Everyone's Fed Up

OUR RUBBISH COLLECTORS DON'T CARE

I fired up YouTube yesterday, since I'd already complete both seasons of Warrior Nun, and logged into my viewing account. Yep, I have a separate account for viewing and engaging with content. I don't want what I upload messing with my recommended content. Talking of which, I was recommended a mix of content from channels to which I'm subscribed, and stuff YouTube thought I'd like.

There was a pattern I noticed with the videos. Many of them were titled something to the effect of "Goodbye YouTube" or "This is my last video here" and so on. I watched a couple of them and the sentiment was similar. Basically it wasn't anything really the matter, but they were just fed up of "doing the same thing over and over" and needed a change in direction. Some where just taking a little break. Many of them had hundreds of thousands of subscribers and were probably making full-time incomes from their channels. A couple of them even have millions of subs.

It seems as though the events of the past few years may have caused a mass burnout in people all over the place. I don't think it's just YouTube though. I think it's across the board.

This morning I observed the council rubbish collection truck come through our neighbourhood picking up the trash from the bins. There were two guys working. I remember there used to be at least three with one permanently in charge of driving. Now the driver has to also join in picking up the bins. Is the council short-staffed? Likely. Perhaps the other guy called in sick or is on holiday and they couldn't find a replacement? Who knows.

The point is, the two guys looked tired and despondent. They were clearly either fed up of their job, or were overworked. They also clearly didn't care about our neighbourhood because, as they picked up the bin to dump the contents into the truck, about a third of the rubbish went unto the streets. They didn't bother picking it up and continued to drive over it with the truck, causing a very terrible looking mess.

The guys charged with picking up our trash are the ones causing most of the littering in our neighbourhood!

I felt a little angry inside. No, frustrated. That's the correct word. Some of us are very diligent in putting litter away, in the correct bins, separating the recycle stuff - making sure they're clean and don't get rejected at the processing unit. Then you have people that couldn't care less come and just crap all over our efforts. It really is annoying.

However when one stops to think one realises that these guys are probably more frustrated than I am. They are probably overworked, underpaid and physically and mentally exhausted. They don't have the physiological bandwidth to give a damn about environmental cleanliness. Besides, they have no stake in the neighbourhood so, even without being charged to pick up trash, they don't give a rat's behind anyway. Also, unlike the YouTubers, they don't have a passive income stream to rely on hence no luxury to quit and "take some time off or do something different."

Sigh. I guess I'm going to have to pick up some of it and place them back in the bin when I get the time because most people that live around here don't care either. They'll just step over the trash on their way to where ever they're hurrying off to. They will do it until the crows, mice, pigeons and foxes clear up the mess by dispersing it evenly through the neighbourhood.

Peace & Love,

Adé