Seeing as spring is finally here, and I now have a baby who can be independent for a little while, it's time for me to get this house into better shape in order to get it back on the market. For the past few weeks, I've been repainting the interior wall by wall, stripping the floors until they gleam, and other odds and ends. One of the biggest hurdles I faced was dealing with the garage, aka our storage center. Since the last time our house was up for sale, we've decided to get rid of 1 couch, 1 love seat, and our old dining set, plus other clutterable items I no longer wish to have around. Unfortunately, after many calls to local charities, I've found out no one drives to pick up said items for people who may need them in my area. So I had to call a garbage removal service.
I've used those big dumpsters twice before, and after price checking, I settled on one company I had used previously and respected. They brought the 15 yard dumpster out Thursday and promised to pick it up Tuesday. These dumpsters have a side door that open so you can haul in massive things like couches, and I asked the guy to refresh my memory on how to open and close them properly. He showed me and left. After I decided to practice. Alas, I couldnt get the damn thing shut. For one thing, there was a ton of rust both on the lock and the hinge. Secondly, I wasnt strong enough. When the husband came home I asked him to give it a whirl and he couldnt either. For that reason, we were careful with how we filled it and vowed to let the guy know when he came to pick it up.
Which brings us to yesterday:
The company was supposed to pick up the bin a couple days ago but we unable to get here until yesterday afternoon. As soon as I saw them pulling up I rushed out to explain the situation. What I was met with was a majorly pissed off man, ranting and raving about how the damn door wasn't closed and how the hell was he supposed to take it away. After a second or two of shock hit me at this greeting, I interupted and greeted him, asking him to calm down a moment so I could explain. After he continued his tirade without thought, I started to get angry. Who the fuck was he to treat a customer this way? I understand the annoyance of the situation if in fact, I had not paid attention and hadn't carefully watched how we dispersed our stuff in his bin, but the ******* didn't even give me a chance to explain!
Having been in the professional world myself as self employed, it really got under my skin how he thought he could act this way. Even when you are upset you never go yelling at those who pay your bills. The I realized that this time, I wasnt the one who had to act professional. I was the customer. So I let loose.
I cant remember the exact wording, but in a nut shell and paraphrasing here, I told him to shut up and let me explain the situation. Pantomiming as I talked, in order to make sure he could clearly understand, I reminded him how he showed me how to use the door and explained after he left, before I got to filling it, I tried and couldnt shut it. Neither could my husband. He broke in and said "Well that's because you filled the damn thing too full." I looked at the idiot and bluntly said "Did you not just hear a word I said? If you could stop your unwarranted tirade for one damn minute, and actually use those things called ears, you would have heard I hadn't filled up the bin yet. Because of that, we were extra careful in filling it and I came out here to let you know."
Even then it still took another 3 minutes of us arguing back and forth, voices getting louder by the minute until I threw up my hands and yelled "Fine! Open the damn door and I'll take some shit out if it will make you happy." He opened it and wouldn't you know, there was a good 6 inches clear from our trash to the door. Nothing fell out, nothing bulged. He tentively took the chain on the door and gave it a good swing. It didn't close all the way. He tried again, swinging it really hard and finally, the god forsaken door shut.
After a moment of silence, only unbroken by the twittering of birds flying overhead, the guy turned to me then looked down to the ground, and mumbled an apology for his behavior. His reasoning behind his tirade was that his last two stops he had dealt with people overflowing their bins and not being able to get them cleared without a lot of work unpacking and repacking and he assumed mine would be the same issue. I rolled my eyes and told him if he had just been silent for one moment and actually listened to what I had been trying to tell him, he could have easily been on his way 10 minutes earlier. "It's not like I haven't used these things before," I said, "it's my third time. I just could not get that damn rust hinge to close, even before filling it up." He nodded, and looking me in the eye apologized again for his tirade, saying I didnt deserve it.
Being the better person I accepted, and walked away, letting him finish his job. Good thing he couldn't see that big *** grin on my face as I went in the house. I do so love proving I am right
