Monday, March 12, 2007

Deep Thoughts :: Rats in Garbage Bags

If a rat was rummaging around in a garbage bag on the curb when the garbage truck came, that once paradise would be an awful place for a rat. Unless they survived the smush, which they very well likey could since their bodies are so smushy anyway, and then they could be taken away to a bigger paradise. Maybe this is the Rat Goal.

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19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a NYC garbage collector (work my route on the upper east side) and like your "deep thought" about the rats. I must say that we don't see that many of them and don't think I've ever thrown one into the truck. Not sure it would survive in there - the blade puts 3000 lbs of pressure per square inch on whatever is going.

You'd be surprised, but we get a lot of people who stop to watch the truck working. Had a shy 30-something woman yesterday who was totally mesmorized seeing her old couch, chair and tv go in with the bags.

Unknown said...

Wow...a real garbage collector commenting on the blog!

I can see why she is mesmerized - you don't think that blade (although I would call it a giant pressure thing) can really crush all that is underneath it - and yet it does. I see you guys as well in the morning, although I try to walk by quick, because if you are ahead of me, it means that I am extra late for my morning run.

Glad that you don't see that many rats, or have thrown one into the truck. I was out walking my dog at a garbage night here in NYC, and we do see the rats at night, and can hear them, and sometimes see them, rattling around in the black bags. I started getting optimistic about it. But maybe they are nocturnal, so they are done by daybreak anyway.

Thanks for the comment.

Anonymous said...

Often rats are gone by daybreak. Guess you've stopped to watch the crusher before...you ever see furniture or big items go in with the bags?

We often see the same people on the route in the mornings, which is kind of fun. I see you time yourself to the garbage men. Ever spoken with the guys as they've been collecting the trash?

Unknown said...

No...being a shy girl myself, I keep my head down. But sometimes I say hi or wave. I've been really off schedule of late, so have not seen them in a few weeks. But now maybe I will wave at them more. :)

I have seen furniture go in, but not lately...it's always a treat!

Anonymous said...

:) Always appreciate the smiles and waves :)

What kind of furniture have you seen us thrown in? Even though furniture can be heavy, it breaks up the route a bit from the bags (is sometimes sad to have to pick up stuff that is in perfectly fine condition).

What do you like when you see the furniture going?

Unknown said...

Well, I think the last one I saw was a ratty old couch, and it had no cushions. I think it just bent or snapped in unnatural ways, and it's not something you see every day. So, it would make you stare. But then I wonder how fast the trucks fill up. How many trucks is it per street? Or, how many streets or blocks for each truck? Always wondered that.

Anonymous said...

:) Ah, I know the kind...when they're in that condition, they're no match for the truck. Sometimes better made furniture resists the pressure momentarily before crunching down into the rest of the trash. It can be interesting to watch...

Our trucks hold 10-12 tons of garbage - always get people who are suprised by the amount that gets forced in there because it looks like one block of apt buildings can fill up a truck. On my route we do two streets across three avenues.

Anonymous said...

hey...you never wrote back...not interested in talking with an trash collector anymore? :(

finished a pretty light route (only 8.7 tons) and now hanging out at the garage -- looks like some snowplowing OT could be possible :).

Unknown said...

Hey Mr. Garbage Man,
I only have so much time for my little blog, and have other deep thoughts to write and comments to answer, like what the current markup is on Henri Bendel stuff for designers (rumored to be 3.5% or 4.5% for those interested). Thank you for answering my own question re how many streets you hit! It confirmed what I long suspected. :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry - I didn't mean to be a pain in the butt, but your blog is pretty cool and you ask interesting questions and seem to pay attention to what I do for a living, which is also cool.

That Bendel store does a killing from what I hear even though the people who shop there are often stuck-up - know that is a generalization but seems to be often accurate. (For what its worth, I wouldn't include you in that list.) Is that a high mark-up for people like you who design the stuff(I have no idea). Still sitting around waiting to see if they want us plowing or not...

I'm curious how you "long-suspected" and amount of streets we do. Trust me, it's not easy and you name it, I've picked it up (except for a rat that is).

Are you a Manhattanite or do you reside in outer boroughs?

Unknown said...

I cannot explain my genius. I just know that the trucks can only hold so much, and it seems that there are entire school districts in some buildings. Can't answer your last question, sorry! Good luck getting OT.

Anonymous said...

Hope you had a nice weekend. I got 22 hours of overtime, so no complaints there...except that it wasn't easy picking up waterlogged bags today (they make a bit of a mess when the truck takes them).

I must say that I thought of you on one stop on the middle of the route today when we came upon a pile of about 20 bags and an upright piano. As we tossed in several of the bags and began to push the piano over to the truck's hopper, these two women who we had seen earlier on the block watching the truck take an old dresser, stopped and said they couldn't believe someone would actually throw away a piano and that they couldn't believe we were going to take it with the rest of the garbage bags.

Needless to say, they watched entire process (took several cycles do). It certainly made quite a sound as it went and we held the blade up at the end so they could see what it looked like when it was finished.

Something tells me you would have stopped as well. :)

Unknown said...

Well I must say, if that's not the saddest piece of furniture you could ave picked up to crush. Could you hear the keys or wires popping? I think the only thing you can do from here is start a blog of your own, unless you already have one, that is devoted to the odd things you pick up and crush in the garbage truck, and the expressions or interactions from different people. If you could take pictures, that would be great as well, but maybe that's not legal.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you could hear the keys clinking and the wires snapping along with the wood crunching as it went. The bags actually cushioned part of it so we had to squeeze it a few times to get it in (there was a lot of stuff to collect yesterday). Guess you would have stopped to see it going.

I don't have a blog and am not good with technology to create one. Could certainly be an interesting sociology project though :). Taking pictures would be next to impossible when working, but I did find video on YouTube that I thought you might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYW9u-Sj-30

Let me know what you think.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness. Now I really see why it's called a blade. I had to stop watching b/c I'm in the middle of writing a post and designing for another website, but I'll try to embed the video on this post.

Anonymous said...

Did you like?

You can call it the crusher or "smusher" if you like. Assume that is the type of furniture you've stopped to watch go before...

To be honest, I'm surprised the guys let the person taping get so close. As I'm guessing you've seen, things do fly out and we try (although not often always successfully) to keep people away from being less than a foot from the back of the truck when its crushing.

Anonymous said...

Wow - that is quite a tutorial you prepared...

did you get to finish the video?

Unknown said...

No...but it was interesting to watch.

Unknown said...

the wood crunching.