Remember real dustbin men

[stevie-p]

Does anyone remember when dustbin men were real men?They would walk down your path grab the heavy metal bin,throw it on their back and carry it to the cart and empty it in one move..Whats happened!!!....now they wont tale it unless you put it at the top of your path yourself,they wont take it if its too heavy to roll it to the lift,or if its too full,and they have the right to block the entire street and make you wait to get past them at rush hour...YES ITS MONDAY AND IM HAVING A MOAN!!!

[tinshed]

What a load of rubbish, excuse the pun, but i work for a local authority and dont you believe it that the money is good, roughly �12k to �14k and your knackered by the time you reach 50. New housing estates being built all the time bigger expanding areas and less men to do the job with. Task and finish is no more because you cant get round the round to finish early anyways. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Cushy little office job for me i think, sat drinking coffee all day, shuffling papers thats an easy life so get real all you knockers. By the way you do realise a tiny fraction of your council tax goes on street cleaning and refuse, where i live its approx 28p a month.

[isca]

flip flop.At no point ever were you meant to put garden waste in the refuse bin, phone your local council and ask. Its not part of their collection and you should have been taking it to the local tip anyway for recycling. In effect there charging you 20 quid a year to remove the waste that you should have been removing yourself anyway, so in a perverse kind of a way they've improved the service. If your bin men are a bit crap anyway that sucks, but any attempt to get people recycling should be encouraged shouldnt it?

[zippyngeorge]

I have to come out in defence of the bin men here as my dad is one. He earns about �6 per hour, they work on 3 monthly contracts and he is up at 4.30am every morning Mon-Sat.

He is shouted at by drivers who are in a hurry to get to work, abused by people who expect him to take rubbish that they aren't meant to take, and is generally a target for people who have issues with their local council.

He and his workmates have never been to prison, but are doing a job that is dirty, smelly and heavy in all weathers. There is never a good time of year, in the summer the bags are festering and in the winter they are cold and wet.

People moan about bags being split and rubbish being left on the street, but perhaps the bags are being overfilled or are cheap thin bags.

So please remember they are doing a horrible job that most of us wouldn't want to do but is vital to our communities.

[MikeMikeMike]

�12000-�14000? Sounds like a pretty god wage to me, considering they only work one day a week!

[Fat Boy]

Mike what are you talking about? Bin men work 5, often 6, days a week

[marwel7]

I remember when dustbinmen were a comedy on tv.

[Adampy]

I live in the The Lakes. A National Park. We do not have wheely Bins either.

MikeMikeMike They do not only work in your small little world. They do cover other areas too. A full time job!

I take my hat off to our binmen, They are always polite, say hi when you pass. They are always on time. In the last 3 years I cannot remember one day they missed out. They even worked through the last few days of snow - we had loads!

Can you imagine if for one week all the bin men stopped work - What would you do then?

Beleive it or not, Bin men are a vital part of our community - Give them a break!

As for Christmas tips: The law has changed: All tips are supposed to be declared and apprear on payslips - then be taxed! Therefore it doesn't "pay" to get tips. (I work in public service too)

[david small]

I remember when dustbin men actually empted dust. They wore a thick thick apron on their backs to protect them from the often still hot ashes from coal fires dumped into the metal bins. It was a filthy low paid job. Now its all bin liners and finish at 1pm, I know several who take another part time job, poor souls.

[MikeMikeMike]

It was a joke! never mind...

[josaphine32]

I don't know where you live but i have to praise ours (Aylesbury Vale) they arrive at 8.20 every tuesday and take absolutely anything i put a double radiator out last week with a stair case banistrade...and they took it !!they are good blokes here as the ones my mum have wouldnt even take a washing basket...

Top blokes

[whiskeysheri]

... and you can always guarantee a wolf whistle! :-))

[Johnytuono]

Hi
Just come across this thread and thought i d give some input
Ive been a refuse collection driver for 17 yrs.
Pay is reasonable 20k for a 37 hr week including 2 half hours overtime.Were currently on a task and finish although this is about to change with new health and safety guidelines.
As for abuse...that can happen around at least once an hour.Usually swearing by drivers behind the truck...for some reason they think we deliberately park there for a tea break!!.Been called a w ker...b tard at least once a day.Ive known collectors to be spat at.We get all the hassle for the stupid council rules....ie not to take excess waste etc. Regularly accused of knocking wing mirrors off. Physically threatened on regular occasions.We work all bank holidays......double time of course.Xmas is usually 3 days off inc. of new year. But firemen have to work all through the year i often hear.....yes but they have a rota and there isnt guaranteed to be a fire....and dont forget we go back to DOUBLE the work for no extra pay.Yes it has its good points..just like any other job .We only work til dinner u say? Well my answer to that is if you say to any worker once youve dont that lot you can go...wont productivity be increased and the job finished earlier?