#4525 Big Pinchers Keep On Pinching

Summary

TBTL Podcast Episode #4525: "Big Pinchers Keep On Pinching" Release Date: August 5, 2025

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Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Introduction In this engaging episode of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh dive into the everyday hilarities and frustrations surrounding garbage collection and waste management. Through their trademark humor and candid conversations, they explore personal anecdotes, listener voicemails, and broader societal observations about how we handle our trash.

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1. The Prize Wheel: Selecting Voicemails

Overview: Luke and Andrew introduce their unique method of selecting listener voicemails using a prize wheel. This segment sets the stage for listener interaction, adding an element of randomness and excitement to the episode.

Notable Exchange:

• Luke (06:25): "Around and around it goes. Where it lands, nobody knows except me because it just landed on Erica."
• Andrew (06:39): "I wish I had gone on a date with each of these voicemails. This is like speed dating voicemails. This is what we're doing."

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2. Listener Voicemail: Erica's Garbage Bin Dilemma

Overview: Erica from Arlington shares her frustrating experience with the local garbage collection service. After a snowstorm disrupted regular garbage pickup, she and her husband attempted to label their green bin to indicate it contained garbage. However, the garbage collectors misinterpreted the label, leading to the bin being removed entirely without the garbage being picked up.

Key Points:

• Miscommunication Issues: Erica highlights the challenge of effectively communicating with garbage collectors to ensure proper pickup.
• Impact on Residents: The removal of the green bin without garbage pickup caused significant inconvenience and confusion.

Notable Quote:

• Erica (07:09): "After the third week of like calling them and being like, can you please pick up the garbage that's in the green bin? They did. And they also took the green bin with them."

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3. The Art of Garbage Terminology

Overview: The hosts discuss the terminology used to describe garbage collectors, debating terms like "garbage people," "garbage man," and "waste collector." They explore how language can influence perceptions and the importance of respectful terminology.

Key Points:

• Perceived Offensiveness: "Garbage people" is deemed more offensive compared to "garbage man" or "waste collector."
• Inclusivity in Language: The conversation underscores the need for inclusive and respectful language when referring to essential service workers.

Notable Exchange:

• Luke (08:24): "Maybe we should use 'waste collector' instead of 'garbage man.' What if we said 'waste of a person'? Would that be better?"
• Andrew (08:30): "That would not."

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4. The Mechanics of Garbage Collection

Overview: Delving deeper into the logistics of garbage collection, Luke and Andrew explore how garbage trucks operate, the challenges workers face, and the technological aspects like weight sensors on machines.

Key Points:

• Weight Limitations: Luke shares his experience with exceeding weight limits in yard waste bins, leading to uncollected garbage.
• Technological Constraints: The use of sensors in garbage trucks to prevent overloading and ensure efficient operations.

Notable Quote:

• Luke (26:24): "I threw grass and wet dirt into the yard waste bin, but it was so heavy that the machine sensor went off."

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5. Junk Removal Services: "Junk in the Trunk"

Overview: The hosts shift their focus to junk removal services, specifically discussing the company "Junk in the Trunk." They ponder the business model behind these services, questioning how much of the collected junk is resold or recycled versus sent to landfills.

Key Points:

• Environmental Impact: Concerns about the sustainability and environmental practices of large junk removal companies.
• Consumer Influence: How consumer choices and advertising influence perceptions of junk removal services.

Notable Exchange:

• Andrew (16:18): "I've been seeing some of these in somewhat heavy rotation and it's always very tempting, right?"
• Luke (16:43): "What's... Oh, my guess would be what's less than zero."

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6. Listener Voicemail: Ingrid's Insight on Trash Talk

Overview: Ingrid from Texas provides a historical perspective on trash management, recounting how her neighbor, an attorney for the city of Dallas, dealt with lawsuits related to garbage collectors' back injuries. This segues into a discussion about workplace safety and the evolution of garbage collection practices.

Key Points:

• Historical Challenges: Early 90s lawsuits over back injuries among garbage collectors.
• Modern Solutions: Transition to automatic, plastic bins to reduce manual handling and related injuries.

Notable Quote:

• Ingrid (23:06): "Her first week or two, she settled lawsuits that were brought by the garbage collectors against the city for back injuries."

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7. Personal Anecdotes: Neighborhood Interactions and Garbage Can Chaos

Overview: Luke shares a humorous story about his interactions with a reserved neighbor over their similarly labeled garbage cans. The conversation highlights the sometimes absurd nature of neighborhood dynamics and the lengths to which people go to manage their waste effectively.

Key Points:

• Neighborly Relations: The impact of garbage can labeling on interactions with neighbors.
• Humor in Frustration: Finding humor in the everyday challenges of waste management.

Notable Exchange:

• Luke (11:28): "But the one time that I've ever interacted with them was when me and this dude arrived at our garbage cans at the same time and looked and noticed that both of them had this grease pencil very, in very large writing."

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8. The Emotional Toll of Waste Management

Overview: Andrew reflects on the emotional aspects of handling garbage, sharing his experiences with his personal garbage collector and the toll it takes when dealing with heavy or emotionally significant items. The discussion touches on the human side of waste management and the stories behind the trash.

Key Points:

• Emotional Attachment: Items like old couches hold sentimental value, complicating the act of discarding them.
• Worker Compassion: The potential for garbage collectors to recognize and appreciate the value in what people throw away.

Notable Quote:

• Andrew (20:03): "Maybe you should have been somebody who's picking something up all along instead of delivering."

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Conclusion Episode #4525 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a humorous yet insightful exploration into the world of garbage collection and waste management. Through personal stories, listener interactions, and thoughtful dialogues, Luke and Andrew illuminate the often-overlooked intricacies of handling our everyday trash. The episode underscores the importance of effective communication, respectful language, and the human stories intertwined with waste management practices.

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Listen to TBTL Daily for more entertaining and thought-provoking discussions as Luke and Andrew continue their journey through the absurdities and beauties of daily life.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Does anybody got a pill speaker? We need to get some bom bom pow in here. Joe, aren't you a music guy?

[Andrew Walsh]

Uh, I actually teach middle school choir.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish I was pulling down six figures like you, though, stacking dough, you know what I mean? I'm actually saving up right now so.

[Andrew Walsh]

I could buy this plane.

[Luke Burbank]

Check it out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Believe it or not, I've never been on an airplane before.

[Luke Burbank]

Yo, I can't even process that. Jemay, I need a brewski like my mama needs a kidney.

[Andrew Walsh]

How's she doing, by the way?

[Luke Burbank]

She's hanging in there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. All you can do, man. Tbtl. Hey, you know, if we knock down that wall, it would really open the place up, you know, clean up the blood, maybe add some French doors, maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

Ping pong table right there.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I'm just ripping.

[Luke Burbank]

Is there, and I'm just guessing here, some kind of medication that you maybe need a lot of and have taken.

[Andrew Walsh]

None of or maybe too much of today?

[Luke Burbank]

Mm. Ah, this gazpacho soup just burned my lips.

[Erica]

The gazpacho?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's been sitting out at it warmed up.

[Erica]

It warmed up so much that it burned your lip.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me explain something to you. If you're expecting something ice cold and you bring it up to your lips.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's room temp, it's going to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Feel like your mouth's on fire, it's.

[Luke Burbank]

Gonna feel like your body's on fire.

[Andrew Walsh]

And boom goes the dynamite.

[Luke Burbank]

I could really use a win here. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Get out of here, you flies. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're like the Daniel Day Lewis of.

[Luke Burbank]

Only doing one thing. Hey, come on now. Wait. I chose that audio drop. All right? It's fine. It's probably true. The one thing I do is bring you episodes sequentially, and I'm going to do that right now by bringing you episode 4525 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

And what we're going to do for another day is continue to listen through and enjoy. I don't want this to feel like work, like it's some kind of a summer cleaning project, like it's, you know, anything less than what it is, which is absolutely sparklingly entertaining content, which is us listening to voicemails that have been left by you, the tens of listeners. Ahoy hoi. And the keeper of those voicemails. It's a Very important job, by the way. He's one of a handful of people who have the codes to do this. He is Andrew Walsh. He is the longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. And maybe something else you may or may not know about him. I'm an activist and house party enthusiast. He's interrupting his morning dark game to step in and talk to me here on the program. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. How is that wheel looking? How did it survive?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I'm honest, I wish I would have left the crown royal velvet cover on it because it is definitely collecting some dust. It's, you know, it's. It's not as cherry as it was yesterday when I took it out of the box, but I still think it's going to work. Hold on, let me just test it here for. Okay, good. Yep. You know what still spins?

[Andrew Walsh]

What did you call this thing yesterday, by the way? This is our. This is the wheel that we spin so we can figure out which random voicemail to play on today's show. But you gave it a name yesterday that I was unfamiliar with. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

Do you remember, like, almost 24 hours since then? Yeah, the entire 24 hours.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I should have asked you in the moment, but that's okay. You had a name for it. I wasn't sure because I really don't know what to call this other than a random.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I've been calling it a tote wheel.

[Andrew Walsh]

A tote wheel?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Tote bags are so over. It's all about tote wheels.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, is that where. Where are you getting tote wheel from? I've never heard that before. Yeah, I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

I think one time, I think I was on the Internet searching for one of these devices, and somehow tote wheel seemed to return some options. I'm gonna do this right now. I'm gonna type this in. Tote. How is Nina toten wheel, by the way? Still doing all the voices?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think so.

[Luke Burbank]

On the broadcast. Let's see. Okay. Tote wheel. I am getting nothing whatsoever close to the thing that I have standing next to me, Andrew. So clearly, tote wheel is very, very wrong.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I didn't ask you that to embarrass you. I was trying. You know me.

[Luke Burbank]

As I said, round. Wh.

[Andrew Walsh]

As I said to the angry man who accused me of cutting in line at the. At the ballpark. I'm a lifelong learner, Luke, so I was. I thought you could explain to Me what? A tote wheel or, you know, the background prize wheel.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, let's see what it says. Prize wheel, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Prize wheel.

[Luke Burbank]

But it's not. But see, the thing is, I feel like this is. We're not giving anything away.

[Andrew Walsh]

We are, though.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, we are entertainment.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess it's called a prize wheel.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I like that. Prize wheel.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Prize wheel.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, so the way this works, if you didn't hear yesterday's show, we're going to do this for a while because I have so, so many voicemails.

[Luke Burbank]

So many prizes to give.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good one. So many prizes. Each voicemail that you guys leave on our voicemail.

[Luke Burbank]

Sick of how many prizes we have.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I want to say if you're cranky, if you're bored, give the voicemail line a call. 206-414-TBTL. That's 200-6414-8285.

[Luke Burbank]

Is our billboard still up?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it is still up. I need to check. Check in with John Sklaro, figure out. But it should be according to my calendar. It should be maybe in its waning out there in.

[Luke Burbank]

I assume when they take it down, there's gonna be probably some of the local like, you know, veterans and other people will stand and there'll be some kind of a salute.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think. So Taps will be. They need to make sure it doesn't touch the ground. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

100%. And in that very large part of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

You have to fold it. It's a tri corner fold anyway. And then what is the ceremony for the billboard that replaces it? Well, which I think is for crazy Eddie's pontoon boats.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was hoping that they were just going to retire that whole sign. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean they should obviously just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And salt the earth, as they say.

[Luke Burbank]

After the greatest billboard that's probably ever existed.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I want to ask you this.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

What was I saying?

[Luke Burbank]

I have no idea what we were talking about. Prize wheels.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, You're.

[Luke Burbank]

And the fact that we're. I just was. I was reminding the listeners of what a prize wheel sounds like when we spin it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sounds good. So we have all of these voicemails listed on this prize wheel. You're going to spin it and I am going to. To tell you what it lands on. You're gonna tell me what it lands on?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know exactly how that works. And then we're gonna play that particular voice. Okay. So here we go. Are you ready? And.

[Luke Burbank]

Around and around it goes. Where it lands, nobody knows except me because it Just landed on Erika.

[Andrew Walsh]

Erica. Okay, so. I don't know. I wish I had dated these voicemails.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish I dated Erica.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wish I had gone on a date with each of these voicemails.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish I had made out with these voicemails.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is like speed dating voicemails. This is what we're doing.

[Luke Burbank]

Love it. Get in, get out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. But anyway, I'm sorry that I just accidentally hit on you, Erica. That was unintentional, but not undeserving. You're a lovely person and I really hope that we continue to be friends. Yes. So this is a voicemail from Erica. I do not know what it's about, but once we figure it out, we will give it some context.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Erica]

Hi, Luke and Andrew, It's Erica from Arlington, and I was just listening to an episode where you were talking about garbage men and leaving notes on garbage cans. I guess I should say. Not garbage men. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Garbage people.

[Erica]

Anyway, cut that part out. So that's not the point of the story, is the pronouns of the garbage people.

[Luke Burbank]

The point is, don't you think garbage people sounds worse, though?

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know that? Can I recreate this?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm not trying to blame Erica.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

But I do think garbage people is somehow much more offensive.

[Andrew Walsh]

I remember saying to Genevieve one time, possibly while under the influence of something, because I just remember thinking it was so funny. I wasn't trying to be funny. I wasn't like goofing. I was being serious or something. I don't remember the details other than we were going to throw something away in our garbage can that I felt weird putting in our garbage can. And I believe what I said to Genevieve was, I don't want the garbage people to think that we're garbage people. And that sort of lit lives in my head, although the details elude me. But I think about that all the time. But yeah, garbage. Being a garbage person sounds a lot worse than being a garbage man or a garbage. Garbage collector is what I say for whatever that's worse.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, maybe we. I mean, is the big problem that we're using the term garbage instead of waste?

[Andrew Walsh]

Garbage collector. Waste collector. I think collector is.

[Luke Burbank]

What if we said waste of a person? Would that be better?

[Andrew Walsh]

That would not.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hold on.

[Luke Burbank]

A lot of ideas.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me look that up on that French guy's website from yesterday.

[Luke Burbank]

And why I was actually kind of surprising myself as that happened, that it was going as well as it did.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, okay, sorry. Back to Erica's message by the way we talk About I will not drag you in this. I talk about garbage related topics on the show, ripped from the pages of my own life, from the headlines of my own life. I don't even know what particular garbage anxiety story.

[Luke Burbank]

Erica's one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but I don't. I doubt it really matters. Go ahead, Erica.

[Erica]

You know when it snowed a few months ago and then we skipped garbage pickup, the garbage company was like, just put like a cardboard sign that says garbage on your green bin and we'll come pick it up. So my husband did that and then like, the sign would get removed, but the garbage was not picked up. And anyway, after the third week of like calling them and being like, can you please pick up the garbage that's in the green bin? They did. And they also took the green bin with them. I think maybe assuming that the whole entire garbage and bin was meant to be.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Erica]

Picked up and taken away.

[Luke Burbank]

So the garbage bin was garbage, green.

[Erica]

Bin out of it. But that was a really good, frustrating situation. So maybe next time we'll just put out extra bags and just do it that way. But then the annoying thing is that pests get into them anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep.

[Erica]

Yeah, power out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Power out. Erica. Thank you for that. So that makes sense. When people are. It's really hard to throw away a garbage can, right? Isn't this something that you've talked about before?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I mean, I will say my current garbage can is absolutely thrashed and I do need to get a replacement. Not only does it have still in grease pencil 3ft and then an arrow going both ways.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, because you're not supposed to stack it so close to other people's garbage bins or your own garbage bins.

[Luke Burbank]

Apparently it was too close to one of my neighbors at one time. And so the garbage. And I might not have even been the one that did it. I might have had my garbage can out first. I don't even remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or it might have been your neighbor who wrote it on there. Not the garbage person.

[Luke Burbank]

But he also wrote it on his own, which honestly would be pretty genius. That would be a master criminal at work. Because we both came out together and it was actually this is the neighbor that I don't really. There's nothing. I can't say anything negative about these neighbors. They're a little further back from where I am at all. They seem perfectly pleasant, but we have almost no interactions. Like, it just is the case that we live extremely separate lives. Whereas all my other neighbors, I kind of know them on a first name basis. I'll you know, chat with them. If I'm heading up the street and they're out doing something in their yard.

[Andrew Walsh]

They'Ll reprimand you for having too much tansy.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, exactly. You know, just neighbor stuff. And these folks are just a little bit more reserved and a little bit more kind of just living their life, which is great. But the one time that I've ever interacted with them was when me and this dude, this kind of dad who's probably about my age, arrived at our garbage cans at the same time and looked and noticed that both of them had this grease pencil very. In very large writing, scrawled. Almost the entire lid was covered by this. And we just looked at each other. Goes. I guess these are supposed to be three feet apart. And we laughed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And that was like a year ago. We still have those garbage cans. And now that, you know that bar that, like, there's like a kind of aluminum bar thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Embedded.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And I've learned since then, because you asked, like, what is this bar for? And I think it's for the truck to hook on it.

[Luke Burbank]

A certain kind of truck, but not the kind of truck that comes to my neighbor. The kind of truck that comes to my neighborhood is big pinchers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And I think that's from a one that, you know, a different kind.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And so I think maybe because the big pinchers just keep. Big pinchers keep on pinching. I believe, as Tina Turner once said.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure.

[Luke Burbank]

Famously, it. I think because it keeps pinching the garbage can, it's actually doing something weird to that bar. So the bar just fell out, and it just. Like, it doesn't even. Like, it won't even stay in there anymore. So this is the. This is the issue I have, is this garbage can is really, really beat up. But you're right. How do you. How do you throw out a garbage can? How do you indicate to the garbage. How do you indicate to the waste of people that you're a garbage person and that your garbage can is also garbage?

[Andrew Walsh]

That your garbage can is a garbage person. Exactly. Yeah. And that. That is what you usually have to do is you have to write garbage and then hang it on the outside of the canister or whatever. You're using the bin and that. So this time, Erica and the fam are trying just to use a different bin for garbage instead of recycling or yard waste or whatever. But finally they just took the whole bin because they thought the whole thing was garbage. But it sounds like. I don't know if you caught the end of that it sounds like they got a brand new bin out of the whole thing. Have you ever been the recipient. Have we talked about this? Have you ever been the recipient of a brand new bin? It is incredible.

[Luke Burbank]

You could eat off of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

You literally could eat out of it.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think that I have, actually, but I would like to someday. Here's what I don't fully understand. Are the folks that are collecting the garbage. That's. That's a nice way to say it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Are the folks collecting the garbage. Do they have any latitude to weigh in on if the garbage can is in fact garbage? Because what I see happening is them rolling up to Erica and her husband's place, seeing a sign on a perfectly good garbage can, a perfectly good recycling bin at that, that says garbage on it. And then they just throw it in. They just like throw it into the landfill. Don't they look at it and go, this is not garbage.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

This is a beautiful. This is a gently used. This. This recycling bin was driven to church by a grandmother on Sunday and put right back in the garage.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. In an area that didn't have road salt.

[Luke Burbank]

That's exactly right. And so. You know what I mean, though, like, honestly, just imagine they just took that. It's kind of surprising to me that they just took that to mean they don't want this. This recycling bin anymore. And presuming that the recycling bin wasn't totally shot, I'm surprised they just threw it out. I feel like that's, you know, I don't want a lot of lip from the people that are being paid to help me get the, you know, waste and recycling out of my life. But on the other hand, if I was trying to accident. If they thought I was trying to throw away a perfectly good. What you do with a beautiful recycling bin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Beautiful recycling bin.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like they could have maybe said, hey, what are you doing here?

[Andrew Walsh]

I. This show sometimes for me is like a conversational choose your own adventure book. Because what I want to do is I want to get back to voicemails. But what you just said, I want to react to it. And I have two things to say, and I think I need to choose one.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think I will be. I will say the more expedient one, which is just something I wonder about. And now I will wonder about it out loud, which is when you see ads for the junk removal services and there's a new one out there that I've been. I don't know if it's one of the baseball streams I'm watching or what? But I've been seeing some garbage. Oh, you know what it is? I think it is local. I think it's that one that drives around Seattle and they're in like green trucks and they, in the ad they even mentioned that like the people who come to like kind of remove your.

[Luke Burbank]

Truck, they're like superheroes or something. Or do they.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, no, no, it's not that one. But they're down to earth. And they even mentioned that like our uniformed are like, I don't know, like our well dressed uniformed collectors will come clean or something will come and take away all of your. So you open your garage do and you're just like, what a mess. I don't even know what to do.

[Luke Burbank]

With the junk in the trunk. That's the place, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Hold on, let me look it up. Junkinthetrunk.net.

[Luke Burbank]

And it just landed on junk in the trunk.

[Andrew Walsh]

I've been seeing some of these in somewhat heavy rotation and it's always very tempting, right? Because you're like, oh, that's just so great.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I always wonder when you see in the commercial they're driving away with all of your junk, you wonder like how much of the business model is sorting through that stuff and finding the stuff that is somehow reusable and potentially resellable.

[Luke Burbank]

What's. Oh, my guess would be what's less than zero.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really? You don't think.

[Luke Burbank]

Negative number.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because we. Genevieve hired somebody. We kind of. We didn't get a new couch. We got a very old couch recently from a friend of ours, but their old couch was better than our old couch. Apparently. This isn't a room that I never even go in in our house, to be honest with you. It's quite messy.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it a craft room?

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a craft room. I don't understand. Well, mind, I'm not going to get in that.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, find you in a garbage.

[Luke Burbank]

Can, pull up to your house tomorrow and you're just going to be stuffed into the recycling bin. It's going to say garbage on there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, let's just say this is a couch that Genevieve usually uses and she wanted a bit of an upgrade. And our friends were literally going to get rid of their couch. And so it kind of worked out for everybody. Genevieve hired this company to come and remove our couch and. And move the used new one in. Right. And anyway, apparently the guys. I wasn't there for this, but apparently the guys, when they came to pick it, they were kind Of Genevieve seemed. They seemed kind of psyched about the couch we were getting rid of because it was in really good shape, at least externally. It's not like it had rips.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm surprised veeves didn't have that on the aftermarket.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I know. I was a little surprised by that, too. I think she was just trying to be expedient here, but as I was trying to be when I started this damn story. But Genevieve sort of made to her. It seemed like they might be interested in, like, kind of finding a new home for this couch, whether that meant from resell or just one of them giving it to a buddy or whatever. So I just sort of feel like you must get some really good stuff that people just want to get rid of with these services. Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, here's what I think probably would happen. My guess would be, based on the scale of the operation, there are these really big national companies, right, that just have presumably a bunch of crews, and they go out and they just like, you know, like, they just deal with probably sometimes some pretty overwhelming situations as far as, like, what people have in their yard and their own.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a really good point. And you're not sifting through.

[Luke Burbank]

My feeling is, in those situations, and if you work for a huge company that just does this day after day after day, probably at some point, you. You are not thrilled. You don't have that kind of thrill of discovery anymore. Ooh, this is a kid's rocking horse that if I just glued, you know, this one part back together, it'd be pretty functional. Like, I feel like you probably. That would be my feeling day one of doing that job because, ooh, this is a perfectly good salad spinner.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, this comes from a guy who is throwing away newspapers. He was supposed to be delivering. Am I. Wait, is that slander?

[Luke Burbank]

Was that not you not throwing away recycling of.

[Andrew Walsh]

My apologies.

[Luke Burbank]

But they were still. They were still in, like, bound up. So I don't know if those could even be recycled, But I did, for the record, throw them into. Because when I was a kid, like, the notion of recycling, first of all, was pretty different in that, you know, you got money for cans, so people would take cans in. And then I don't know if there was cardboard recycling, but I know that newspaper could be recycled. But there was these huts. Did you have those in Ohio?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think so.

[Luke Burbank]

So there would be these, like, little wood huts that you could just bring all your old newspaper to and just throw it in there. And then it went and got you know, recycled or something or other. So that was where I used to dump the North Central outlook. What I was going to say though, about to answer your question, or to try to answer your question, I'm guessing that unless it is something, there's probably.

[Andrew Walsh]

One out of hyper local.

[Luke Burbank]

One out of. I was gonna say, even if you're one of the bigger ones, if you're like 1-800-got-JUNK or something, probably 1 out of 50 trips you might see. Let's just imagine you see a perfectly good, relatively new bicycle for a 10 year old kid. And it's not gross and the tires still have air and it's just kind of like a bike your kid could use. And it's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the kid is still hanging on to it. But not hanging on to.

[Luke Burbank]

But they have a weak grid.

[Andrew Walsh]

But they have a weak grid.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's just like a wuss ass kid is holding onto this bike and it's a bike your kid would love. That's like one in 50 and you. And so those ones you probably do pull off the truck and take home. But if it involves any sort of rehabbing of the product, you probably become so inured so quickly, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I think you're right. The more and probably the commercials for the company that I'm seeing are, that's probably a bigger operation. So they're probably not doing that. But I am a little concerned about time here. This isn't supposed to be about me and my garbage fantasies, my treasure. Finding a treasure in somebody else's trash fantasies.

[Luke Burbank]

We can fire one more.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but I don't know. I don't know which one to pick here.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, if only we had a prize wheel. I know.

[Andrew Walsh]

And.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you kidding me? Ingrid. Ingrid. That was the one I was hoping it would land on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me see here. Okay. Yeah, you're right. Ingrid. I'm sorry, my glasses. I really got to go to the eye doctor. That does say, Ingrid. Let's take a look. Listen to this.

[Erica]

Hi, Luke and Andrew, this is Ingrid in Texas. I want to tell you, I had a neighbor who was an attorney. I'm sorry, this is in regards to trash talk, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, you don't believe in a wheel.

[Luke Burbank]

Life finds a way.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't believe in.

[Luke Burbank]

You were. You were saying that, you know, like this is tough on you because you would. Your normal producer brain would be to curate these voicemails, to group them together. And here we are, just the. The wheel delivered. Trust the wheel or like 90% of the. Also, it could be garbage that most of the spots on the roulette wheel are garbage anxiety. So.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because they're all related to my stories. All right, take it away, Ingrid. Sorry about that. Let's start this over, in fact.

[Erica]

Hi, Luke and Andrew. This is Ingrid in Texas. I want to tell you, I had a neighbor who was an attorney. I'm sorry, this is. In regards to trash talk. The. She was an attorney and got a job with the city of Dallas. This was in the early 90s. Her first week or two, she settled lawsuits that were brought by the garbage collectors against the city for back injuries. Turned out when they were riding around on the back of the truck, like Luke wants to do, picking up garbage cans and slinging them into the back, people were putting construction materials, rocks, bricks, all these heavy materials in the bottom of their garbage cans. And then when the guys would pick them up, they could barely lift them. So they're causing injuries. So there were so many injury claims that she just spent literally the first week or two just settling.

[Luke Burbank]

Boom, boom, boom.

[Erica]

We're paying these guys off. So I noticed that now most cities have gone to this automatic. The plastic ones where the guys don't have to pick them up. So just FYI, love trash talk.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice. So this gets to kind of what you're talking about, that bar on the pinchers or whatever. And also, I think when she mentioned Luke hanging off the truck, that's what spurred that email, right? Because you were. You had a. You have a garbage fantasy of your own.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I just thought on a really nice summer morning, it could be fun to just, you know, you get up real early, you have a cup of coffee. You're kind of one of the first people out on the streets. But again, it's already kind of warming up a little bit. It's not too warm, though. And then you jump on that truck and you head off, and you're not even driving the truck. You're like the person riding on the. Holding that handle, just, like, without a care in the world. I thought that seemed kind of fun for, like, one day.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, it would be interesting. If you're. And I say this with all due respect, if you were a person who is supposed to be delivering something to people and you just threw those things away, in this case, newspapers recycled. As a garbage collector, what would you do? Would you end up delivering garbage to people's homes?

[Luke Burbank]

It's the only way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe that's the thing, actually. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Maybe what we realize is that you should have Been a garbage collector all along. Instead of being somebody who's delivering things, you should have always been somebody who's picking something up.

[Luke Burbank]

I should have been a newspaper collector.

[Andrew Walsh]

You should have been a newspaper collector.

[Luke Burbank]

I should have gone and stolen all of the newspapers off of everyone's porch and then recycled them. Now, here's the thing, and you know me. I'm not a big, personal responsibility guy, because I don't like to take it for myself.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no.

[Luke Burbank]

But doesn't it seem like the lawsuit should be against the people who put the construction debris in the garbage cans? Doesn't that seem like the sort of culpable parties in all of this? Like, as opposed to the particular city?

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, because you assume that the people who were doing this were breaking some sort of stated law.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, again, I'm guessing it's illegal to put construction debris in your garbage can, don't you think?

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess what I learned with my personal garbage collector. And yes, he is a personal garbage collector. He comes. I paid him enough so that he only takes care of my garbage can. But remember, you use barge, Right?

[Luke Burbank]

It's brg. It's an online service that sends a personal garbage concierge and handles. It's a bespoke garbage collection.

[Andrew Walsh]

But of course, you remember the story. Maybe that's what even. Maybe ended up inspiring some of you of these calls that we're hearing here, too, is I got in that whole thing with my garbage collector because I had dumped a shop vac that was, like, full of dust and, you know, whatever you vacuum up into my garbage bin without bagging it up. And so he had left, like, the kind of this official note or notice on my can saying, you gotta bag construction debris up. And it did specifically say, bag construction debris up. So in that case, it sounds like construction debris is fine as long as it's bagged up. But I do. I just take one. I take, like, five cinder blocks, and I just put them each in a bag.

[Luke Burbank]

I know that there is a weight limit, though, because I exceeded it. I believe it was when I was living in Bellingham.

[Andrew Walsh]

Were you moving out or something or doing a big project?

[Luke Burbank]

I was doing a big project. I think it was there. It would have either been Mount Baker or Bellingham, but it was somewhere where I had all of this. This was going in the. In the compost, right. Which you could throw yard waste and things like that. And what it was was a bunch of. Of grass that I had ripped up, but it also had brought up a bunch of the dirt and so imagine these big clumps of still kind of wet dirt with the grass. And I threw them all into the. The yard waste bin. But the. Basically was so heavy that I guess the machine. The sensor went off in the machine. They wouldn't pick it up.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right, because they're. They're not. They're already using the machine.

[Luke Burbank]

They're already using the machine, but the machine. The machine knows the weight. And I guess it was. I'm guessing the machine could have picked it up. Like, it's not incapable, but it probably has a, you know, some kind of an instrument, a measurement tool that also says, look, if we went around and everyone's like, yard waste bin weighed 400 pounds, we wouldn't get very far. So we have a limit. And anyway, they tagged it because it was over the weight. So my point in all that is to say I bet you that there is a rule against just putting a bunch of cinder blocks in your garbage can, even if they're bagged up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Up.

[Luke Burbank]

But I'm also guessing that the city in Texas had more resources than the individual people who put the heavy stuff in their garbage cans. And so the.

[Andrew Walsh]

The. The.

[Luke Burbank]

The settlement went towards the city because that was. Who had basically dispatched these people to pick up these heavy cans.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it sounds like it was the. Actually the people. Yeah. I mean. And so it kind of becomes a workplace. It's a workplace lawsuit. So that kind of makes sense. I don't know, man. Yeah, I don't. I don't want to get into lawyers. Let's do. Okay. How about tomorrow we just do only.

[Luke Burbank]

Take voicemails from lawyers. We got a lot of lawyers that listen.

[Andrew Walsh]

We actually do have a lot of lawyers.

[Luke Burbank]

What are the chances that on tomorrow's show, one of the voicemail. The. The wheel. The prize wheel will lead us into some sort of a legal dispute?

[Andrew Walsh]

That would be.

[Luke Burbank]

That would be kismet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the show Lawyers who Listen.

[Luke Burbank]

The.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what we'll put on our next billboard. Tbtl. Lawyers who Listen. And then in really small print, not really lawyers.

[Luke Burbank]

And also bad at listening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bad at listening. Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, well, this is fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's do it again.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. You'll have to tune in tomorrow to see if my dreams come true of us having some kind of an interesting. Because I think of myself as one of America's foremost untrained, unlicensed legal. Legal minds.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I love how my legal mind works. Few others do, but I. I really do. So let's hope I get the legal mind I want to flex those muscles tomorrow. But that is for tomorrow anyway. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening. If you do like to if you would like to give us a call, it's 206-414-TBTL. Leave us a voicemail possibly about legal things and we will see you all tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.

[Erica]

Hey, this is line dried towel talk. And oh my Gosh, Luke is 100% right on this. There is nothing like stiff line dried towels. They work so great. The best is if you can get your hands on some like waffle weave towels that are not even very thick. When people stay at our house they always think what is with these low grade towels that you have? And then they're like where do I get me some of these towels? They are so great on the line because it is just like drying yourself with a piece of cardboard and it is the best. I'm just thinking about line dry laundry right now and my day just got better. Power out. Power out.