An Argument Over Garbage

[cabinetman]

My next door neighbor just redid the front area of his lot right out to the street. Looks real nice. Brand new sod, new planting area with fresh mulch, and border bricks. He did quite a bit of tree trimming this past weekend, and put all the waste out on the edge of his property line and 95% of it in front of my house.

Well I had a little bit of trimmings and clippings that I just threw on top. His stack was quite large. Well this morning was bulk pick up, and they say they are limited to 10 yards, maybe about the size of a 4 door sedan or a little larger. They come by with a huge dump type truck with a crane arm and a clam shell type bucket on the end, and the driver operates the bucket from the passenger side of the truck.

My neighbor didn't want the bucket scraping up the new front he just finished, so I thought it would be OK for his pile to be on my property. Well they come by and wouldn't pick up the whole stack. I asked the driver what the problem was and he said it's too big. I told him that stack was for two homes. The driver said it all looked like the same tree clippings, and it was in front of one house. Then we got in a heated argument about types of trees, and the stack being from two homes.

He refused. The neighbor on my other side had just a few things in his pile, and I asked the driver how about I put the balance over here on this tiny stack. Then the driver says that his supervisor has seen this street and he could lose his job if he let me do that. Right then I had one of those Bill Cosby described "coniptions". Realizing this is fighting city hall, I walked away.

I realize this is "splitting branches" concerning rules, but come on...it's garbage.

[ironhat]

Right then I had one of those Bill Cosby described "coniptions". Realizing this is fighting city hall, I walked away.

I realize this is "splitting branches" concerning rules, but come on...it's garbage.

Man, don't get me started. I had it out at the dump a couple of ears ago when I was trying to do as I have done for 10 years, dump the trimmings from shrubs at the office. There's never anyone there but this time there was. He asked for my drivers license which is not the same as the business address. He got cranky and wanted me to reload the stuff. I showed him my business card and he said that the dump was only for residents. I pointed to the sign which read that residents and businesses operating in the borough had permission to drop there but he insisted that I was not a trimming business and didn't reside there so I was excluded. As I began to relaod he took off in a snit so I off-loaded and went on my merry way. I haven't seen anyone there since and I'm still doing it. Bureucrats, ugh (and by that I'm not blanketing all civil workers - just the ones who's authority goes to their heads)!

[jking]

I would explain the situation to the next door neighbor & ask that he take care of getting rid of the excess. After all, it sounds like most of it is his anyway.

I agree it's just trash, but, I wouldn't ask the driver to risk his job over it. I certainly understand your frustration, though.

[Uncle Cracker]

Boy, you guys are right... I have never encountered crummier attitudes than those displayed by people in the sanitation services for municipalities. It seems that when garbage meets government, some sort of weird mutation occurs which transforms ordinary people into tin-cup Napoleons. Must be something about breathing all that methane...

[LinuxRandal]

Boy are we bringing up the subjects today. I have new neighbors with whom I share a driveway (don't get me started). They came in the other day and brought in some chain saws. I came home Sunday night, to find a limb that would have taken out my car, where I parked. I put it on their half of the driveway and parked. When I came home last night, they had it chopped up and sitting on my side.

This is getting fugly real quick..............


On the other side, the neighbor has weed trees. Elm, mixed with a tree of Heaven. They are on the edge of his property and at an angle that grows over mine. If I cut them, due to how much is over my property, they will die, so I can't legally cut them because to kill them I would have to replace them.

[cgallery]

In our neighborhood we put our trash at the street and they pick it up on Monday mornings. I had a new neighbor a few years ago that put all his trash in front of my home. On my property. He actually crossed his driveway to stack his garbage in front of my house.

The first time it happened I figured maybe he had a good reason (but it woulda been nice if he asked). Like, maybe he was having company or he still needed to mow or something.

But it kept happening. I didn't see him do it, but I would come home and there would be a new pile. Went on maybe five or six weeks. My other neighbors kept noticing, too, and wondering when I would say something.

When I finally caught him in the act and asked him why, he said he worried that the tree on his property would make it hard for the garbage men to see his pile. I assured him that the previous owner of the home never had this problem.

I'm convinced to this day that he just didn't like the look of his house w/ all the garbage in front. Kinda weird.

[ironhat]

<snip
This is getting fugly real quick..............

You sure have that right. Someone with that little respect for your property is not likely to be a reasonable person.

On the other side, the neighbor has weed trees. Elm, mixed with a tree of Heaven. They are on the edge of his property and at an angle that grows over mine. If I cut them, due to how much is over my property, they will die, so I can't legally cut them because to kill them I would have to replace them.

You might be able to argue that the Tree of Heaven is an invasive, non-indigenous species which you do not want to be sprouting in your yard. Incidentally, hacking it down will shock the tree's system and have it sending up dozens of root shoots in all direction for as far as the root line extends. The preferred method of killing these is to wait until mid summer to make several horizontal, downward, non-connecting hatchet slashes around the tree and fill them with a 'brush killer' at full strength. Good luck with your neighbor woes. I sure don't envy you!

[DaveS]

In my neighborhood, this type of thing is handled differently.

If I have a lot of stuff to pick up, I get an extra 6 pack of beer, in a plain brown bag.

I think they'd haul away a dead whale for a six pack.

[tedkitch]

I once paid a case of beer to get city employees to haul something away. They had 85 different reasons why they couldn't do it (the real reason was that it was very hot and it wasn't easy stuff to haul away). I offered them a case of beer, ran down picked up the beer and they were done by the time I got back.

It's funny what people will do for some beer. Years ago a neighbor was getting his driveway paved and I had a little stretch in front that I wanted redone also. As they were starting to finish up with the neighbors driveway I offered each of them a 12 pack of their choice of beverage is they would do my little 3' x 15' section. The funniest part was that one of the guys asked for wine coolers and those construction guys gave him the hardest time about it.

I always try not to have a fit. Begging/bartering has always worked better.

[Tequila]

I think they'd haul away a dead whale for a six pack.

If they're like my garbagemen, that whale wouldn't even have to be dead.

[cabinetman]

**NEWS FLASH**

After the pick up guy drove away this morning, I called the City and explained in a calm tone the situation. About 10 minutes ago, a truck pulled up and picked up the last of the pile. Maybe I should have just emailed the City this thread.

[Dale In Corona]

Good on ya!

[Uncle Cracker]

It's funny what people will do for some beer.

When my house was being built, the framing crew decked my whole attic for two cold cases of Busch! And I didn't even have to supply the decking!

[eezlock]

an argument over garbage?

Around here the garbage man is really irritating ...most of the time anyway.
The City of Charlotte used to pick up the trash...now it is being done by a private contractor for the city.....under their direction. Humh! Our pick up day is Wednesday, no problem there, but they just changed the pick up day
and times without telling anyone what the new pick up day was!

So, my wife and I roll out the plastic containers on Tuesday night before
we call it a night ...so they will be there at curbside for early Wednesday
pick up. The jerk comes down the street, and then backs up to the corner,
turns around and leaves sometimes without picking up the trash! When I see what he has done I call the garbage pick up phone number and call them,
and as always get the same defective city employee on the other end and tell them that the trash was not picked up again. They have the audasity
to tell me that the driver (who they called over the radio) this "driver says that your cans were not at the curbside for pickup when he came by"
bull cookies....I tell them it was there waiting since Tuesday night "he " just didn't bother to pick it up. How much advance notice do these city jerks need to have to do their job? This happened about three or four weeks
in a two month period.....I called their supervisor and really chewed his ears off about this problem, you know what....the supervisor and a driver came
out after hours to get my trash and then the problem started to get better
after that! Finally! Moral to long story...loudest squeaking wheel, will eventually get the most grease! heh! heh!

[doubleoonothing]

Garbage... Man

It's fun to hear the point of view of customers trying to figure out why things are why the way they are. I worked as A "GARBAGE MAN" for 15 years, and I understand both sides. Yea, some of the "Sanitation Engineers" got an attitude all right. I've been retired for nearly ten years from there and I still to this day have former customers that see me and come over to say "Hi". The beer,wine & champaign thing worked until the new co. owners said no more and we got a retired highway patrolman as a safety officer, But they couldn't get the $10 tip for taking' an "EXTRA", they called it. The thing I find hard to accept is that 20 cubic yard debris box use to be $49.80/week, what is it now? So what I'm saying is the bean counters got the squeeze on everyone, and some of the trash men hate their jobs. Most of the time I did the "EXTRAS" weather or not anyone was there, and most gave me a Christmas gift. I loved my job, and my customers complained about me leaving for years.