Driving to the university from home this morning I had to wait some five minutes while the bin lorry (the lorry that collects all our rubbish) reversed in the narrow road, a slow collection of cars started lining up behind me.
Some of them flashed and beeped at me to overtake the lorry but I couldn’t because it was too big and there was oncoming traffic.
One of the men in bright green jackets held his hand up in thanks to me. I nodded, prepared to wait for as long as they needed me to.
I, surprisingly, didn’t feel irritated as I usually do when I am being held up on the road, even though I was late. I get very irritated driving in the city in the mornings, some people are so rude and such terrible drivers and have no road etiquette.
But I wasn’t irritated with the bin lorry and the bin men. I think it’s because they are doing a great service to our city, cleaning up all the rubbish. It’s not an easy task to manoeuvre a massive lorry in our tight little roads, and they are really working hard and being so nimble and quick and deft so early in the morning.
It’s inspiring to see how energetic they are, collecting all the bins, running here and there, lifting the heavy black bins and hopping on and off the lorry as though they were performing a skilled circus performance.
Kudos to them, that’s what, they put everything they have into what they do, so let them take as long as they need to.
Because of them we live in a clean city and don’t have piles and piles of rubbish on our doorsteps, as in lots of other countries. There is an order to be kept and they keep it, and this is what makes the city a much better place to be in. Also it is a blessing. Mostly because rubbish can be so depressing to look at.
Ocean Bream 
Karachi has become a humungus trash can. The trash disposal system exists, but it isn’t enough, there are heaps of rubbish everywhere. No wonder I’m always depressed.
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Thanks for your input, Munira. Rubbish piled up everywhere does make for a pretty ‘rubbish’ eyesore 😦
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Very nice post, I have a lot of appreciation for cleaners in general. I mean, sometimes in my school I try to help out the cleaners as much as I can. Like for example, a large amount of paper towels were on the ground when I entered the bathrooms, and I picked them all up before I left just to make their job just a little better. Even if it is the smallest contribution and even if they don’t know it.
It’s just very nice to have this post to serve as a reminder,
– Ainsworth, Xx
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That’s really good of you, to be honest, not many people would think to do that, or they would think ‘that’s not my job’ even though they use the facilities and expect the facilities to be clean. I think each of us has a personal responsibility to keep the environment clean, not just to help out those who are paid to do it, but also because we live in it, and we expect it to be clean. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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A thoughtful post. They are unappreciated.
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Thank you 🙂
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So very true. Kudos for this post. Most of the time I only witness people’s irritation at being held up by them as everyone seems to forget that without these men our cities would look really awful. Naples and Beirut are good witnesses to that fact.
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Thank you for this comment, Geetha. You’re so right, and going to other cities and seeing how rubbish can accumulate there only serves to remind us how blessed we are if we do live in clean cities, and we should know who to thank for that, those people getting up at 5am to clean our streets!
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Welcome 🙂
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My sons and I recently spent 30 minutes following such trucks around the neighborhood. Littler J loves all trucks, but oh! These are his favorite, and the guys manning the trucks we followed were so kind to both the boys.
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That’s such an educational thing to do with your kids 🙂 How cute! It’s also a great way to teach them about cleaning the environment and appreciating the people who do those menial tasks 🙂
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I truly appreciate the men and women who have the thankless (often) jobs of cleaning up after ‘us’ in this world. They take care of us in their own way, and in a way that we depend on without even knowing it.
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Yes we do, and we rarely think about the service they do to our cities (and us)! They get up so early in the morning before the commuter is even awake and over the years, especially when I used to commute to university, I used to see them in their big boots lugging rubbish bins into their lorries way before the sun rose. Thank you for stopping by, Colleen!
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You’re welcome.
When we were kids we used to wait for our “Garbage Men”. And some time ago I wrote a post thanking the people who scrub toilets. Talk about a thankless job. I try SO hard to thank our janitors whenever I see them.
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