By Lillian Rizzo
Two sanitation workers were picking up trash in Bensonhurst when they came upon a roadblock on 83rd Street.
The street was overflowing with garbage. Shoe boxes stacked in larger boxes, styrofoam cartons, a dead computer, and small but numerous smiley-faced plastic bags filled to the jowls with trash. Two couches sat outside a house with garbage piled on top of them. The sanitation workers looked at each other, shook their heads and asked each other whether they should even pick up the trash before them.
Their deliberations lasted less than a minute. And with that they begean sorting through the trash. They lifted the boxes and small pieces of cardboard spilled over the street, leaving a trail of debris behind them. They seemed to be succeeding only be making the mess bigger.
“This is not the way garbage should be put out,” said of the men.
Five minutes later he and his partner were still grappling with the garbage. The more they picked up, the more trash fell at their feet. At that point they hit the peak of their frustration.
They left behind whatever small pieces fell to the ground and headed to their truck.
“I’m gonna have my supervisor come by and give them a ticket,” said one as his partner took his seat behind the wheel.
They drove off, leaving behind an obstacle course for pedestrians to navigate. There was neatly ordered trash to be picked up.
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