Richard Hyatt: Garbage on the day after Christmas

Call me Scrooge if you like, but I'm still upset that a lot of us in town didn't get our household garbage picked up on the day after Christmas.

Every year it is the biggest trash day of the year. Our garbage cans are overflowing with the carcasses of dead turkeys, leftover sweet potatoes and uneaten fruitcakes, not to mention wads of colorful wrapping paper and flattened gift boxes.

And there they sit.

Since Christmas fell on Thursday and our regular household pickup would not be until Monday, many of us assumed Friday would be a makeup day. Guess again. If you were one of the many residents that rolled their cans to the curb on Friday, you know by now that city trucks weren't rolling Thursday or Friday.

Friday was what the city website called a "floating holiday." This year it floated to the day after Christmas, giving workers a four-day weekend.

Employees deserve a break, but isn't there a way for the Columbus Consolidated Government to fulfill its contract with taxpayers and still let most city workers have a day off? Or, at the very least, give us a break on the garbage fee for December.

When I ranted about this issue on a social media site on Christmas night, most people sided with me but others called me Ebenezer and said I should count my blessings and not whine about unimportant stuff.

This was a blessed Christmas season and I am thankful, but I also know how much garbage is piled up at our house and I bet most folks have much more than we do. I can only imagine how many more bags we will have by Monday morning.

My suggestion is this. When Christmas falls on a day that impacts household garbage pickup, schedule only those pertinent workers. Give them two other days off at a later date as a bonus. (As for the prisoners, it should be just another day.)

New Year's Day is not going to be a problem. Thursday is a holiday and there will be no pickup. Friday is a routine workday for city folks so we will have full service this week.

Meanwhile, our trash is accumulating, my garage is filling up and my irritation is growing -- just like Ebenezer.

Where is Tiny Tim when you need him?

-- Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.

This story was originally published December 28, 2014 at 12:18 AM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Garbage on the day after Christmas."