Some Times You Just Can't Win

In our backyard (actually our landlord's yard) sit old non-working appliances that have been accumulating for years. Amongst them are two washing machines, a dishwasher, a deep freeze and a stove. They sit there accumulating water and being overtaken by bush, which makes them perfect breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes and wasp nests. After speaking with the National Solid Waste Management Authority, they stated that if we called them they would come pick up the appliances and carry them to the landfill. (Note: Technically speaking, Jamaica doesn't have any landfills. That is, one that would be properly designed and engineered to prevent environmental contamination.) On Sunday afternoon, a garbage truck, presumably owned and operated by NSWMA was at the school across the street emptying garbage from the skip. I asked the men if they would come over and take these old appliances away. They said they would in a few minutes.

They came over and started carrying the appliances around front. We offered and three of the men accepted something cold to drink and limes from our lime tree in the back. Once they brought all of the appliances around to the front and before they lifted it into the back of the truck one of them pulled me aside. They wanted money. I said, no, you are with NSWMA and they told me you would come and carry the appliances away for no charge. As the driver stood there with an NSWMA shirt, the guy said that I must give him money for them to carry it away. Another worker said that since they already began, I must give him money even if they don't lift the appliances into the truck. Because, "that is how we work." It wasn't enough that I gave water to them and they got three dozen limes from us, for free, they wanted money. What was I to do except give them money. So I did. I gave them J$500, a small amount. And they lifted the appliances into the truck and went on their way.

Later that afternoon, we told our landlord that the garbage men came and carried the appliances away. Her response was what appliances? You didn't give the dishwasher away, did you? Of course we did. Apparently a man she knows has been "storing" some of these appliances at her house so he can some time in the "not-so" distant future take them and sell them for scrap. Because that is, after all, what the garbage men are going to do with it - sell and make money off the garbage they collect. Needless to say she was not happy. So, here we are trying to cleanup the yard, get rid of the mosquito breeding wasp carrying appliances and we can't make anybody happy. Sometimes you just can't win.