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May 07, 2012

My First Days as a Junk Man

We recently hired Patrick Drago as the newest member of the customer service team here at 123JUNK. As we do with all our new employees, we made sure to put Patrick to the test by placing him on the trucks for a few weeks to gain an appreciation of what it means to haul junk for a living.

Below is his account after his first few days.

“I had just moved to the area from Richmond, VA where I had been working for a law firm, sitting behind a desk 8 hours a day. There was a high level of apprehension, but also excitement as I drove my car up the hill toward the fleet of shiny red junk trucks that first morning. Day one was a crash course; I learned about face-to-face customer service, how to handle the large trucks, and how to incorporate Tetris into the everyday work environment – loading the trucks is a science!

The day went by in a flash as we drove from site to site, hauling out all sorts of items from customers’ homes. One treadmill in particular, made my back sore in a way that I can barely communicate on paper. I was amazed by how much my new colleagues could lift, relative to their own bodyweight. Two sofas, a massive entertainment center and several dozen industrial bins full of books later, I was physically exhausted. That night, I could barely stay awake during dinner.  

My second day went along a lot like the first, except with an added level of total body soreness that had not been there the day before. Later in the day came my first multiple-truck job. I sat there baffled as I tried calculating in my head how 3 men were going to load 4 truckloads of furniture, books, magazines, clothing, and other assorted junk. ‘If anything spelled unfair working conditions, this was it,’ I thought to myself. Despite my initial concerns, we blew through the job in a matter of hours, while ensuring that the items were sorted and disposed of according to their value. As I got home and popped open an ice cold beer, I thought about my first two days and felt a sense of accomplishment and relief. I truly knew what it meant to be a junk man.”

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