I began doing a monthly co-op and thought nothing of leaving the boxes at the curb once a month. They didn't seem to mind.
I didn't make the connection when we began weekly produce co-op. I DID notice our garbage service was getting REALLY bad. I did notice an extra charge for extra cans. We began recycling. The garbage men didn't seem to note that we were trying and our service got worse and worse.....Last week I found our garbage cans TOSSED OVER OUR FENCE.
I instituted "operation suck up". I went to Sam's and bought 4 6 packs of Pepsi. Friday I MADE Jamin run out (this is way beyond his comfort zone but I was still in my robe) and give them 2 6 packs of Pepsi. They smiled. But look how they left our cans. I'm determined to change their image so that we become the "nice house with the soda and cookies" rather than "that house with all the boxes and extra garbage!"
This cracked us up! Not only are the cans NOT thrown in the alley or over the fence....they are in the right spot, but they were obviously nicely placed with handles all pointing out for our ease. ::snort:: We're making progress.
8 comments:
I love this. We are one of the families with very little garbage. It amazes me when a family of 3 or 4 has 3 or 4 cans out each week. We usually only have one. We recycle all paper, cans, bottles and plastic and we have a compost bin for all our produce scraps.
Our cans get set out on the road, but the garbage man sets them upside down very neatly each week. I notice he tosses our neighbors in the ditch! LOL
Best success on your "buttering-up" campaign.
This disturbs me...I need to think about why...I'm sad this has to happen at all...It is rather comical about the DRAMATIC change!...It kinda reminds me of children throwing a tantrum and getting rewarded for it w/pepsi...I expect trash removal is a thankless job and it sounds like y'all made their day! OK, now I'm lol.
Sis: Now you are sounding like me at times. I like trying to change people’s actions as I respond to them in a nice way.
It works at school. I even had one illegal defend me a week back when one of his friends said something in Spanish etc. Also have some rough neck boys who now open doors for me.
Kinda fun to go on a campaign to reach people in subtle ways and not so subtle ways. :)
Will pray that some day they will ask you why you are so nice.... then they will get a good ear full. :)
l/p
DeEtta,
I think doing something as little as giving soda to the garbagemen made their day. I"m sure theirs is a thankless job.
You mentioned that you noticed an extra charge for extra cans. That's not uncommon. We had the same thing in FL but they would let is slide if it were only occassionally....
The thing we do not like about living in quarters in Germany is the lack of recycling plastic. We recycle paper (including boxes), glass and cans but not plastic :( I find it quite disturbing to throw it in the trash; seems so weird after two years of recycling it in FL.
Darshia - it also bothered me...and REALLY bugged the boys. WHY should we give them extra to do a good job??? They should do it. BUT I wanted to do this becuase I realized that it is a thankless job, and we HAD unknowingly taken advantage of them. I explained that when we leave the area a big mess it's gross for them. That when we put extra stuff out each week it's more work than we are paying them to do....
Jamin had to run the soda out and was mortified. I asked why he was embarassed and he said, "I've never heard of thanking a GARBAGE man before." AND THAT is the best reason to do it. ::snort:: The boys are all suitably impressed at how well and quickly the men responded to positive comments...sort of like my parenting technique come to think of it. ::snort::
Yes - we recycle. We don't buy a lot of pre-packaged goods any longer, I use computer papers cut in 1/4 to be scrap paper, we shred paper....but I'm amazed at how garbage we make anyway. I suppose pineapple peels and such do add up...but still.....my goal is to get us down to 2 cans consistently. LOL
De'Etta, we did find that composting made a big difference for us. All those peels, rinds, spoilage and other plant material adds up in the garbage.
I'm sure composting is not always feasible in some areas, but out here in the country it is easy. We also add all my garden refuse from weeding and what not, stuff I dig out of my water garden and our grass clippings.
My garden loves this rich compost after it has broken down.
Love this idea! You must of really shocked them and also made their day! It's kind of like a random act of kindness. They say if everone did some act of kindess every day the world would be so much better! Good job!
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