Last week, the garbage collector did not come. At all.
I’m going to let that sit there and marinate while I go back a few months. My garbage is usually collected early in the morning. A few months ago, I started to get weekly calls on the day it was supposed to be collected telling me that my route was ‘running late that day’ and would definitely positively be there by the end of the day–which was something like five-thirty. For several months.
Look. If they just came out and said that my new route was at the end of the day, I’d be fine with it. I don’t actually care when they come as long as they come.
They leave a message every collection day telling me that my route is ‘late for that day’. I had gotten to the point where I erased it as soon as I heard the automated voice. I just assumed it was the same message. Last week, they did not come. It was Thanksgiving week, so I thought maybe they had Monday off. I have helpful neighbors who roll my can back up for me, but I put it back out (this was thenext day) in the vain hope that it would get emptied.
It did not. At the end of the day, it was still full. The next morning, I called Republic, the monopoly for the area. In effect, anyway. It’s one of the only games in town. I told the woman on the phone that my house had been missed. After asking for my address, she immediately said that because of the holiday, my guy could not swing by and pick it up.
I mean. I get that it’s a holiday, but what happened was not my fault. I did not want to make extra work for anyone, but they didn’t do their job. Of picking up my trash. Which was, might I emphasize again, their actual job. That I pay them for. That they are supposed to do every week.
So the woman on the phone was as unhelpful as possible. She made sure to tell me several times that it was a holiday week and there was no possible wayt to get my trash picked up that week. That was it. She had nothing else to say. I asked what I was supposed to do the next week because I only had one small-ish can and, if you can recall, MY GARBAGE HAD NOT BEEN COLLECTED LAST WEEK. Which meant, and I’m sure you can put two and two together, that there was still garbage in the can.
“Put it in bags on the side.” She could not have been any less interested in my problem. Because I wanted to make sure that all the garbage would be taken, I clarified, “They will take the bags?” Because normally, they would not. She said she would put a note in the record for them to take the bags.
Forgive me if I did not believe her. She had sounded so supremely bored with my problem (and completely disinterested), I was skeptical she was actually going to do her job. She was more interested in deflecting and making sure I realized that there was simply no way I was going to get my garbage picked up BECAUSE IT WAS A HOLIDAY WEEK.
I told Ian after I finished the phone call that she really pissed me off. I am not a ‘get the manager’ type of person at all. But the fact that she refused to acknowledge that this was a problem and that she wasn’t at all apologetic really chapped my ass. Again, I’m not looking for self-flagellation. But, they did fuck up, and I would have liked them to acknowledge that instead of acting as if me wanting the service I paid for was an undue burden on them.
I may be sour from having to deal with Comcast (the worst customer service bar none), but when a company doesn’t have to answer for their misdeeds, it can make for some really shitty customer service. Or, if they’re paying artifically depressed wages and are terrible employers.
At the end of the day, though, I am paying money for a service that I expect to get every week. When I don’t get that, I want to know how you are going to make it right. Not the excuses why it happened (though I will take an explanation). How you’re going to make it right.
Long story short–it was collected this morning. I crammed the new bags into the container and held my breath because it was stuffed to the gills (they don’t like the container being overpacked, either).
I let out my breath (and, yes, I checked before going to the grocery store) because I had planned in my mind how I would have to push if I had to call again. I hate confrontation, but I was not going to let them not collect my garbage for two weeks.
It really got me thinking, though. Had the woman said, “I’m sorry about that. Unfortunately, since it’s a holiday week, we won’t be able to do an emergency pick up. If you put out the extra bags next week, though, I’ll make sure to let your driver know”, I would have been much chiller about the whole situation. It’s the same information she eventually (and begrugdigngly) gave me, but it would have come off better if she had offered it and I didn’t have to drag it out of her.
It really is presentation and at least pretending taht customer service matters. Because of my reaction with this woman, I am looknig at other companies. Even with the situation being resolved, I’m not happy with that interaction. Plus, it doesn’t make me feel secure that it won’t happen again. That’s the thing about something like this–I did not worry about my garbage not being picked up before. Now, that’s a bell that can not be unrung. That’s not a place in which I want to be.