
Dude I love how you are always on the side of the ‘little’ guy! Don’t ever stop being that way.
Hey Pat if you don’t mind I’m putting a link to your blog from mine.
Dignity and Respect (to restaurant workers and waste management professionals too:)
Me, The JerBear
Thanks for reminding me of what they face each day.
I was at the front of the traffic line stuck behind a Sanitation truck on 78th Street in NYC a few weeks back. Rather than put my hand on my horn (as everyone else did behind me), I watched in sheer amazement at the literal tons of trash that two guys lifted and hauled into the truck. Not only did they not seem to complain about the amount and weight of these disposals, they seemed to be in perfectly good spirits as they got an incredible workout. I find the same true of my own local sanitation men – always smiling and waving to the cars and neighbors passing by. We could all watch and learn a lot about humanity from them rather than blow our horns.
We live on a dead end in Boston, needless to say the snow is a huge hinderance to the trash, recycling and delivery folks and I am always amazed at how diligent and friendly they are. If I am out when they are I will offer them something hot to drink in the winter and something cold in the summer. Some do accept and are very appreciative. The UPS delivery guy is amazing….always friendly and he and I have actually shared plants. A little expression of appreciation and respect is so easy and simply put, very rewarding.
Thanks for yet another great post that keeps reminding us how easy and important it is to act right towards one another.
Great comments so far. Thanks to everyone who has joined the conversation.
The Boston Globe had a picture of a home heating delivery guy waist-deep in snow, with the hose over his shoulder, fighting to get to the fill pipe. Let’s not forget everyone who delivers fuel.
Let’s hear it for the trash collectors. They are doing a great job in extremely difficult conditions.
Thanks to my Newspaper delivery woman who has the paper on the step (never in the bushes) by 530 every morning no matter what the weather.
and to my 12 year old nephew who delivers local papers in the suburbs. Shovel those sidewalks folks, and don’t forget to tip the kid!
I posted a few photos of this in the past couple of weeks. I had photos of one of the fire trucks out on a call, a man spreading salt on a nicely cleared sidewalk, someone snow blowing, plow drivers, and gave a few high fives to people who had shovel out corners, storm drains and hydrants.
Today we watched moving men shovel paths from the sidewalks to their trucks. When you think about how stressful moving days are and what they probably put up with, that seems above and beyond.
Please check out the great photos on Penny’s site. Thank you.
http://www.bostonzest.com/
As I was locking the front door of Johnny D’s last night, a dozen bulldozers and dump trucks were clearing the mounds of snow on either side of Holland Street in Somerville. For the last week there was no place to park and some of the usual two-way streets had only one narrow passage open. By the time I left work, Holland Street had been cleared all the way to the sidewalk and it was good to see the pavement again, although from what I hear it might only be for a couple of days.
I work as a dog walker and it’s been pretty tough this year. Too many people don’t bother to shovel their entire walkways and I’ll suddenly find myself at a dead end, having to hoist myself and a dog over a huge snowbank to then have to walk in the street.
However, there is an even bigger issue resulting from these storms that greatly impacts my ability to do my job. I have to do a lot of driving throughout the day to get from visit to visit, and while I’m okay with driving in snow (grew up in Maine), it’s the parking that is the real problem. The practice of ‘marking’ parking spots becomes a huge issue for service professionals who are used to having those spots available to them during the day. Ideally I would be able to move the marker to park there for the 20 minutes or so that I’ll be walking their neighbors dog. In reality, that’s a really good way to get yourself an angry confrontation or even to be assaulted. So I end up driving around for two to three times as long to find a non-marked spot. It makes for some long, exhausting, stressful days.
I do understand the practice of ‘marking spots’, and before I lived in a place with off-street parking I used to do it myself. However, I would usually leave a note on the marker that would say what time I would be back, and letting people know it was okay to park there in the meantime, so long as they replaced the marker when they left. Seems like a more neighborly thing to do, that way someone who is only going to be in the neighborhood for a short while can park. It’s not just dog walkers, I can think of a few service professionals this applies to, such as house cleaners, mail carriers who have larger routes and rely on their cars, plumbers/electricians/contractors, home health care professionals, nannies/babysitters, etc. All these people park in the parking spots left behind when people go to work, and improve the quality of life for the neighborhood as a whole. Just something to think about as you put that lawn chair in your parking spot.
Indeed garbage men are an incredible breed. It’s a job that I don’t think I’d be able to do for long — and I deeply respect those who can do things that I either can’t or won’t do.
Having survived not one but two summertime garbage strikes in New York City, I have an abiding respect for these guys (and ladies).
And hey, being a garbageman isn’t necessarily a bad rap. In an episode of The Sopranos, Tony (James Gandolfini) is attending a high-brow neighborhood party and is asked “what do you do [for a living]?” He replies, “I’m in waste management.” The questioner probes, “what exactly is *that*?” Tony replies without skipping a beat, “I’m a garbageman.”
I don’t live in Boston, but here in Taunton our backstreets (upon one of which I happen to live) are normally only marginally plowed.
The exception being my parking lot in the apartment complex I live in. It’s a small unit, consisting of about eight apartments in a remodeled older home. We have limited parking, as we all have a vehicle and a designated spot to park in.
I don’t know the gentleman’s name that does the plowing, but without fail, and throughout these storms we’ve had, he’s kept our little lot clean and clear of snow. Heck, even this morning he cleared out our area of slush, and when I returned home tonight at midnight after work, fully expecting to have to plow my Civic through a pile of slush and snow (or worse, have to get out and shovel my way in), I found my lot (and as well my parking spot!) nicely cleared.
Thank you. To all of you that tirelessly toil throughout the night to keep our roads safe in bad weather, I salute you.
Patrick you DO choose such great topics! People in jobs or careers that many of us simply don’t really think about in our daily rounds.
Having lived in a few states where things are done differently, I have noticed that it applies to those amazing people we call garbagemen. In Florida, they drove around in monster machines and skillfully lined up with the bins, switched a few levers and these massive containers were flipped into the truck. In Illinois, the guys jumped out and man-handled the rather large containers into the rear of the trucks. And I have also seen a kinda combo of the above. (Bet those guys don’t need to join a health club!)
There was a strike in Toronto 2 summers ago of the garbagemen, and what a mess that was! Really makes you think about the importance of what they do. Also makes you think how much waste a person produces, and how maybe we can try to ease up on the amount.
Ok, another Frasier episode this reminds me of…when Roz was dating the garbageman hunk but was so embarrassed because of his job. Thankfully she saw the light and went back to him! Judgmental behaviour just needs to be done away with! Pollyanna again I know but why not???