Our city has its own garbage and recycling. Today (Tuesday), while one of the garbage trucks collected our trash, the automatic arm put the trash can back on the street and it knocked over our recycle bin. The driver stopped, backed up the truck and then realized that he had to get out of the truck and pick up the recycle bin by hand. As he was going back to his truck, he noticed that our neighbor was trying to pass by.
Trying to be helpful, he moved forward to go past my husband’s car in order to let our neighbor friend pass by (narrow street). Unfortunately, he forgot to retract the automatic clamp that holds on to the bins and that part of the truck went all iceberg on the side of my husband’s car.
Since the accident involved a city employee and vehicle, we had to wait over three hours for the police to show up.
However, the thing that really is upsetting is that the garbage truck driver’s supervisor was absolutely positive that the driver had to be doing something illegal to cause the accident. (“He was probably on his phone.”) I asked him why he couldn’t understand how it was simply an accident, that the garbage truck driver was probably feeling rushed and he made a error in trying to move out of the way too quickly?
People can be super shitty.
Thankfully, the neighbor who witnessed the entire incident said he never had a phone in his hand. He was simply trying to helpful. She also told me she gave him her contact info if he needed her help in corroborating his narrative.
I read somewhere that the local birds have started snacking on the spotted laternflys. I see then when i go hiking but their numbers are fewer that the last couple of years.
Is that part something that you can complain to the city about? Not only did the supervisor try to throw a subordinate under the bus, but he also wasn’t acting in the city’s best interest. Because if there were a lawsuit at some point in the future, then “Our employee was totally criming at the time” is practically an admission of liability.
I’m not even talking about trying to get the supervisor fired; this just reeks of poor or nonexistent supervisor training.
@FloridaManJefe, hope you’re battening down your hatches down there… looks like your in for some major storm surge… it’s heading directly for us up here in the ATL too…
I’ve yet to see any of the lantern flies at my place despite spending almost all my time outside and being right in the middle of an infested area. I see them at work semi-routinely. I’m hypothesizing that our Guinea fowl flock, which we raise for tick control, is just as effective on lantern flies. I leave it to each reader to decide if a flock of guineas is better or worse.
i was going to say, y’all need to be careful in ATL, too! gonna be a soaker!
we’re all good. i don’t expect flooding, but the boat is in, on the trailer and strapped down tight here at the house.
I had a feeling that there was some friction between the supervisor and the driver. The supervisor told my husband that the employee was not a regular driver, but a fill-in or relief driver. He also told us both that the city would most likely try to lowball us on the value of our car since it just turned 10. It was very bizarre. He basically told us that we should sue the city for relief, which it made me wonder if a lawsuit would help the department get rid of the driver?
The driver of the truck felt absolutely terrible. He apologized to both of us and looked devastated. I made sure to ask him if he was in union and told him that they should look out for him.
If you aren’t already doing so, start following the National Hurricane Center. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
(won’t one-box)
Entire state of GA is under watches/warnings for tropical storm force winds and flooding. Here’s a link to today’s afternoon update video:
Evacuated by Helene? This $5 Tampa tag could make your return much smoother
Residents within numerous ZIP codes throughout Tampa can re-enter the city post-hurricane without worry of gawkers or potential criminals through the program
we have those re-entry stickers for the keys. worked well when people started coming back after Irma (i am told… we never left). the county tried to use these stickers as identifiers of residents during covid lockdowns. miami idiots, wanting to still spend time down here were making counterfeit stickers, prompting a big change in how they are allocated. our new stickers have to be assigned to the one vehicle of a proven resident with a keys address. if you change cars, you get a new sticker.
the storm is now about even with key west and about 300miles west, in the gulf. we a getting high winds - ~30-35mph, sustained and scattered showers. i don’t expect much more where we are in the upper keys, but tornado warnings are up, and i don’t take that lightly.
watching the news, i want YOU and all the other Happy Mutants in this path to be safe!
we have big branches from neighbors trees down on our fenceline. one landed on our big plumeria, which stopped the fall from taking out a porch railing.
we just got wind, y’all are looking at some “historic” flooding, very soon!
Just got back from the grocery store, and am about to batten down those hatches once dinner is made! I also need to call my mom cause she called me while I was out! She needs to be some hatch-battening, too, I’m sure!
We did see some roads starting to back up rain wise. The metro has issues with that…
Glad you and your mom are safe and there wasn’t much damage!
