Phil Goldsmith has held senior positions in a broad spectrum of fields including law, journalism, business and government. Most recently he was managing director of the City of Philadelphia.
He is now a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, writing every other Wednesday and is a principal in GoldsmithKahn Associates, a public issues management consulting firm.
When I was Managing Director, I decided to spend some time on a trash truck. It was a Friday and I was accompanied by Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson as we picked up and hauled trash in North Philadelphia.
I specifically remember it was a Friday because I spent the weekend sleeping, exhausted and sore from my half-a-day shift with my sanitation colleagues. I thought of this the other day, when I was at a reception and saw a high ranking official from the school district. "How are you doing?," I asked.
And for the next ten minutes she ranted about the trash in the streets and how dirty Philadelphia was and so on and so on. She never actually answered my question, "How are you doing?" and I didn't have the heart to butt in and tell her that I haven't been Managing Director for a year. And I was really polite or, by this time, in a stupor from her diatribe, that I didn't remind her of all the problems her institution has--something I had some first-hand knowledge about since I once headed it.
Now, I don't disagree with her about the cleanliness of Philadelphia. But I don't blame it on sanitation workers. From my experience with them and my own observations, I have never seen a sanitation worker throw trash on the street or leave bottles and cups on a ledge when there is a trash can only a foot or two away. That crap is left there by our "citizens." And it often remains there because the rest of us walk right by it and don't do a simple leg squat and pick it up and toss it in the nearby trash.
I have made a habit of trying to do that (though I don't pick up tissues and napkins). I do it primarily because it's good exercise and I think it helps make our city nicer. And I've gotten my back up when I hear my white collar friends blame things on the low-level city workers.
And so it was that I joined a couple of Fairmount Park employees the other day and went with them as they went about their daily routine of cleaning the park's permanent 20 bathrooms throughout the entire city. (The potty johns are cleaned by an outside company). I had a wonderful few hours with them as we talked about work, religion, bosses, violence, children. You can read about it in my Daily News column today.
Rather than complain about these workers, we should be showing our appreciation. As one on them said, "We don't get too much recognition. Bosses don't show it enough. It can take your morale away."
Frankly, I think a good thank you every once in a while from the "boss" regardless at what level can be as valuable as a pay increase. Imagine, if we stopped viewing these folks as invisible and actually thanked them for keeping our streets and restrooms cleaner.
