Surprised by the county landfill

Trash pickup is getting a little more complicated these days. They have rules about what you can throw out, what kind of bag it has to be in, etc., which has motivated me to make periodic trips to the county landfill.

My expectations were very low. First, these are government workers who probably aren’t paid a whole lot, and second, people who work in jobs that have special requirements (no, dummy, this kind of whatsit goes over here) tend to be assholes.

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised.

They station a guy out on the lane that leads to the scales to sort out people (like me) who just have a car full of regular junk. They tell you what goes where, and send you past the line of commercial vehicles.

That’s very nice. They didn’t have to do that, but it makes the trip so much easier.

Also, everybody is cheerful and helpful. Astonishingly so. They offer to help you carry things, and they don’t act like petty bureaucrats, who like to pick and criticize.

They also have a big emphasis on safety — which is very important. Most people don’t realize how dangerous it is to handle garbage. There’s sharp stuff, nasty chemicals, and all sorts of hidden threats.

I’ve been there three times now, and I love it. Not only am I getting junk out of my house, but the professionalism and courtesy of the staff put a smile on my face.

7 thoughts on “Surprised by the county landfill”

  1. Since we are on the theme of pleasantly surprised…

    Walmart Pharmacy

    At least the ones by me. I always used Walgreens or CVS because they were either close to my work (walkable) or to my house (1/2 mile). My wife used Walmart in Mexico and when she moved here, continued to do so. What I found about Walmart Pharmacy was that the service was better than the big guys (although who’s bigger than Walmart?). When you get a new prescription, you always talk to a pharmacist who explains and answers questions. My experience with Walgreens or CVS is that you just talk to a pharmacy tech.

    We went to Walmart to get our boosters and it was a good experience as well. My dad went to a different Walmart to get his booster and noted how great the whole process and experience was.

    In my mind, I’d think that Walgreens or CVS would have better service, better pharmacists, etc. But, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. (Disclosure: I did work as an IT consultant at Walmart for ~8 months in 2020 and 2021.)

    1. My impression of Walmart is that they differ substantially by region. I don’t know if that’s because of the labor supply or the local management, but some Walmarts are really great, while some are unimpressive. I’ve never been to one that was outright bad.

      1. I don’t disagree, it does vary by location, but that seems to be an across the board thing…includes other stores.

        In Tulsa, I could generally break down it as:
        South Tulsa: upper middle class
        Real North Tulsa: the hood
        East Tulsa: the barrio
        West Tulsa: cracker meth-land
        Mid-Town: old money

        I live closer to the barrio and hood now–but more barrio. The Walmart closest to me is on the street that is the dividing line between north Tulsa and the rest of it. That Walmart is definitely not as clean as the Walmarts in South Tulsa. It’s a fact. I lament to my wife with “Por que?” (Why?) It’s not as if Walmart has differing standards depending on the region of the city. It has to do with the managers and the employees. What does the manager permit/tolerate/demand of employees and cleanliness? How willing are the employees to follow the manager’s instructions? If you go near the richer section of town, you will notice a different demographic for 1) customers, 2) employees. Are certain demographics willing to work harder or follow instructions better? IDK, but it seems that way. The demographics making the difference could be based more on class than other factors. IDK. It just seems to me that there is a difference and even my wife sees it.

    2. That interesting and good to hear. I’ve had the exact opposite experience.

      Whenever I’ve used CVS or Walgreens, they been efficient and pleasant to work with. Yet, with Walmart, they’re constantly out of stock, sometimes inefficient and their reps aren’t always pleasant. In fact, there’s only one out of all my experiences at Walmart that I could say I’ve found sincerely pleasant to engage.

    3. I started to compose a comment about my daughter’s experience working as a pharmacy tech at a suburban Western Pennsylvania Wegmans for a year, a suburban NoVa Wegmans for a year, and a rural Western Pennsylvania Walmart for a few months (they just moved back to PA so she hasn’t been in that job long) but I realized the regional differences between both store culture and the clientele themselves at the two stores made comparisons too complicated for a blog comment. 🙂

      The most obvious contrast might be, though, between her sets of co-workers. I haven’t asked her about their professionalism with customers, but there is a apparently sharp difference in their sense of whether their jobs are something worth doing in themselves, or *merely* a way of keeping the bills paid between weekends.

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