Dear Mr. Sanitation Guy,
This is a valentine – written to thank you for your faithful service and to let you know that we – the people you seldom see — appreciate you and your good work.
Seattle recently has been a trash-free island in a sea of distress. In nearby suburban towns and cities (Bellevue, Lynnwood, Kent, and Edmonds among them), there was no garbage service for days. The Teamsters Union was striking and without workers there was no suburban service.
Fortunately for the burbs that dispute has since been settled. But in the days prior, garbage piled up in suburban homes creating possible health and safety hazards. Carloads of homeowners seeking to deposit accumulating trash at pickup sites sat idling in lengthy lines.
As I watched TV news clips of the suburban misery, I couldn’t help thanking my lucky stars that I was not forced to join those endless lines. It gave me a chance to reflect on how often we take for granted your service.
I suppose each route in the day of a garbageman (or woman, if there is such a person) is different. Nevertheless, the job of traversing my dead-end, sidewalk-less street, must be particularly challenging. Every Wednesday (my designated pickup day) my street is chockablock with obstacles: parked cars, repair trucks, Amazon delivery vans and random service vehicles. The busy thoroughfare also accommodates the random dog-walker, occasional children at play, and local traffic as well as each residence’s garbage receptacles.
Somehow you, the intrepid garbageman, must navigate this difficult couple of blocks in an over-sized truck. You must allow time for your partner to dump each garbage bin, making room for problem pickups (perhaps a large accumulation of Amazon-inspired cardboard, an extra bag of clean green, or bagged leftovers from a party). Meanwhile, you the driver must constantly adjust for passing traffic and sometimes are forced to back-up the steep hill at street’s end. Backing the monster truck requires expert maneuvering and assumes eyes in the back of your head.
That you traverse this route safely, week after week, is a minor miracle. I don’t know what Teamsters’ pay scale offers these days. But I suspect it’s barely enough. And I can only wish that there would also be some opportunity for residents to say: Thank you, thank you, you do an incredible job and have earned our gratitude.
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Thank you! I agree, although my street is not so perilous as yours. A public service for all of us, not just for the few of us at the expense of the rest of us. Some things are definitely worth an acknowledgment.
Hear hear! All hail garbage haulers! My service provider is Waste Management, and they don’t have a partner. It’s one guy moving forward, jumping out, wrestling the bins and my many extra yard waste bags, then jumping back in and moving a bit forward. In an area with very narrow streets and incredibly steep hills.
Like the line workers at City Light and Puget Sound Energy who are out in the worst elements when storms — or dangerous drivers — take out our power, I appreciate that these vitally important workers are protected by union contracts with decent pay and benefits.