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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To phone the council on the shouty sweaty bin men

71 replies

GirlWhoWearsGlasses · 08/07/2015 11:33

'Fucking close the LID!' 'Oh for fucks sake!' Etc etc. I think they are annoyed the lids aren't on the recycling bins because they're full. Fair enough. I might be guilty as charged (not today) and if there's extra and I'm in I try and go out and ask politely if they'll take the extra boxes that aren't in the bin. They don't come super early morning on this street

AIBU to think it's a bit much and intimidating to have the loud swearing?

OP posts:
GirlWhoWearsGlasses · 08/07/2015 11:33

'Sweary' not 'sweaty'

OP posts:
lem73 · 08/07/2015 11:36

You're going to complain about hard working men doing a physical messy job letting off steam by swearing? Wow. You must lead a very sheltered life.

GirlWhoWearsGlasses · 08/07/2015 11:39

No they can swear, I swear - but doing it loudly aimed at anyone that's in to hear that they aren't happy about something isn't on.

OP posts:
timeforacheckup · 08/07/2015 11:41

I wouldn't complain about binmen. I reported a missed collection once, they came and emptied it but then "missed" it for the following 3 weeks in a row! I didn't dare report it again!!

Welshmaenad · 08/07/2015 11:41

Nurses work hard in s physical messy job, lem, would you think it appropriate if they swore at patients? No. Nob off then.

OP it is NOT appropriate, and I gave a mouth on me like a navvy at times. I would complain. I complained about council contracted builders swearing loudly outside my home in earshot of my kids and they had an absolute rollicking from the site foreman.

FarFromAnyRoad · 08/07/2015 11:42

What do you think the council will do once they've finished rolling their eyes at your report?

isupposeitsverynice · 08/07/2015 11:43

Nah it's crap to be swearing at high volume on a public street. They have to let off steam like this because they're doing a dirty job? Sorry but no, fuck that. They can mutter it under their breath like everyone else does when they're working in public, or wait till they get back in the lorry to swear at each other.

sliceofsoup · 08/07/2015 11:44

YABU.

I would swear too if I had to pick up peoples rubbish. Especially when they just leave it in a mess and expect other people to pick up after them.

Piccarcas · 08/07/2015 11:46

Gosh! Mine are shouty, sweary and sweaty. They come round at 6am each Tuesday and I am eternally thankful that they do. The crew seem to be under such time pressures that they are only in hearing distance for moments. You will miss them if/when the service is no longer available.

chrome100 · 08/07/2015 11:47

Ha ha. Yes. YABU. I think this is a very small issue and not worth worrying about.

WorraLiberty · 08/07/2015 11:48

I like to think sweary bin men are part of British culture. I actually find it quite comforting Grin

They shouldn't be swearing at householders though.

I'm surprised you have to ask them to take extra re-cycling. We're allowed as much of that as we want to put out, as long as it's in clear bags.

Baguettes · 08/07/2015 11:50

If you want your bins collected again, I wouldn't report it. Grin

GirlWhoWearsGlasses · 08/07/2015 12:00

I'm not reporting it - hence being on here. If I had the front I'd do what DP calls 'killing with kindness' and go out beaming in super polite manner asking if there's anything amiss. But I don't Smile

OP posts:
hiddenhome · 08/07/2015 12:54

They're being paid to perform a public role, so shouldn't be swearing.

You wouldn't find this in the job centre, housing office or from school crossing personnel.

Collaborate · 08/07/2015 13:15

My bin men are great. Call round before 8am to do the collection, are quiet, don't make a mess, and on the rare occasion I report a missed collection it's been removed by the next day. Never realised how lucky we are.

TheHouseOnBellSt · 08/07/2015 13:16

I can't believe the attitudes here! OP of course you report it!! There is NO need for that language. "Working men" do not need to swear!

ShirleySmears · 08/07/2015 13:21

I don't think anyone working in a public service role should be swearing in public, in the course of that job and certainly not aiming those comments at their "customers"

Would be a bit much to complain about them being sweaty though!

WhereDoAllTheCalculatorsGo · 08/07/2015 13:22

I'm a waste officer at a council. I'm the person who reads your complaint and has to call the supervisor and say 'please remind all of the crews to behave appropriately and not use foul language'

tbh it's a bit of an exercise in futility. Yes, we do roll our eyes a lot.

Chewbecca · 08/07/2015 13:25

I hate all this shouty swearing all over the street, it is so normal now. On the train, people swear loudly a lot with no consideration to who is in earshot. I don't mind love swearing in the right situation but my idea of a right situation and other people's seems to have diverged.

However, I wouldn't complain and YABU, you just have to join the grumpy old ladies bench where we can have a good moan about how society's standards are slipping.

AuntyMag10 · 08/07/2015 13:25

Yabu, these people deal with trash and other disgusting stuff. Get over yourself and find something actually important to whine about. Why would you make someone who had a shitty job feel even worse?

ShirleySmears · 08/07/2015 13:27

I don't think the job is that "shitty" actually. There are plenty of worse unskilled jobs that don't pay as well. mostly done by women

TheChandler · 08/07/2015 13:31

YANBU. One of the big differences I've noticed since moving abroad is the quality of behaviour of workmen (and women, there are actually women doing all sorts of manual labour jobs that seem miraculously reserved for men in the UK). Also, road repairs teams actually seem to be working any time you see them.

I mean, god forbid that the precious darling men not shout and swear in public while doing their jobs! Their hard, manual, unskilled and usually overpaid for what they actually do jobs. Just ask any usually female horse groom and they will confirm (plus the lack of mechanical equipment to help them).

Lets not talk about the wheeze of not getting through their work on time for all sorts of stupid reasons, and having to do overtime at enhanced rates.

WeAllHaveWings · 08/07/2015 13:32

Don't hear a word from my bin men other than a hello if I bump into them or a loud "YO!" sound they make, probably to the driver to tell him he can move on; they are quick and just get on with it.

It they started shouting and swearing at us or our neighbours about the way the bin had been put out I would be shocked the first time, if it happened again I'd report. Absolutely no need to be that intimidating.

You will miss them if/when the service is no longer available. what a strange comment, of course we would miss the service, are you trying to say because we would miss the service its ok for them to verbally abuse the people who receive the service? Confused

GirlWhoWearsGlasses · 08/07/2015 13:36

I'm perfectly happy to be told to my face I've done the bins wrong, and even to be ticked off for making their job harder, its the shouty to the street bit I don't go for.

OP posts:
TheChandler · 08/07/2015 13:38

I wouldn't miss their service at all - I'd far rather do what they do in many countries, which is taking my own rubbish to big bins, which then get emptied in the night, so as not to block roads and streets during the day.

My rubbish was latterly collected every two weeks, and if the bin lid wasb't down it was left behind. If I went on holiday or was away with work, my rubbish simply wasn't collected. If two of those coincided on the two days a month they collected my rubbish, it could be left for 6 weeks or more, so I pretty much ended taking it myself to the nearest recycling centre.

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