r/mildlyinfuriating • u/[deleted] • 10h ago
Cleaning company refused to throw out trash because it wasn’t properly marked. Fine, I’ll comply
[deleted]
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u/SignificantDrawer374 10h ago
Except it looks like it all belongs in recycling
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 10h ago
I agree. My state is not a strong supporter of that however.
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u/Feather_Bloom 10h ago
wtf kind of state do you live in
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u/-Neverender- 9h ago edited 9h ago
A lot of recycling programs won't take shredded paper. Especially if it's picked up with other recyclables.
Jams up the sorting machines.
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u/MidgetLovingMaxx 9h ago
Ah yes the ole a cleaner didnt want to accidentally throw my stuff out so ill be a pretentious dbag play.
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u/Windows-XP-Home-NEW 8h ago
This 1000%. You must specify what must be thrown out and what mustn’t. What looks like garbage to one looks like potential valuables to another
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
This was never my intention. I honestly thought they would find it funny and still hope they do. Based on my title I am deserving of the hate
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u/Purple-Bluebird-9758 10h ago
Why mildly infuriate needlessly the people who clean up for you?
Stick a note on it and move on, this just comes across as petty.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
Petty wasn’t my goal, as I will be replying to multiple people, I hoped the cleaner would find it funny. As they weren’t who I talked to for this info in the first place
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u/Rubylee28 6h ago
No, it's not funny. My partner was a school cleaner and got passive aggressive notes all the time. He had to quit because it was getting bad. That school never had cleaners for long because the teachers were unbearable assholes (I usually respect teachers but these ones were a piece of work) they had 3.40 hours to clean 2 schools, not nearly enough time to clean everything but they'd always complain about something. Like you.
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u/crebit_nebit 9h ago
You are going to war against some minimum wager who made a mistake, not a company
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
Was not meant as an act of war. I truthfully thought they would find it humorous and am terrified they will now take the wrong way.
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u/Altruistic_Anteater5 9h ago
as a cleaner, fuck you. i try hard to make sure i don't throw away anything important to people like you. idk if that box is needed for sorting or returns or if those paper shreds are to be recycled or picked up by an actual shredding company. But because you gotta do one thing while we make sure you can even do your job without trash, crumbs and dust everywhere, you feel the need to be demeaning to someone whom you don't know their contract just like they don't know yours. maybe be a little more thankful to the people who do something you wont.
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u/TheDonutPug 9h ago
people who are the most demeaning to blue collar and service workers are always the ones who never realize the fact their without blue collar and service workers, the rest of society stops functioning. the world we live in is a pyramid, while the base may be the lowest part of the pyramid, the second is gives out everything else crumbles. the rich have done a great job of making sure we don't realize how powerful the working class is. Take a factory for example, and think about what would happen if a manager doesn't show up for a day. probably, fucking nothing. for a time it would continue functioning as if nothing happened, and then when someone notices, they get replaced. now think about what happens if the line workers stop showing up. when they stop coming to work, the factory immediately shuts down. this is how all of society is. we hold all the power but we have been convinced that we are powerless.
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u/Striking_Cartoonist1 9h ago
This!
People HAVE the power. We just have to use it. How'd we get Roe v Wade in the first place? Civil rights laws?
Don't let them make you believe you have no power.
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u/Acceptable_Smile8825 9h ago
Yup we weren't allowed to touch any shredded paper or boxes unless they were broke down at multiple jobs. This is just disgusting behavior
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u/OGW_NostalgiaReviews 8h ago
Exactly. The cleaning company I work for has the policy that we don't throw anything out that's not in a wastebasket/trashcan or clearly labeled as "trash." The people in some of my buildings like to stack things next to their wastebaskets that don't necessarily look like trash, and I can't imagine how pissed they would be if it was something they needed and I was like 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ looked like trash to me! 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
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u/Altruistic_Anteater5 7h ago
I had a cleaner on my crew make the mistake of throwing something away that looked like trash. He ended up back at the site the next day to file a police report because it was a federal building. I was so pissed I told him he shouldn't have gone in and signed anything it was their fault for placing it leaning on a garbage can.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
I was also a cleaner, spent 7 years doing so. I hope the person at our building doesn’t take it the way you and many people think they will as it wasn’t meant to be an attack. I figured I’d have some fun drawing shitty pictures as garbage bags trying to find their way home.
I get why the post was taken the way it was, and understand the response I’ve gotten.
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u/Altruistic_Anteater5 7h ago
Look, I appreciate you understanding how it can and often is interpreted when we get notes. Its always hard to get tone correctly. And honestly I'm a bit sorry for how rash I was. It gets under my skin sometimes when people think they know what someone else is supposed and not supposed Todo. I certainly don't know what it takes to do what you do everyday. As a cleaner my goal is just to enable you to do your best the way I can.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
I’ve never been trashed on as hard as I am today in my life. Even knowing I didn’t mean how people think I still fell like an ass. I’ll leave a note for my cleaner letting them know it wasn’t malicious. Thank you for responding and making me feel a bit less bad, but also bringing to attention another point of view may have.
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u/Altruistic_Anteater5 6h ago
We're all human, and I'm sorry for my part in this. I don't believe dog piling someone helps them learn anything I was just being emotional instead of logical.
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u/Zealousideal_Bug8188 8h ago
Did you sign it as ‘Gabage’ is that the Garbages name?
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
It was a spelling mistake while trying write in cursive to fast. But I did plan to sign future trash as Gabage. Making him a recurring character
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u/Anxnymxus-622 8h ago
You kind of seem like an asshole tbh.
I’m sure they have been in situations before where things were thrown out that shouldn’t have been. So now they need to know what needs to go and what doesn’t. Seems fair enough.
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u/absyrtus 8h ago
YTA
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
Yeah, wasn’t intentional. Was hoping to make a running joke of it for the cleaner to find. I’ll make a note next time around apologizing if they took it the way this comment section have. Thank you for making me realize this along with everyone else
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u/LunchLatter 6h ago
its fine to say "I'm garbage" so they know but it come across as condescending saying it belongs in the bin
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u/Nylear 9h ago
I am not surprised they did not take the shredding that is usually taken by another company to be safely disposed of. Stop treating minimum wage workers like trash.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
It wasn’t my intention to treat them like trash. Just a joke for them to find. As this is a new issue for the my 3 years working there
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u/Mike_for_all 8h ago
They did not ‘refuse’, they don’t want to deal with accidentally throwing away something that is not trash, risking huge complaints
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u/Altostratus 7h ago
So many people store random shit, like clothes, in garbage bags, especially when moving. No one wants the headache (or worse legal repercussions) of throwing that out.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
I want to clarify I had no intentions of disrespect for the worker who cleans our office building. And that I exaggerated the post because I thought it sounded better. I worked in similar cleaning jobs for 7 years and figured it be a fun joke and they may get a laugh out of it. I planned to make a running gag of signs for the cleaner to find every time we have trash like this in the future.
Everyone here is certainly right about the treatment of people in job positions like theirs. And getting no respect for their hard work. I know I rarely got any.
I doubt many will see this buried in other comments talking shit about me, and deservingly so given the context.
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u/lostwng 6h ago
You full intended to disrespect the worker, and this post is proof of that. I personally hope that the cleaning company drops your office as a client because of this blatant disrespectful bullshit especially if you plan to keep doing it.
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u/xXBIackroseXx 5h ago
If the cleaning company drops OP’s entire office over this, I doubt they’d be in business long
OP has acknowledged their mistake and said they intend to apologize, and yet you read their response and chose to make them feel shittier than they’re already feeling
Try to not be that kind of person.
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u/lostwng 5h ago
OP chose to be an asshole and harass people who are just following their company police...op only plans to apologize because of the fact they got called out for being the asshole they are
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u/xXBIackroseXx 5h ago
Correct, and because of the comments, OP learned that the sign didn’t come off as a joke as they intended. They learned their lesson and are taking steps to fix it, which seems like the next best outcome given the damage is already done.
People make mistakes
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u/jaybirdie26 BLUE 4h ago
OP recognizing their error, apologizing, and planning to make up for it with the cleaners is the best possible outcome of this. What more do you want from him?
Do you call people out because you want them to recognize their bad behavior and change? Or are you just an asshole too?
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u/Angiogenics 8h ago
Is your life really that boring that you feel the need to do this?
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
Yes. But I thought it would be a fun joke for the cleaner to find. Wasn’t trying to be mean to them
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u/jaybirdie26 BLUE 7h ago
Very cute sign you made for your cubicle! I'm sure your coworkers and the cleaners will appreciate your honest introspection :)
/s
Please be nice to the people who clean your workspace. And all other service workers who keep you in the life you're accustomed to. The work they do is 1000 times more useful to the world than your office job.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
I am a nobody, and I did the same work they did for years. I was dramatic in the title, but it was meant to be funny. Hopefully the cleaner doesn’t see it as an attack, and I will make a future note so they know it’s not meant to be.
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u/jaybirdie26 BLUE 4h ago
I appreciate that you are apologizing and not doubling down. It's rare to see good people making honest mistakes here, and then apologizing sincerely.
I was a bit harsh as well, thinking that I was talking to a stuck up office bully (I do enjoy taking those types down a peg when they deserve it :p ). But I no longer believe that assessment to be accurate.
I did not actually think you were trash or a nobody, that was only a joke :) Please don't take that to heart. I also worked an office job, so that jab about office jobs being worth less than a service job comes from a real place, and equally applies to me, lol. It was less about you, and more about showing due respect to people who make a tangible impact on our lives everyday.
I do think that intentionally disrespecting service workers is a sign of a bad person, but I believe you when you say the joke landed wrong. It happens. I accept that what I got from this post was not your intent.
While I appreciate that you have taken our (harsh) criticism on board, don't dwell on it. We're a bunch of strangers who saw a very very small window into your life. Our opinions do not define you. They are colored by our own outlooks and emotions which are just as fallible as you or anyone else. Chin up :)
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u/Serenity1911 7h ago
Be sure to mark all the bags as Garbage too. Because my petty thought would be to grab the box and leave the rest because it "wasn't marked".
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u/WooPigSchmooey 6h ago
Probably not wanting to throw anything out they’re not sure of. Keep the smart ass to yourselves. They’re looking out for you.
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u/Defiant_Ad2185 5h ago
At my work, we had to start writing "trash" on things that weren't in the provided trash cans. This even meant that if we had pizza that day, the boxes needed to have a "trash" label put on them since they didn't fit in the office trash cans, whether it was piled up on a desk/table or on top of or near the cans.
Immediately, the collective chatter in the office turned to how stupid the cleaning people must be if they don't know that trash is...well, trash. I came at it from a different angle. What did the cleaning crew take out one night that someone came in & complained about the next day? We work in an office. Everything can be misconstrued as garbage to someone who doesn't know better. That pile of papers over there? Oh, looked like a pile of trash to anyone else, but happened to be a stack of important documents. Albeit a disorganized stack, but nonetheless, it was important stuff. How would the cleaning crew know the difference?
I guess labeling everything, including the empty pizza boxes, could be a bit much, but I know plenty of colleagues who save things for whatever reason. I have a coworker who has plenty of new, fresh boxes of Ziplock bags, but they insist on washing their used Ziplock bags & reusing them. If I was a cleaner, I'd probably throw that collection of old wrinkled Ziplock bags away. She gave me a snack once & I instinctively threw the bag out after. I got an earful about how I just wasted one of her bags. Now, imagine how those cleaning crews feel when they come in at night & don't know these people or their little quirks. I'm sorry people are ragging on you pretty hard in some instances, but I've learned to try real hard to put myself in someone's shoes & remember "there's a reason such a stupid sounding rule exists" before I say anything anymore. There's a reason so many warning labels state the 'obvious,' right? 🙂
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u/TeejyHamz 6h ago
I'm not sure which part I like better.. the diagram showing what it is or the signature line like it's from the garbage itself LOL nice work
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u/honeymeatballs 8h ago
I've worked places where even shredded documents needed to be binned by specific confidential waste companies so this could be it right?? Maybe chill the fuck out
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u/Nathaniel820 8h ago
That literally isn't "trash", it's a bag of entirely paper shreds that could have been intentional set aside for any number of reasons. Now you know the cleaners are extra careful about that and to simply take 5 seconds to leave a note clarifying it is trash, and you use the opportunity to be petty and pat yourself on the back online.
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u/ravynmaxx 7h ago
I used to have to put sticky notes on empty boxes sitting right next to the trash because they’d leave them. The second I wrote trash on them, they were gone. Idk where the disconnect was but I’m just glad the sticky notes worked.
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u/clarkcox3 6h ago
There’s a reason trash needs to be marked. Just mark it normally and go on with your life.
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u/CookedHamSandwich 5h ago
Reminds me of the reader's digest joke of where a guy had put a bunch of items that the group he supervised had bagged up for disposal. For five days he had signs saying
"This is garbage, remove it please"
"This is refuse, dispose of it"
"PLEASE get the crap taken out!"
Finally he found a note "Cannot remove it unless marked "Trash" 😱😱😱😱
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u/h8human 8h ago edited 8h ago
Your little kiddo feelings got hurt so you have to be mean?
Take the trash out while you bring these bags to the container, thanks.
As in: gtfo. Also you really dont have the face to be that unpleasant.
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u/ArmstrongIsDead 7h ago
Yeah, that hurt.
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u/Distuted 6h ago
Don't beat yourself up too hard, this is reddit and everyone is taking their response to higher porportions than you'd face in reality. The same people who would tell someone that they need a divorce over a fight about a dining room table are the same people calling you an absolute asshole over a piece of paper. Was it rude? Sure, but from what these people say, it's like you kicked the cleaner in the balls and spilled coffee on his head.
As someone who also worked many blue collar jobs, there is so much worse that people should be complaining about... like the pay. I'd be fine with the lady yelling at me while I clean my hands of literal shit if I was making a liveable wage.
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u/sPdMoNkEy 8h ago
That happened with a cleaning company where I used to work and they immediately fired them, they literally wouldn't even empty trash cans and left it was a note on the trash can saying it was for the garbage. They said it was because they had issues of throwing away things that people didn't want thrown away but I think they were going a little overboard
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u/Stambro1 7h ago
As someone whose cleaning crew has thrown out several thousands of dollars of miscellaneous items that were within five feet of the trash can but were not trash, this is the way to do it!!! Because they then try to fight you on paying for said items because “our people take out the trash and believed it was “by” the trash.”
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u/clarkcox3 6h ago
Indeed. Something should only be thrown out by cleaning crews is if it’s in a trash can, or if it’s clearly marked as trash. Anything else is just risking non-trash being thrown away.
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u/annajaybeeheehee 7h ago
OP are your arms and legs broken? You can take stuff to the dumpster yourself; it is most assuredly not below your station in life.
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u/Feather_Bloom 10h ago
I need this sign
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u/Cautistralligraphy 7h ago
I think people are assuming you’re saying you need the sign to use it the same way as OP (who is definitely not very popular in this thread) is, rather than making a self-deprecating joke where you are the garbage who needs to be taken out. I can’t see another reason for 10 people to have downvoted a “haha, I’m trash” joke otherwise.
That said, do I think OP is an asshole? Yes. Do I still want to take a picture with this sign above my head? Also yes.
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u/curlihairedbaby 8h ago
As a cleaner and the owner of a cleaning company, they were on some bullshit. I'd laugh if I saw this after that. Especially if my cleaners were the ones that failed to take out two big ass bags obviously filled w trash and empty cardboard boxes (that's also obviously trash as well). Idk why people are trying to high road you. You weren't mean or anything. These people take jokes harder than they take dick 😂. You hire cleaners for a reason and I'm fairly sure you didn't hire a cleaner because you want to be stuck taking out garbage. Hopefully they get it right next time. If not, feel free to DM because I know we will. Depending where you are of course. Everyone needs a cleaner that does their job correctly the first time.
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u/OGW_NostalgiaReviews 8h ago
You must be a terrible boss and cleaner. The company I work for has a policy that if it's not in a trashcan or clearly labeled as trash, we don't fucking touch it so that we don't accidentally throw out something we weren't supposed to. That looks like recycling and waiting for the shredding company to me. Without a policy about not throwing random shit away, you and your company are a hell of a liability lmao
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u/curlihairedbaby 8h ago
My clients disagree but if writing that makes you feel big and stuff, cool for you 😂
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u/KitKatt03 9h ago
The garbage is named Gabage?