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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you date a binman?

641 replies

TrishM80 · 02/12/2021 09:17

Inspired by another thread about being a binman as a career.

You meet a guy on a night out or OLD. Seems nice enough and nice looking, all good. Tells you he's a binman.

YABU - immediate turn off
YANBU - give him a chance

OP posts:
iloveheater · 02/12/2021 10:27

TBH, I think it's the hours that would put me off the most. I'm a night owl, so he'd get up as I was going to bed, or had only been asleep for only a couple of hours. I don't think we'd have a compatible lifestyle.

He would also earn significantly less than me, and likely retire much earlier, which I would resent. It's a physically demanding job, which means you can't do it forever, and you run a higher risk of injury. I'm going to be working until I drop.

I respect bin men, but I don't think I could date one long-term.

Spudlet · 02/12/2021 10:27

Having massaged a former binman - absolutely. He was a lovely chap and frankly, the physical nature of his job had done some very good things for him.

PlasticPlantsDontDie · 02/12/2021 10:27

Hell yeah.

I always tell people that my obsession with going to the dump is so I can get the whizzy feeling of chucking stuff over the edge.

And that’s partly true. But mostly it’s because of the hot Polish bin guy that helps me with my larger items Wink

Rissole · 02/12/2021 10:27

At least he wouldn't spend any time at the gym Grin

MrsRussell · 02/12/2021 10:28

Back in the days when I worked in the refuse collection call centre, our bin crews used to:

  1. pick up purses and wallets that had been lost or stolen, and reunite them with their owners - often with a donation if the owner was elderly or vulnerable
  2. collect unwanted toys from the bulk pickups, rehabilitate them and then arrange a delivery to the children's wards and DV refuges at Christmas
  3. make second-hand furniture nice and reissue it - the lodge-man had an address book a million miles long of people in need

They did all these things above and beyond the day job - they often made the local news for being so lovely and thoughtful. Bin men (...back in the days...) used to see the best and the worst of people, when you think of all the other sensitive things they deal with - picking up poor animals off the road, people losing their belongings in rubbish collections, domestic crises - what's not to like about someone who can handle all that kind of randomness sensitively?

Foolsrule · 02/12/2021 10:30

They get paid loads so not a bad option!

Butchyrestingface · 02/12/2021 10:30

Just a little social experiment people, no need to take it so personally!

Your 'social experiment' sucks.

readingismycardio · 02/12/2021 10:30

The way you wrote this is as if you're asking if you should date a murderer/rapist. Is this guy a nice person? If he is, no brainer

CornishGem1975 · 02/12/2021 10:32

I absolutely would. As long as someone works for a living, then I am happy.

iloveheater · 02/12/2021 10:32

@Foolsrule

They get paid loads so not a bad option!
How much do they get paid? Google suggested a cap of between £25k and £32k, which doesn't seem that high to me, especially considering they might need to retire early due to a work-related injury.
Mercurial123 · 02/12/2021 10:33

The question to ask OP is would a bin man want to date YOU? Probably not with your attitude.

Kendodd · 02/12/2021 10:33

I think it's a shame more women don't become bin men.
Reasonably secure job and a lot better paid than care work. The heavy lifting is all done by machines now.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 02/12/2021 10:34

Bin men do have career options!

Basic refuse collector can get an HGV licence and become a driver (higher pay). There are also chargehand type jobs - the team leader, basically. Then there’s manager level jobs or clerk jobs in the office, organising the routes, managing the staff, ensuring vehicles are maintained (bin lorries are serviced something like every 3 months), dealing with replacement equipment, ordering PPE etc etc. Any of those office/management type jobs could be a stepping stone to the more strategic management jobs in the council. It would depend on someone’s personal ability/drive, but theoretically there’s absolutely no reason why a bin man couldn’t progress to a senior management role.

PennyFarting · 02/12/2021 10:35

@Gearedtoyou

Is it just me who's come over all uncessesary at the thought of a nice bin man? Grin
You're not alone there Grin
WellLarDeDar · 02/12/2021 10:35

As long as he didn't bring his work home with him

Kendodd · 02/12/2021 10:36

Just a little social experiment people, no need to take it so personally!

Hes another little experiment. Imagine for a minute a world without bin men.

TomelettewithGreggs · 02/12/2021 10:37

Am going to defy the trend by saying no. Education is important to me. I wouldn't date an uneducated oligarch either.

Sure I will get flamed for this, but women are allowed to choose what they find attractive. I would date someone overweight, because physical looks are less important to me than education.

MadDeleine · 02/12/2021 10:37

Ha! Lawyers, politicians and financial managers have been discarded as possible dating options upthread - these are (respectively) my DSs' career choices (both uni students) and my DH's job :)

Would you date me? I work in publishing. Just trying to establish if my whole family would be a nono for dating.

But seriously, yes of course, emphatically of course, I'd date a 'bin man' if he was a nice person and had personality depth and moral fibre.

I would not date a high tory, though. I would also struggle with a Daily Mail reader tbh.

Polmuggle · 02/12/2021 10:38

The outrage on this thread!

It's ok to not want to date anyone for any reason!

No, I wouldn't want to have a relationship with a bin man, and that's fine for me Confused. The unsociable hours being the main reason. Plus I don't want to do a financially unequal relationship again.

Catra · 02/12/2021 10:40

I don't think my husband would be too impressed if I started dating a binman.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 02/12/2021 10:40

There are a number of occupations that I find immoral and/or distasteful - some of them very well paid and come with a widespread adulation - and I'd find it very difficult to want to associate with somebody in one of those jobs, either on a friendship level or dating (if I weren't already married).

Somebody working hard in a solid, honest job to provide an essential service that we all rely on but which many of us are too squeamish/precious to do ourselves? Bring it on!!

I also agree with PP about work-life balance. If career progression and promotions are your thing, then fine; but there are plenty of us who are very happy to do an honest job that we don't hate and which pays the bills, without a load of high-powered stress, and then switch off and enjoy our own/family time afterwards.

Blinkingbatshit · 02/12/2021 10:40

My bin men are brilliant so yes! They are also great with helping my elderly Mum with getting her bins out & back in….why would you discount them? Decent, hardworking…a good thing no?!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 02/12/2021 10:41

I don't think my husband would be too impressed if I started dating a binman.

LTB (binman) Grin

TomelettewithGreggs · 02/12/2021 10:43

What I get from this is you are supposed to date men if they are hot, nice and hardworking, but you are not allowed to have any other criterion? Why not though?

MobyDicksTinyCanoe · 02/12/2021 10:44

Yes.

Any chirpiness might put me of tho..... How the hell are they always in such a good mood even at 7am when they've been up for hours?? Whistling twats, how dare they be so happy.