The Ballad of Western Disposal

[Reprinted from the comments in Tuesday's Brown Bag, below]

One fine morning, the Citizens of Boulder awoke to find that their trash hadn’t been removed. Flummoxed but not overly concerned, the Citizens waited, assuming that some unforeseen circumstance had prevented the trash pickup that morning. It had snowed over the weekend, after all, and maybe Western was just waiting for the snow to melt before resuming its normal trash pickup.

The next week, however, the snow had melted, and Western was still nowhere to be seen. Trash was piling up. Giving Western the benefit of the doubt, the Citizens of Boulder waited again, assuming that something very serious must have occurred, and that Western executives were likely doing everything in their power to correct the problem.

After a third week of nice weather came and went, with no pickup, and no word from Western, the Citizens decided to take action. The Citizens appointed a Representative to meet with Western, and to explain how the trash piles were leaving a bad impression on guests, and were blighting the neighborhoods.

Representative contacted Western and was afforded a meeting. After describing the Citizens’ concern regarding trash pickup, and explaining how the trash was blighting the neighborhoods, Representative asked Western for an explanation. Western explained that the past few weeks had been very busy, as some executives had been switching positions, and others moving into new offices. In addition, some of the drivers had been busy with contract work, driving routes for companies that paid more, or that were considered more prestigious. Finally, some drivers had simply grown tired of picking up trash, and had taken time off, knowing that Western did not enforce its rules regarding prompt completion of routes.

Dazed by this strange explanation, Representative met with Citizens, and explained Western’s position. Some Citizens grew outraged, while others grew resigned. The more inopportune amongst the Citizens wrote letters to the paper, complaining that the trash was interfering with their personal relationships, scaring away friends, and leaving a bad impression on visitors. They called for Western to take action, and pointed out that the primary responsibility of a trash removal company is to remove trash. Others grew resigned, knowing that Western was a monopoly, and that Western could ignore the Citizens’ pleas with impunity. Western was clearly aware of the letters, because it responded to other articles in the paper, particularly those which questioned the motivation of its top executives.

After two more weeks of letters, and no response from Western, the Citizens realized that they were powerless to influence the company. They gave up on trying to convince Western to do its job of a sense of duty, and accepted that self-regulation and reflexive respect for the customer were hopeless ideals in era of modern trash disposal. Despondent, but with a clearer sense of Western’s power, the Citizens stopped writing letters, and gave up hope.

A few days later, Western decided to pick up the trash. The blight was lifted, and a sense of normalcy returned to the Citizens.

After the Citizens settled back into their daily lives, Western sent a letter offering to discuss the five-week delay, but only if the Citizens came to Western in person. Distrustful of Western, and acutely aware of their reliance on the company for basic sanitation needs, the Citizens deliberated amongst themselves. They decided not to attend. No one wanted to be dropped as a customer, and all relied on Western for their basic sanitation. No one could fathom why the meeting was being called, since Western clearly knew of the Citizens’ position, and held the sole power to remedy the problem through future preventative measures. Believing that the meeting was pointless (or, at best, was called to convince the State that Western was “responding” to customer concerns) the Citizens stayed away.

The next day, Western published a letter declaring that nonattendance at the meeting proved that the Citizens did not care about trash pickup.