Right up front: The garbage of this Roland Hansen Commentary is really a rant about garbage in Toledo; more specifically, it's a rant about the garbage collectors in Toledo, by which I mean the employees who actually do the collection of refuse for the City of Toledo Division of Solid Waste.
First off, let me say: I am very appreciative of the "garbage collectors" and the work performed by garbage collectors. Garbage collection and disposal is a hard and dirty job; and, garbage workers work hard.
(As an aside: Have you ever watched Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel with host Mike Rowe?)
HOWEVER, some of these garbage collectors are totally careless and their actions demonstrate a total disregard for public safety and total disrespect of people and their private property. For years, I have been silent about this out of respect for the hard-working, conscientious employees of the Solid Waste Division who I believe really are in the majority of employees; but, I remain silent no more!
How many times while driving down the street have you and I had to dodge garbage cans rolling around in the street after having been thrown purposely into the street by a careless garbage collector? This is a public safety issue; is it not?
This morning, once again, I saw, as I have seen on other occasions, the gargage collector throw my garbage can down on the street. Do you know how many garbage cans I have had to purchase because of the careless mistreatment by these city employees. It's not only my property with which this happens; it's a whole lot of other people's cans that receive the same mishandling and results in many a damaged-beyond-use gargage cans. Where is the respect of property? How would those specific garbage collectors feel if I went to their homes and purposely broke their personal possessions?
In regards to the reckless garbage collectors:
I say FIRE THEM. Dismiss them. Discharge them. Let them go. And do so for just cause. That way, the thoughtless, careless, disrespecting garbage collector will not be able to collect unemployment benefits. After all, it's not as though these poor-performing employees do such things by mistake or by accident. They do so with total disregard and lack of concern!
To all the other City of Toledo Division of Solid Waste employees who conscientiously work so hard at a job many others will not take, I say "Thank you very much" and I sincerely mean that.
3 comments:
What has 4 wheels and flies?
A Garbage truck, get it?
Roland,
Some videos sent to Council might be in order.
Better yet, post them on one of the video sites and email them the link.
That will force the city to unblock those sites for viewing...
And, you're right, most of these collectors do a very fine job; kudos to the good (the vast majority) ones ;-)
It's an unfortunate fact that the refuse collection industry is controlled to a large extent by organized crime. And why not? It's a multibillion dollar industry that, compared to manufacturing and retail, is relatively easy to operate, requiring only trucks and manpower. Now the City of Toledo wants to outsource its garbage collection to private sources, and the taxpayers are being told that it's because there will be some kind of tax savings. But don't be too quick to believe it. Over time, a private company can control the entire city's garbage routes and collection rates, which can become more costly to city residents. Sure, nobody likes a few banged up garbage cans but that shouldn't create a rush to hand over the responsibilities of local government to private industry. Above all, make certain your city and union representatives don't go "on the take." It's happened before and it can happen again.
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