I can sympathize. I was parts buyer and general flunkie for 5 years at a garbage company. I really liked the work, it was always nuts, so I never got bored. Nothing like a front loader flipped over in the middle of a major state highway to make things interesting. Or a turbo going out in a truck on the far outer edges of our runs and me having to locate one in Houston, go pick it up, stop at the shop to pick up a specific tool from the mechanic's Snap-On toolbox (while on the phone with him telling me exactly what drawer to look in and what it looks like because I have NO idea what the darn thing is anyway) and me taking tool and turbo to the middle of nowhere so the mechanic can perform surgery and put the truck back on the road. The drivers were all Prima Donnas with a slight odor wafting from their uniforms by the end of their day. The mechanics delighted in rolling me under a truck dripping maggots and "juice" to show me a crud coated hunk of some unidentifiable metal for me to locate and get for them ASAP because the truck had to go to work the next day.
Cane, there is no way to make everyone happy. Their job is garbage. I don't know anyone who wanted to be a garbage man as a child. The pay is good-who knew? But the job is long hours, hard and exhausting. Again-who knew? We just set the trash out, it disappears and we forget about it. Until I was face to face with what it takes to pick up the trash, I had no appreciation for those who do the tasks we'd rather not do.
Ya'll--show a little love and appreciation to your garbage man/woman. Give them a Christmas card with cash in it. They have a thankless job and it will make their day that you thought about them. I wait on the truck to come by so I can tip the driver and the 2 guys riding on the back of the truck and you know what? The rest of the year, they just can't do enough for me.