A unexpected favour
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31366)
Denmark
April 3, 2012 3:40pm CST
In my country we have to place our garbage close to the sidewalk before the garbage collector arrives. There are very speficific rules about the garbage, and the garbage collectors take those rules very, very seriously. If we place the garbage bag a few centimeters away from the spot where we are supposed to place it, the garbage collector ignores the bag and skips our house. The bargage collector only picks up one bag of garbage from each house, if there are two bags, they remove one bag and leave the other one.
A few weeks ago my husband and I had forgotten to carry the garbage from the gate to the sidewalk. When that happens, the garbage collecters usually just ignore the bag completely.
We have experienced that a couple of times in the past and we were sure that it was going to happen again, but we were wrong. The garbage collector broke the rules and walked all the way to the gate and picked up our garbage bag. He even removed the second garbage bag as well. I was happy, but totally surprised, because the garbage collectors usually take the rules very seriously, and in the past they have skipped my garbage bags just because they were few centimeters away from the sidewalk.
When was the last time that someone did you a small favour in an unexpected way? What happened?
1 person likes this
11 responses
@wolveren (1586)
• Cebu, Philippines
4 Apr 12
I guess it sounds good for you. Maybe the garbage collectors thought that it would only make things worse if all your garbage wasn't collected they would pile up on your gate. Or maybe they were the new garbage guys. Where we are from, the trash guys get all our trash, because it would pile up if they didn't or worse, some irresponsible people would just throw the damn thing in the river. With a mediocre government such us ours, they can't afford more problems they can't handle. But we have a different system here, there are days they pickup recyclable trash and some days none recyclable trash. If we put out the wrong type of trash they won't pick it up. 
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
If I compare my island to some of the really small islands I wouldn't call it secluded, but many things are different here compared to the cig cities. When I moved here, I was surpriced to see the garbage system here. It is so oldfashioned compared to the system in the big city where I was born. In the cities they have two garbage bins, one for kitchen garbage and another garbage bin for things that can recycled. In the city the garbage men empty both bins, and people are used to dividing their garbage in two piles: Things that can be recycled and things that can't be recycled.
On my island they don't really think about recycling. There is only one bin and the garbage men pick up the kitchen garbage but not the recyclable things. We have to drive the recycable things away on our own, and some people think that is too much trouble so they just put everything in the kitchen garbage bin. If we had two bins like they have in cities, it would be much easier to persuade people to separate the garbage and that way the way the recycable things that end up in the kitchen garbage could be recycled instead of wasted.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
I don't really think that they care if the garbage piles up. Sometimes stay away from work for weeks and let the rotten food pile up. That is disgusting, but it happens sometimes. On my island the garbage collectors don't pick up recyclable garbage at all. They pick up the kitchen garbage, but the rest of the garbage we have to get rid of on your own. There is place where we can get rid of the recycable things, but it is not easy if we don't have a car, and some people cheat and hide recyclable things in the kitchen garbage. They could avoid that it they let the garbage collectors pick up recyclable things as well, but they don't do that.
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
7 Apr 12
This would be a Good thing, as I can guarantee unless you have your Garbage bins next to the road here, there is no way the garbage is going to be taken that week. I wonder if he just felt like being nice, or what. But this is a huge favor you should really be appreciative of.
What I consider someone doing a favor for me, is I have a lot of bags I usually have to carry with me to work. Sometimes some of these can be quite heavy. Many times to the point where it hard to lift them. I have had coworkers of mine offer to help carry them in for me, or carry them from the bus stop into work. That really makes my day knowing someone else actually cares enough to want to help.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
15 Apr 12
Here they usually take the rules very seriously, too. If we place the garbage bag a few centimeters away from the sidewalk, they usually just ignore the it, so it was very surpricing that he actually walked all the way to gate to get the garbage bag. I definately didn't expect that, but I really appreciate it
It is good to hear that you have nice co-workers who help you carry your bags. It is hard when you have to carry a lot of stuff. We have a car now, but I still remember the time when it was a challenge to carry all of my bags back to my home.
It is good to hear that you have nice co-workers who help you carry your bags. It is hard when you have to carry a lot of stuff. We have a car now, but I still remember the time when it was a challenge to carry all of my bags back to my home.
@lynboobsy11 (11343)
• Philippines
4 Apr 12
Here in my town there's a lot of good people around. Most of the time you will be surprised seeing them doing nice favor to neighbors. I have a regular fish vendor that goes around here in my street everyday. Sometimes he get alarm when he did not see me outside to buy fish for him. That is when I don't have a money to buy or sometimes I have more stocks that I have to dispose first. Sometimes he just called me and give me fish and told me to pay him next time if I already have money. Although I'm a little bit shy he just forced me to accept the fish hehehe, I don't want to dis-appoint him so I accepted it.
, I don't want to dis-appoint him so I accepted it.@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
You have a very nice fish vendor. I think it is very nice of him to let you pay another time instead, most vendors here wouldn't accept that. In the past it was easier to buy something and pay later and many shops acceptered that, but today most of the shops in my country say: "If you don't have any money today, you can't buy anything today" because they are afraid that they won't get their money if they don't get it immediately. It is a nice to hear that there are a lot of good people in your town. There are nice people on my island, too, but I have also met a few people that were not so nice.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
4 Apr 12
Well that was very nice of him. Do they pick it up daily? I know in Taiwan they do, as I heard from a vlogger.
I am trying to think of when the last time someone did something nice was. I guess this really has to do more with work but a customer came back in and told me she dropped something so that i could go clean it up. It saved a lot of people's tires.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
7 Apr 12
No, on my island they pick up the garbage every week. If we remember to carry the garbage from the gate to the sidewalk, we get a new garbage bag every week. If we forget it the old bag has to last too weeks and that it can be a little difficult sometimes... That was nice of the customer to tell you that she dropped something. She sounds like a responsible person. Many people would just have ignored it walked away.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
4 Apr 12
cool. it seems maybe this guy was new and took his job seriously. i think its probably not a rule. they are most of them just plain lazy like a lot today with jobs. 
its been a while since anyone but my daughter done something nice for me. @Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
I don't know if they are lazy, but it is my impression that some of them are looking for the easy way out. Sometimes there is such a small difference between the right spot (very close to the sidewalk) and the spot where my husband placed the garbage bag. It is like half a step or something like that, and they still refused to remove the garbage because of the tiny difference between the right and wrong spot.
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
4 Apr 12
my garbage men are freaks! My can must face a specific direction and be in a certain spot or they pass us by. If we have wood or branches they must be wrapped a certain way. It is crazy.
In my last house, about 120 miles from my current one, they would toss trash on yor lawn if you had it wrong!!! They act like crazy dictators.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
That sounds like the garbage men in my neighbourhood. There are so many rules and if we forget one of those rules they just skip our house. We have tried that a couple of times. That is the reason why I was so surpriced when the garbage man removed our garbage when we had forgotten to carry the garbage bag to the sidewalk. I haven't experienced that before, because they usually take the rules very, very seriously. It was a nice surprice, and I definately didn't expect that.
@mensab (4200)
• Philippines
3 Apr 12
well, my colleagues decided to have lunch in a restaurant. he is dutch. and so i prepared my own money to pay for my lunch. but when it was time to pay, he paid for all of us. it was unexpected because we know that dutch people are frugal. as the popular arrangement in date, the dutch treat did not happen with our meal.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
It is nice surprice to get a free meal when you expected to pay for your own food. My friends and I often pay for our own meals when we have lunch or dinner together, but sometimes one of us pays for everyone. Your response made me think about the expression "to go Dutch", I wonder how the thing about paying your own expenses is related to the Netherlands or how the expression originated.
@maezee (41988)
• United States
3 Apr 12
That's awesome! It's even more awesome that he could have gotten into trouble for it but did it anyway because it was the nice, sumartian thing to do. I can't really think of anything of my own that has happened like that... But that was very nice of your garbage man! Make sure to leave him a note in appreciation or somethinG!
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
3 Apr 12
Yes, he could have gotten into trouble for that, because what he did was absolutely against the rules. I thought it was really nice of him to do something like that for us, I didn't expect that at all. My husband and I talked about writing him a note or leaving a small gift (some chocolate or something like that) to show him that appreciated the thing that he did for us.
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
3 Apr 12
That is a beautiful story and I would warmly thank the garbage collector. He sounds like the sort of man I love to smile to. Many times I have had such attentions from people. It always amazes me, because I don´t expect it.
Many times I have had such attentions from people. It always amazes me, because I don´t expect it.@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
I wished we had had the chance to smile and thank him in person, but we weren't there when we picked up the bag. On our way to back to our home we remembered that we didn't carry the garbage bag from the gate to the sidewalk like we were supposed to, and we thought: "Oh no, now they are not going to pick it up, and we don't get a new garbage bag like we usually do" (we are not allowed to use our own bags) But when we got back to the house the garbage was gone even the extra bag, and that was a very nice surprice.
@fergus (817)
• Ireland
3 Apr 12
Hi Porcospino, Speaking of the garbage collectors yes they do take rules very seriously its not what we done to them its what they did to us. I live in ireland
and a new bin charge came along we have to pay 6 euro for every bin thats takeing away
we did not know about the charge and they left our bin on the road so i said to him lisen if the bin don,t go in the truck you do and he said try it so i said do it and he said will ya and i said ill tell ya and he go away and i said ok. hahahahahaha
no realy we had to pay all the best
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Apr 12
Your description of your meeting with the garbage collector made me smile. We don't have to pay for every bin, but I wouldn't be surpriced if it happens one day. Today we pay for the garbage collectors through the taxes. They really do take the rules very seriously. One time my husband had carried the garbage bag from the gate to the sidewalk, but he was a little too fast and he placed the garbage bag some centimeters away from the sidewalk. It really wasn't far away from the sidewalk, it was less than one meter, but the garbage men still decided to ignore the garbage bag.
@honest_efforts100 (1607)
• India
18 Jul 12
When I was in school, we did assignments which the lecturer picked on the exert date of the next lecture and if you never submitted, the mark would a zero. One particular time i never submitted my assignment on time. Surprisingly, the lecturer asked "who is Michael and why don’t i have your assignment". The lecturer called me in the staffroom and requested for the assignment.
