I am writing in response to Patti Maguire's little hissy fit. I would like to tell her that all the guys that work for the city are the hardest-working bunch of guys that it is her misfortune not to know.
When my husband comes home from work he is exhausted on most days. He doesn't work on the packer everyday so it is not his main job to throw trash. But the guys that are on the packer every day are the ones I always feel sorry for. They earn every penny they are paid. I, myself, don't think they are paid near enough. They are out there in all kinds of weather. Right now they have to suffer through this awful cold we are having. They are out in the rain when it thunderstorms, or they're out in snowstorms, or in the cutting wind, or the heat of summer. Can you imagine how bad everyone's trash smells while it has been sitting out in near 100 degree heat? And these poor guys have to put up with all that and just do their routes everyday.
And do you think they ever get any thanks from any of the city's residents? Seldom. They just get letters from cranks with nothing else to do with their time.
Did Patti ever think that maybe her trashbag was too heavy? Sometimes the trashcans fill up with ice or snow and the guys can't lift them. Or the ice freezes the cans to the ground or the bag freezes to the inside of the can. And then when one of the guys try to lift the overweighted can they get in trouble for not leaving it and running the risk of getting injured on the job.
One final thing I would like to tell Patti is that these city workers work harder in one week than she has probably worked in her entire lifetime.
