A Little On The Trashy Side

And now, time to go back . . .

Yesterday morning a Rumpke garbage man was hit by a truckin Butler County while crossing the road on his route. The person who hit him, driving a red pick-up truck, fled the scene. Apparently he'll be O.K., but Rumpke released a press statement urging people to be careful as they pass garbage trucks. This story reminded me of an incident back in high school with my brother Tim [who, by the way, has recently figured out how to send me disgusting emails].

One summer we were up early to go to work for Carr Electric, who happen to drive a better deal. Tim was driving his 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix, that I would later own, up the "backroad" to the shop. Dogtrot Road ascends up a steep hill with a lot of blind curves. Already running a little late according to Ken Carr time, we got behind a Rumpke Recycling Truck that wasn't sure if it was stopping or going. After a minute or so of waiting behind this guy, Tim saw an opening and decided to pass. As we began to pull around, the truck suddenly stopped and the driver hopped out of the car . . . right onto the car. Yeah, I found myself staring straight into the eyes of the garbage man, who was now sprawled across Tim's hood.

We jumped out of the car to check on the guy, who was still a little stunned. Honestly, it wasn't Tim's fault; this guy was new on the job. After triple-checking to see if he was OK, we went on our way. A guy driving the other way stopped us to see if we wanted his information. He saw what happened and wanted to make sure we had a witness. Tim didn't think we needed it, but I said, "definitely, sir, we'll take your phone number." I didn't want to get arrested for us running over the Rumpke guy.

About a half an hour later, we saw the guy parked at the nearby UDF talking on a pay phone while rubbing his arm. I felt bad for the guy, but you have to look both ways before you cross the street.

To my knowledge, Tim has yet to hit another garbage man. Unless that was him up in Butler County yesterday morning. I mean, how many people drive red pickup trucks?