Page 24 - Voices! - September 2015

TELL ME A STORY

A Lesson in Communication: Discourse at the Dump

by Harlan Wheeler, CC
Upon arriving at the dump this morning, I was greeted by the‘dump person.’This was the exact conversation
that took place. Only the names have been changed to protect the community. Pulling up to the scales. . .
Dump person: “Excuse me sir, you must have a tarp covering up your garbage before you bring it into the
dump.”
Me: “But it’s in a trailer!”
Dump person: “It doesn’t matter, we don’t want your garbage getting out.”
Me: “But that’s why I brought it here! I want to get it out.”
Dump person: (raises eyebrow and says) “I’ll make an exception THIS time!” (I don’t like exceptions given to
me, so I decided to turn up the conversational heat.) So I ask…
Me: “Excuse me Mr. Dump person, what is a tarp made out of?” Dump person: “Plastic!”
Me: “Well, then you see those little plastic bags?”
Dump person: “Yes?”
Me: “All 8 packages of garbage are all self-contained in their own personal tarp! So, literally it’s tarped up.”
Dump person: (appearing confused, he moves on to
the next series of questions). “Are you bringing in any
household items or garbage that contains chemicals?”
Me: “Yes.”
Dump person: “Which ones?”
Me: “All of my household items contain chemicals, they’re
manufactured that way.”
Dump person: “Did you rinse them out?”
Me: “Heck no! I want to throw them away, not clean them
up, and why would I waste clean water on garbage? Kind
of defeats the whole purpose of dumps doesn’t it?”
Dump person: “We don’t want dirty stuff dumped here.”
Me: “But this is a dump for dirty stuff, hence your official

24 Volume 2 Issue 3 - SEPT 2015