The Point System

When the recycling truck driver woke me at 4:00 this morning, I pondered the work practices of the organization that picks up our orange bins every other week.

It seemed this gentleman (and I use that term loosely) was making as much noise with his truck as was humanly (truckly?) possible. He was revving the engine, slamming on the brakes, yanking the lever that moves various clanky portions of the truck. I wanted to stand at the window and yell, "What are you thinking? People are sleeping in here!" Of course, he wouldn't have been able to hear me over all the noise he was making.

Do you think his job performance rating and potential for merit increases depends on how much noise he makes in the morning? Does he get 5 points if he wakes me at 4:00, 10 points if he wakes me at 3:30, and 155 points if he rouses me from a sound sleep at 3:00 a.m.?

Why in the name of every deity known to humankind must recycling pickup begin at 3:00 a.m.? (I think there was even one day earlier this year when he passed my house at 2:30. That hour is kinda still yesterday. Three a.m.? That's today and every respectable person should be asleep or, if awake, cuddling with the one they love.)

Is it a Bona Fide Occupation Qualification to be able to make excessive noise when driving a recycling truck? Or is the driver for my neighborhood just an angry human being? Maybe he simply thinks, "If I've gotta be up at this hour, by God, everyone's going to be up."

Whatever it is, I sincerely wish it would cease.