Taking Trash

Have you ever thought about what happens to all of the trash accumulated from a single retail store? What about a mall full of stores?

Let me tell you… it ain’t pretty and it doesn’t smell good, either.

I was initiated into the task of “taking trash” a few weeks into my employment. One person can’t do it alone (with the exception of a single associate who does it by herself all the time for reasons unknown to me).

Here are the dirty (and I do mean dirty!!) details...

Two people load up the trash onto a rickety cart with wheels. This cart contains numerous plastic bags of trash, as well as a huge stack of broken-down cardboard boxes (in which our inventory was shipped). One person pulls the cart while the other person opens doors and pushes elevator buttons.

The cart is LOUD. You can’t carry on a meaningful conversation – let alone any conversation – while taking trash.

Part of the route for taking trash is to walk through the mall. People look at you like you’re so beneath them. Oh, if they only knew…

After going downstairs to the underbelly of the mall (let your imagination run wild here), the first stop is to unload the plastic bags of trash. Afterward, one person pulls the cart up a pretty steep incline of a ramp to unload the cardboard.

With the cart now completely empty, both people make their way back to the store. After this chore, I usually wash my hands like I’m prepping for surgery. There’s no telling what my hands have just touched.

Also, taking trash is worse in the summer than it is in the winter. Imagine the stench from thousands of bags of trash (a large majority of which contain leftover food from mall restaurants) in 90-degree heat. It’s truly disgusting.

And you thought life in Retail World was glamorous!!