My Struggle With The Trash Man

It is now 6:45 AM Eastern.
It is still dark outside.
I just looked out of my window upon hearing the sound of a truck in front of my house.
The school buses don't start coming for another 25 minutes.
Yes!  It is the trash truck that I was waiting for.

My scheduled Trash Day is on Thursdays.  They used to come at 8:30am.  Recently they have been coming at 7:30am.   No problem.  I typically put the trash out the night before on my way to the gym.  This week my schedule was off.

Yesterday I forgot to put out my trash bin early.  The sound of the truck outside reminded me.   I saw that the truck was up the street.  Since they have to come back down the street to get out of the subdivision I knew I still had a chance.

I pulled my trash bin INTO THE STREET.  Not on the drive way or the grass strip - that his partner usually returns the emptied bin to.   IN THE STREET where there is no doubt.
I put a full trash bag on top of the bin to alert the driver that this was a bin that needed to be collected.  The lid from the bin was slightly prompted up from the other bags that was contained within.  Long story short - there is no way that he could not see this.

Instead of waiting in the cold for the truck to come, waving it down to stop (as I have done before) I decided to go back into my house and see if the guy would stop.

I saw a streak of lights as that truck drove right by my house on its way out.

Yes I was mad.  There is no way the man could have missed my bin.   He had to say to himself "I am not stopping.  You should have had your trash out when we first came past".

Keeping this trash for another week was not an option.  The bin was already full.  With one more week I would have overflowing trash.

I jumped into my truck to pursue the wayward trash truck.  It had already cleared a side street and was about to head into another section of the subdivision.  I flashed my lights and blew my horn.  When the truck stopped at a house to pick up its trash I told my story to the guy working the back of the truck.  He pointed me to the driver.

As I was driving up to the truck I realized that my DISPOSITION in talking to these two (Black) men was important.  I could not be angry or demeaning.

When I got up to the driver I said "Excuse me sir.  I live at XXXX.  I put my bin out late, after you all went up the street.  I put it in the street so you could see it but you drove past it.   Help me out here.   Could you come back through and empty my bin?"

He told me that he would finish the subdivision and come back through.  He showed benign indifference to everything that I was telling him.  But he was not indignant either.

I called the phone number on the side of the bin as soon as I got home as a safety measure.   The customer service agent on the phone pulled me up in the system and apparently talked directly to the driver.  Again he promised to come by but later that afternoon after he ran his routes.

4:45pm.  My trash bin is still sitting in the street.
You know that trash bag that I put on top?  Some stupid crows had pecked their beaks through the bag and pulled out coffee filters and peanut shells, scatting them on the ground.  I have seen them in action before so this is how I know who's "finger prints" are on the crime scene.

I called customer service once again.  She told me "That truck is now off duty."  She called the supervisor.  He said that the driver must have forgotten.  He asked her to e-mail him my address and he would make sure that the crew returned to my house tomorrow.

Now Is Tomorrow
Because the driver was an ass did not stop to pick up what was clearly a full bin - he was forced to return the next morning to do what he was supposed to do.    How much time and diesel fuel was spent because he didn't do the "right thing" in the first place?

99% of the time his choice to drive past a full container on a route that they had already serviced would have been taken as a loss for the homeowner.   They simply would have pulled it back in and waited for the next scheduled service day.

I admit my partial liability in the matter BUT the 45 seconds necessary for them to stop, unload my bin and continue along their way was far less than the series of events that were triggered due to his choice not to stop.

I was preparing to call the Homeowners Association to make sure that at least one complaint was registered so that when the contract renewal was up for bid - the company would have to answer for the CHOICE of one of its drivers.

Ironically the audio recording on the customer service line had the company founder staying "We pride ourselves in offering quality performance and the highest level of customer service".  In this case the company came through.  The individual worker needs to have a visit from "The Undercover Boss".