I Was A Child Garbageman!

Around the age of nine or so, I ramped up my love of construction trucks, road department vehicles, and garbage trucks, by not just following them around on my trusty Columbia bicycle, but by becoming one of the crew.

Garbage was picked up twice a week in my hometown, by a contracted service whose name was Fereday and Meyer. So, early Monday and Thursday mornings, I would get up, get dressed quickly, and run to where I knew one particular crew started their route. By this point, I had followed around all of the five or so crews that worked my town, and had developed a special bond with Phil and George. Phil was the driver and George was his partner. When you wanted the truck to pull up to the next house, you would signal to the driver by two short whistles, but George apparently couldn't whistle and would instead yell out "Ha!"

When I met up with my garbage men pals, I just didn't watch them load the trash into the truck, I helped. And by helped, I mean I was like the third man of the crew! I dragged the cans, boxes and assorted trash to the vehicle, threw it in and dragged back the empty cans back to the curb. I eventually learned how to operate the controls, so I knew had to "zip it up", garbageman slang for compressing the load into the truck. When the next stop ahead was too far to walk, I jumped on the little running board on either side of the truck, and hung on for dear life as we raced to the next stop. I loved every minute of it and literally spent the whole day with these guys on their route. D45 and then F21 were the numbers that designated Phil and George's trucks, and my summer was spent with them.
When all the routes for that day were finished, all the trucks converged on one street, helping each other finish the days work. Before heading back to their garage, which was in the next town over, they would all get out of their trucks , eat, drink soda, and discuss the days events. I felt privileged to be part of the inner circle and hang out with the boys. I was as tired and sweaty as they were, as I had put in a hard day as well.
I remember asking one day, how they got the garbage out of the truck at the dump. Al, from another crew, laughed and was surprised that I didn't know that all garbage trucks were like dump trucks, and that once they were full, all they had to do was open up the back part of the truck and then just engage the hydraulic dump mechanism. My co-worker Phil looked at it as an opportunity to learn, and asked me if I wanted to go with them to the dump one day to see how it was done! I was giddy, to say the least.
I secured my parent's approval like Phil had asked and the glorious day arrived. It was like Christmas in July, seeing all the trucks lining up and dumping their loads at the landfill. It was the pinnacle of my garbageman days.
Speaking of my parents, some time later, as I was once again working the route,one of my friends told me my parents were looking for me and I needed to go home right away, which I did. My parents solemnly sat me down in the living room and told me the bad news. Someone had seen me helping out the garbage men and were concerned enough about my safety, that they had contacted the Board of Health, who then notified my parents that I had to cease my activities immediately, or the consequences would be severe for me, my parents, and my garbageman buddies.
I was devastated! I liked working with these guys more than anything else in the world! I sobbed uncontrollably.  But, I knew I couldn't work with them ever again. I'm pretty sure I explained things to Phil and George who I could only watch from afar from then on.
A few years later, my parents confessed that they made up the whole Board of Health story, which I had believed wholeheartedly. They were very concerned that I would get hurt or injured one day, and knew that they had to come up with something compelling to break me from my addiction. I wasn't really mad at them, as I knew they were right. Nothing short of the Board of Health story would have worked.
I'm sure of it, as to this day, I can't resist watching my garbage men do their thing!