Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City

by Robin Nagle

China Normal University Pub 2018-10-01 288 East China Normal University Press If you are lucky. you can call the police for a lifetime. you can not call firefighters for a lifetime. but you need sanitation workers every day. . The speed ...

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, History, New York, Sociology, Urban Planning, Labor

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2013

Reviews

[Anne Bogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 stars.

Author Robin Nagle embedded with NYC's Department of Sanitation to see what it really took to dispose of 11,000 tons of garbage a day. While a little overly detailed in places, I found this fascinating and surprising; I'll confess to constantly reading stats and insights aloud to any family members in the vicinity. And when I traveled to NYC just weeks after finishing this book, you can bet I looked at the garbage bags and city trash cans in a whole new way.

I was surprised at how much this book overlapped with another old favorite nonfiction work, A Clearing in the Distance by Witold Rybczynski, because they both address the structure and practical concerns of New York City.

[Eric_W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arguably the most important service a city provides is garbage removal. All city functions become virtually impossible when trash is not removed in a regular manner. Not only that, but they are key players in fueling consumption and capitalism. Without regular disposal of consumed goods, there is no room for new goods to replace them.: "used-up stuff must be thrown out for new stuff to have a place."

The euphemistic sanitation workers are the real "invisible" men. Workers are truly ignored. They can stare, whistle, remark, clatter,whatever, with impunity because as far as the general public is concerned they are part of the background noise. They are mere obstacles to be avoided. But an absolutely essential job, dwarfing most others in importance. And messy. Garbage from the trucks is taken daily to transfer stations, where “the smell hits first, grabbing the throat and punching the lungs. The cloying, sickly-sweet tang of household trash that wrinkles the nose when it wafts from the back of a collection truck is the merest suggestion of a whiff compared to the gale-force stink exuded by countless tons of garbage heaped across a transfer station floor. The body’s olfactory and peristaltic mechanisms spasm in protest. Breathing through the mouth is no help, and neither gulp nor gasp brings the salvation of fresh air; there’s none to be had.” What we have forgotten is that all of that used to be all over the streets. “ Householders no longer [have] to keep their windows clamped shut all day, even in the worst heat of the summer, against the nauseating dust that billowed from the streets. (In the rain that dust became an unctuous mud with a repulsive smell. God help the man or woman who found it adhered to shoe soles or skirt hems; the stench permeated forever anything it touched.)”

It's not an easy job and a very dangerous one, vastly outranking police and fire in fatalities. (A check on the Internet listed them as fourth highest fatality rate behind loggers, fishermen, and aircraft pilots and flight engineers of all things --another source listed them as fifth, adding steel workers ahead of them.) One horrific example involved a worker who had been on the job twenty-three years. “It was the usual pile that awaited him at this stop, one of the last on the route. He tossed a load in the hopper and was just turning away from the truck when the blade bit through a bag and broke open a jug of liquid concealed within it. The resulting geyser that hit Hanly full on was a 70 percent solution of hydrofluoric acid. His funeral, which drew nearly two thousand Sanitation people from across the city and around the region, made the television news.” Then there are objects that don’t make it into the truck. The compactor blade can do strange things when it hits solid objects.

“ Bolts, nails and screws, plastic bottles, cans, shoes, food debris, mattress springs, wood fragments, glass shards, become lethal projectiles. Workers tell routine stories of getting hit in the chest, head, back, arms, and legs. One man I worked with on Staten Island reminisced about the time someone had thrown away a bowling ball. When he tossed it in the truck and pulled the handles, it came back at him as if shot from a cannon, caught him in the belly, and knocked him out. The driver, who thought his partner was on the back step, didn’t notice that the fellow was missing until he’d turned the corner. When the driver went back to look for him, it took a while to find his unconscious body because he’d fallen into the tall grass by the side of the road.”

The section on mechanical sweepers -- the drivers are called broomies -- had fascinating detail. The dials and readouts in the broomie’s cab rival that of a small airplane and learning just how much water to add, the angle of the brooms, and maintenance require vast experience. The annual celebration in Times Square that apparently involves enormous quantities of cut-up paper and other colorful detritus takes hours to clean up in the wee hours of the morning and incurs wrath when it’s not done on time. But sometimes, nature makes it difficult. Rain and snow for example. “The mechanical brooms were churning the wet litter into a thick soup dyed pink by the metallic red cards that had long since disintegrated into the mash. It looked like oatmeal made with Pepto-Bismol. Mechanical brooms don’t do oatmeal. Workers with hand tools moved it into the gutters, but then the brooms trundled past and sprayed it back onto the sidewalks. The hand sweepers and blowers pushed it into the gutters once more; the brooms splattered it back. All over Times Square, mechanical brooms and sanitation workers were having the same exchanges of pink spray. Our boots and pant legs and jacket hems started to look like Jackson Pollock had been experimenting with them as canvases. The equipment wasn’t up to the conditions, but short of a large sump pump I’m not sure what would have worked.”

And all that is not even to mention snow removal, that bane of all mayors, which has caused more political defeats than sex scandals. It can be an almost impossible job when snow is falling at the rate of two-three inches per hour and the wind is blowing, maneuvering around stuck cars and with unrealistic citizen expectations. The drivers often have to work forty or more hours straight and conditions can conspire to make their jobs miserable.

A fascinating look into an essential job that few appreciate and most are reluctant to pay for having long forgotten the alternative.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good survey of garbage service in NYC, mostly Manhattan. Ok non-fiction, but I wanted far more output information upon garbage separation and/or end placements, and far less union in-fighting politics and admins politico histories. Some of the chapters were excellent, and others not at all. But then I am a difficult audience for this and especially for a place that doesn't require much, if any, hidden alley pickup. Far more difficult and dangerous than that which is on a full frontage street site. Because my Dad was a Chicago Streets and Sans. for 30 years- there were physical aspects not fully divulged here. It was his second career; not begun until he was nearly 40. Yes, he did it until 70 years of age, as well. And even at the end he was never the team piker.

Having witness this after the 2005 White Sox ticker tape, I must say that the clean up brigade after parades and ticker tape events should have gotten as much copy as snow patrol/ salt trucks. Chicago does this in a movement that is quite like a ballet. I'm not kidding. It is coordinated with 20 to 30 machines across and cop presence to keep people out of entire blocks while it is done. All in one movement. In one hour places that we had ticker tape at the end of LaSalle up past our ankle bones and covering our entire feet. There was nary a piece of paper left. One hour. I could not believe my eyes. So glad we went for a drink and saw that.

Garbage men have the most dangerous jobs in the city. All kinds of critter bites and dogs are the least of it. And they are assaulted from high rise by falling objects. And they see so much. The smell in summer is bad but it is not close to the worst. They all have tales. And also good ones of friendships along the routes.

It's interesting, just not the bigger story. It doesn't tell how much of the "good" stuff is kept by the crew either. Entire building size depots for future giveaways either. My Mom kept two at a grade school and at a storage garage. Shoes, clothes, furniture, appliances, all kinds of stuff recycled to other owners. She had an entire two rooms at her school just for kids' coats, gloves, boots for those coming in/out from Mexico without any winter layers.

Now there are places in burbs or rural with one man and lifts. Must admit, in two states, I still always chat with the garbage man. VERY knowledgeable!

[Mikey B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the garbage (or should I now say “sanitation”) workers of New York City. The author did work for some time in the sanitation department –picking up garbage and driving the street sweeping trucks. Plus she did winter work as in driving plow trucks during a snow storm; surprisingly, to me, snow removal falls under the sanitation department in New York.

The book provides us with a history of sanitation removal in New York. For example, if one romances the days of horse and buggy this did lead to a colossal amount of horse manure and urine – all mashed in there with other smelly debris. It was a man by the name of George Waring who, in the late 19th century, turned a corrupt and do nothing sanitation department around to show that city streets could be kept clean. This instilled pride in the department and in the city. As the author states, picking up the garbage is probably one of the most fundamental aspects of making a city livable.

I would have liked more insights into the nature of the work – mostly because those provided by the author were interesting – but I came away from the book wanting more of these personal on the job experiences. She convinces us that the job is a physically grueling one and unappreciated. As she mentions sanitation workers are virtually ignored by the public – they are invisible to us except for the noise they make. As a supervisor once mentioned to me (and it certainly applies to sanitation workers) – “do something right a thousand times, nobody says anything – do it wrong once and all hell breaks loose!”

The author belabours the tribal nature of the job – this is inherent in every job – and within the job itself where people splinter into different groups and alliances.

One does come away from this book with a far greater appreciation of sanitation workers – of what they do and who they are.

[Ashley Clubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nagle's anthropological immersion into the life of the DSNY is fascinating- sanitation workers are real life heroes! I was disappointed that this book was only 225 pages of history, her study, and stories, I want more of it all!

[Savannah Quick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5.

Very well-researched, almost always interesting, and you can tell the author loves sanitation.

It's also a little disjointed and lacking in some of the details I would have liked to read about (evolution of the union, post-event pickup, recycling and composting efforts, etc).

[Jeramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for this book to be either more technical (why certain things are done certain ways, advantages, disadvantages, etc, etc) or more thorough (following the garbage from the curb to the landfill or employees for full days/weeks/etc). Instead it glanced at the people and the job, but didn't deliver the depth I wanted.

It was interesting, but at the same time I never felt quite the connection I was expecting. There weren't any real characters from which to really gain insight into the people. Anyone mentioned seemed to fit into a stereotype of sorts, for the brief moment they were mentioned.

I never got the sense of what it is like to work a whole shift picking up garbage. Nagle does a good job hitting up the highlights of many jobs, but she doesn't convey to the reader an intimate understanding of each job (not doubting that she has it, just that isn't detailed). Plus, what about recycling?

I ultimately can't give it more than three stars as I'm not sure I learned much beyond what I've learned reading Garbageland, The Works, watching Milwaukee Public Works Committee meetings, and actually visiting New York City. Perhaps the book would appeal much more to people that aren't public policy geeks.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this fascinating chronicle, anthropologist Robin Nagle introduces readers to the men and women of New York City's Department of Sanitation and explains how this remarkably small army of uniformed workers is the most important labor force on the streets. For her research, Nagle accompanied crews on their routes, interviewed supervisors and commissioners, and listened to collection crews tell stories about blizzards, hazardous wastes, and other on-the-job experiences. Nagle joins the department herself and gets an insider's perspective on the complex hierarchies, arcane rules, and obscure lingo unique to the world of sanitation workers.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating urban anthropology. Gave me a lot to think about, with city infrastructure, the things I take for granted as a city dweller... good look at history. And fascinating to see an anthropologist who parlayed her fascination with the cultural context of trash and what a society gives up or throws away, into learning about NYC's sanitation work and culture, that facet of the city's infrastructure. I learned a lot about everything from routine trash pickup to snow preparedness. Yes, there are some gross bits, especially in the early chapters, but fewer than I anticipated.

I think I would have liked more about her own experience getting qualified as a sanitation worker, for her to interrogate the class and gender aspects of her learning, and taking on the job. She alludes to being trained, some of her rookie mistakes, and to eventually being accepted. I'd like to know more about that learning curve, about sanitation workers' reactions to her... possibly details she never learned, herself, about any misgivings her colleagues might have had about accepting her. I would also wish for more discussion about women working in sanitation- there are a few mentioned in passing, in a mostly-male-dominated field, but it piqued my curiosity.
A good read, highly recommended to city dwellers, and those curious about urban infrastructure.

[Rissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You collect garbage, that doesn’t mean you are garbage. What you do is important. What you do matters. What you do is difficult and dangerous and absolutely fundamental to the well-being of this city. Never mind if the public ignores you or even scorns you. Look at what you’ve given your families; look at the children you’re raising, the homes you can provide for them. take pride in your job. ... Be proud.”

"If you're lucky you can go your whole life without ever having to call a cop. And you can also go your whole life without ever called a fireman. But you need a sanitation worker every single day."

[Matthew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a random read but it was pretty good. My dad had this book layin around and with nothing new to read, I picked this up. I quite honestly didn't think I'd get past the first 20 pages b/c how interesting could a book about sanitation works be, right? Turns out, it could be pretty interesting hahaha. Nagle writes the book from a first hand experience as she first shadowed NYC San workers and then actually became one herself.

Not sure this would keep everyone's interest but it's very well written and gives some credit and respect to an occupation that most all of us judge to a degree and/or just completely ignore their existence. If you do read it, you'll definitely come out of it with an entirely new outlook on the men and women who pick up your trash and keep your streets clean.

[Yi-Jun Yeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

會看這本書有兩個原因：一，不了解為什麼紐約街上的垃圾（尤其我家附近的）那麼久都沒人收，或是為什麼收的時間那麼不固定；二，對在紐約生活的人對垃圾和衛生設備的想法感到興趣。這兩個原因促使我尋找答案，而我最終找到了這本書。看完這本書之後，我不但更加敬佩收垃圾的人員，更覺得自己在抱怨紐約垃圾一事是件不必要的事。在2013年(這本書出版的這年)，一共有約八百二十萬人居住在紐約市(曼哈頓區、皇后區、布魯克林區、布朗克斯區和史泰登島區)，但猜猜看有多少人在收紐約市的垃圾？只有不到一萬人在收！大家真的要做好垃圾分類、把垃圾放在路上時請排好、當被垃圾車擋住時不要叫囂⋯⋯ 為收垃圾的人們著想，也為我們的地球著想。

[David Dinaburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City sets a new standard in approachability for non-fiction. The clunkiest sentence in the whole book is the subtitle; the typical phrasing is refreshingly—almost defiantly—colloquial, and sanitation department idioms are ubiquitous enough to necessitate a comprehensive glossary of terms. The anecdotes and facts swirl together so casually that it’s hard to remember you’re reading an anthropologist's study and not spending a night catching up with an old classmate. It begins with a rather potent assertion—that city sanitation is the most important civic infrastructure—and relentlessly supports it without ever being preachy, dry, or pedantic:

Effective garbage collection and street cleaning are primary necessities if urban dwellers are to be safe from the pernicious effects of their own detritus. When garbage lingers too long on streets, vermin thrive, disease spreads, and city life becomes dangerous in ways not common in the developed world for more than a century. It is thus an especially puzzling irony that the first line of defense in any city’s ability to ensure the basic health and well-being of its citizenry is so persistently unseen, but the problem is hardly unique to New York.

From the perspective of a garbage-producing resident of Manhattan’s district 8, Picking Up felt intimate; New York lacks the garbage-minded alleyways of modern planned cities like Chicago, so mountains of black trashbags are cyclic curbside landmarks sprouting and fading daily.

Living in New York is not requisite to appreciate the research or be entranced by the history as it presented:

From the earliest European settlement, garbage was tossed along the shoreline, first with casual disregard but soon with deliberate intention of building land. Eventually, the port’s slips were so filled with garbage that ships couldn’t berth. In 1857, the state ordered dumping moved farther into the harbor. Debris floated ashore in New Jersey. The dumping zone was moved again, in 1872, to an area off southeastern Staten Island. The foul loads killed what had been profitable fishing grounds and oyster beds, and trash that didn’t sink still found its way to shore—exactly as increasingly irate citizens in New Jersey and Staten Island had predicted.

“Contact with bodies of dead animals and decayed vegetables has been so frequent at the most accessible beaches,” fumed an irate swimmer, “that many fastidious persons have long abandoned the practice of bathing in the surf at Coney Island, Rockaway, and the neighboring resorts. Certainly it is not pleasant while swimming to be borne down upon the floating body of a dead horse, or to have the carcass of a cat strike the bather in the face while diving beneath a breaker.”

Excerpted from the July 1892 Harper’s Weekly, this scene anathema is simply anathema to a modern reader. It is nearly comical in its putrescence. One must work to consciously accept that it is real and not some sort of understated Victorian hyperbole.

Picking Up balances modern stories and historical background; the author is an anthropologist as well as a neophyte sanitation worker. Readers see the standard employment application process unfold, seasoned with academic research. Both collide with bureaucratic stonewalling; the prize, hundreds of years of New York’s Department of Sanitation’s archives, interviews with current employees, acceptance into the professional community that collects New York’s trash. There is true passion here, which makes what could be a tedious subject matter enthralling. Picking Up is the type of narrative that immerses itself fully in a subject for no reason besides a desire to inform. There’s no judgment, not overt proselytizing, simply experiences presented in a relatable manner:

The most unpredictable poisons come from the trash itself. Pressure from the hopper blade often pops the bags and hurls their contents. Pulverized Christmas tree ornaments and Christmas tree needles, lightbulb fragments, construction dust, house paint, barely coagulated cooking oil, urine-soaked kitty litter—to draw from a long list of examples—become ammunition. Powdered substances are especially unsettling. One morning we dropped an innocuous-looking bag into the hopper, and when it ruptured under the blade’s pressure, a cloud of dark green powder billowed forth. It was disturbed again by every load we sent up. We didn’t know what it might be, but its smell was slightly chemical, and we were certain it was something we didn’t want to inhale. It brought to mind a story I’d heard from a foreman with a decade and a half on the job who was nearly asphyxiated by a lungful of soot he inhaled from a burst bag. When he turned to run, frantic for air, his partner caught him in the gut with a well-placed punched, a kind of Heimlich-maneuver-on-the-fly, that knocked him down—and that gave him back his wind.

The writing is approachable and fun, the stories are interesting and sometimes shocking, and the scope is unique; the world of trash, “so persistently unseen,” requires a deft hand to bring into view.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

very cool history of and culture study of the nyc sanitation dept !!!

-1 star because the author couldnt stop reminding us the names being used were pseudonyms. you told us this already at the beginning and also i do not care.

[Yunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of history, anthropology, and personal journey. Robin Nagle ambitious project on painting a glimpse on one of most important task force, maybe the most important, in the best city in America.

[James Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild world but makes sense

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never read a more accurate depiction of winter driving than when that street sweeper had a mental breakdown when he was put on snowplow duty

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot – such an interesting and important read.

It also helps to put in perspective the complaints about how trash is handled in New York (that you hear a lot) by reminding us not to neglect the workers behind the system.

[Alain · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘Be proud. You collect garbage, that doesn’t mean you are garbage. What you do is important. What you do matters. What you do is difficult and dangerous and absolutely fundamental to the well-being of the city. Never mind if the public ignores you or even scorns you. Look at what you’ve given your families; look at the children you’re raising, the homes you can provide for them. Take pride in your job…Be proud.’”

[Elizabeth Desole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the little known or understood world of waste removal. It’s a nice basic overview of the entire system. There’s a little history, a little explanation of the logistics of waste removal in America’s largest city, a little of the culture of the organization itself. The only reason I only gave 4 stars is that I was hoping for more about the internal culture. It’s rare that anyone is motivated enough to get behind “the green wall” of the DSNY. And not enough was done with that access in my opinion.

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

reading this for class and the writing is incredibly grating

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly readable account of a remarkable world- remarkable for the subculture revealed (as only an anthropologist could), but as well for the fact that it surrounds us but is completely unknown. For those who doubt the existence of caste in America, here is evidence of a group of people who are not simply untouchable, they are invisible. Hagle reveals this world to us, and makes a plea for a more sympathetic attitude to the people providing this essential service.

Along the way, she describes some great history, and a rich dialect, including such gems as:

* the four seasons: Spring, Maggots, Leaf, and Night Plow
* disco rice: another term for maggots
* mungo: (N) objects plucked/rescued from the trash and (V), to gather same.
* rocket: a formal written complaint (as from your foreman)
* sniping: maneuvering a mechanical broom (street cleaner) between and around obstacles (usu. parked cars).
* Tiffany: a particularly neat and tidy job of collection.
* tissue: a desk job, an easy job (usually for injured workers).
* walking backwards: working very slowly

The book is more than just interesting, and Hagle is more than just a scholar or social observer, with such poetic observations as:

Imagine if we were capable of a form of empathy that lets us know one another by savoring the aura we leave on things we have touched. We would go to a dump to get drunk on one another's souls.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

This book is a fascinating look at an essential job that not too many people stop to think about, but that keeps their lives running smoothly. If you live in New York City you'll find this book particularly interesting, but even if you don't this is still an interesting look at one of the most important aspects of our society. This one also took me a lot longer to get through than most other books I read. I've found that with nonfiction, I have to focus a lot more to grasp everything I'm reading. This book also has a lot of notes, and I spent a lot of time flipping between the page I was on and the notes section in the back of the book, so that also ate up more of my time. I learned a lot reading this book, and I'll never look at a passing garbage truck the same way again.

Check out my full review here: https://amysbookreviews.com/2020/02/2...

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable memoir of this lady's time with the DSNY. Short and breezy. I would have preferred a little more information about the trash itself. She talks about the people picking it up, and all that goes into that process, but little about what happens to the trash afterward. Chapters about hierarchy and union politics were less than thrilling. History was good but could have been more.

And she didn't address the question that pops into my mind every time I see a trashman--how do they get rid of that smell when they get home?

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. The story of the Department of Sanitation in NY and it's workers, sort of. Parts explain the workings of the DSNY and it's mandate. Other parts are devoted to the people that work there. The language can be quite florid, particularly considering the subject matter, which can be jarring at times.

If you are interesting in seeing government bureaucracy in microcosm, this is a wonderful read.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a pretty big interest in NYC but even I wondered if a whole book about its sanitation workers would be interesting. I was amazed that it was! Earned an extra star for making garbage collection and snow removal so interesting! I look forward to annoying my companions with tidbits learned here the next time we visit.

[Alison Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone - but especially New Yorkers - should read this book! It will give you a whole new appreciation for sanitation workers. NYC often feels like a pile of hot garbage but without these men and women we would be living in squalor.

[Tim Popko · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New York Times has done a lot of promotion for Robin Nagle. Her name and her book are plugged in regularly by Times reporters, often in musings about the derision of working-class culture.

Picking Up is written as a scholarly treatise that teeters on beauty. In her opening prelude, Robin writes, "Imagine if we were capable of a form of empathy that lets us know one another by savoring the aura on the things we have touched. We would go to a dump and get drunk on one another's souls." p. 8. It's parts like these where Picking Up flourishes, and gives the reader a warm embrace of city sanitation workers that ventures into a larger discussions on the human condition. It's a well-referenced book of in-field anthropology, with meanderings into urban history, metaphysics, sociology, and feminist reporting. For that reason, there certainly is something for everyone in this book, and for me it was the hard, resounding smack of disrespect sanitation workers feel throughout their lives. Never had I read that perspective in more articulate terms, and I soothed some of my own wounds by reading this book. Picking Up is more erudite than I would recommend to the general public, but for those willing to slog through a fair-sized tome on this subject, I promise it will conjure the same gushy feelings I did. Yes, I write this as a man who has cleaned garbage and swept streets, and I'm glad I did.

Robin's perspective as an in-field cultural anthropologist is fraught with some weaknesses. Like many of her subjects, I was never convinced that she had an affinity for garbage growing up as a child. Her assertion that garbagemen are the most valuable workers in the city is also somewhat patronizing. I never expect her to say, "okay, I'll give up the game. You guys are losers", but she clearly has a way of relating to the workers that is more scientist than advocate, and certainly more feminist than "one of the guys". Whereas a cultural anthropologist could be at liberty to reflect poorly on her subjects at times, she overcame a clammed-shut bureaucracy to write this story and can't double-cross them now. For that reason, while Robin remains steadfast in her unrelenting respect and advocacy for sanitation workers, there are times when even she looks at their culture as backward and misogynist, and barbs the workers at opportune times.

For a work of on-site, eyes and ears anthropology, Robin leaves glaring holes about how her gender and outsider status did in fact change her subjects' behavior. In particular, her joy ride and late return with a senior Bronx worker would not have been tolerated normally. Her time soaking a passerby woman with a hose by accident would have horrendous results elsewhere. And her discomfort at a foreman cursing, or seeing a poster of a nude woman, ("Her crotch was as bald as a baby's. Here was an obviously mature human female adult who lacked a secondary sex characteristic basic to normal human female development. I had never seen anything like it." p. 82 - SERIOUSLY?) are elitist and reek of anti-male shaming. Although she does take on the work herself and interacts with a number of workers, her anecdotes and stories are mainly derived from the low-hanging fruit; what was said at membership meetings, union politics, and city news outlets. For that reason, it may be hard to see her as transcending her honorary role as "anthropologist-in-residence" into a more endearing and personable face within the membership.

Picking Up offers many possibilities for elevating the social status of sanitation workers, and covers the successes achieved by Mierle Laderman Ukeles and union leadership in years past. Robin carries in this tradition and imbues the reader with a strong appreciation for the workers, promoting their livelihoods and even gives deference to their monstrous bureaucracy. She writes of the heavy data-driven efficiency that underpins operations day in and day out, and makes it known that the work of managing workers, supervising routes, and snow removal are not simple tasks. Readers who dispute sanitation workers' unionism in general may think twice after reading of the deaths, injuries, and deep disrespect they face everyday. These are relatable topics, and Robin does a terrific job expounding on these issues.

[Claire Aoibhbeas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York
by Robin Nagle

notes:
DSNY = temporary lack of trash.
Of, if not cleaned up & taken away, the super disgusting (putrid, malodorous, wretched) disease-causing, maybe fatal stuff we call refuse/waste/garbage/etc.

Adds more context to the bureaucracy of city, of civilization--all that which must be accounted for. Going to New York for the first time soon. I feel privy to very important information! And I now have newfound respect for sanmen worldwide. They are true essential workers.

Regarding the book's construction, I think it was disjointed and lacked flow and a fitting conclusion. She is a great writer, there just could have been some tidying. But I learned a lot and appreciate Nagle's dedication. I love reaping the benefits of somebody else's hyperfixation!

ps - The lengths anthropologists will go...{hit & run, moral quandary - pp. 155-156}

quotes:
- [ ] pp. 16: "Uniforms in general change the way any worker is perceived. Individuality is subsumed by the role that the clothing implies."
- [ ] pp. 22: "The sociologist Wayne Brekhus might point to sanitation work as an example of an "unmarked" element of daily life.13 The world around us is more completely comprehended if we look for phenomena that are usually unnoticed-unextraordinary, he calls them-and therefore unanalyzed. They stand in contrast to things, relationships, identities, or behaviors that are marked, claims Brekhus; these garner a lot of attention and are often used as examples that purport to illustrate larger realities, but recognizing only marked phenomena distorts our understanding of the world.14 Brekhus makes the case that important truths are lodged within the unmarked and the unseen."
- [ ] pp. 25: "...our average necessary quotidian velocity."
- [ ] pp. 30: "Maintaining the well-being of her child was itself an art. In fact, she realized, all maintenance work- unrecognized, monotonous, repetitive, essential--could be art."
- [ ] pp. 33: "We learned that the mechanisms of disgust and the structures of morality might be closely connected. ...read about the connection between definitions of order and definitions of sacredness."
- [ ] pp. 41: "...time is a chart of progress, a point of argument, a cause for punishment."
- [ ] pp. 67: "He had mastered the subtle but essential skill of knowing how and when to do the job by the book, which is not to be confused with doing the job as efficiently as possible. These are contradictory strategies that an experienced worker can use to his advantage."
- [ ] pp. 156: "Specialized fields of knowledge are marked by phrases, abbrevia-fions, and slang that develop over time as a way of verbally concentrating complex detail."
- [ ] pp. 168 "'Never trust a senior man.' I felt a quick rush of gratitude. Here was a guy with years on the job imparting to me, a brand-new sanitation worker, a key insight that I could add to my collection of Essential Sanitation Knowledge. And he knew this bit of wisdom because ... he was a senior man."
- [ ] pp. 211 "They are heroes or scoundrels to one another, some well respected or a few despised, but united by their shared understanding of what the job demands, what it gives back, what it denies, how profoundly it shapes their lives."

+lexicon:
- [ ] ensorcellment: synonym for bewitchment
- [ ] anathema: the denunciation of something as accursed; e.g. pp. 56 - "...resting a load anywhere on the body, let alone on top of the head, is anathema."
- [ ] mongo: sanitation slang for treasure salvaged from the trash
- [ ] graft: the acquisition of gain (such as money) in dishonest or questionable ways
- [ ] susurrus: a whispering or rustling sound

[Erin Penn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 star rounded up
A tiktoker recommended this book knowing few of their audience would be enthralled by the story of Sanitation, specifically New York City sanitation. About five people immediately responded with - yes! Me being one of them.

And I am glad I did. Yes, the book is getting "old" - published in 2013, technology has changed, hopefully making the industry safer, because, dang, that is some high death rates (exceeds both police and firemen when adjusted for hours worked, only behind things like logging and fishing) - dodging cars to collect trash is no joke. Slow down for construction and sanitation, please!

The book is written from a living anthropologist or sociologist point of view; meaning, it is more focused on the people portion of sanitation and where people and trash intersect, not on recycling and disposal. From driving the heavy equipment like the trucks to the Sisyphean task of collecting litter, from sailing garbage scows to the hypnotizing task of snow removal, from sweeping streets with brooms and Broom Trucks to juggling all the workers (with related union connections and seniority) in order to assign duties. It was fascinating.

The first three chapters (Part One: Collection) have a lot of connection to existing social science, but the rest of it is a very humanizing account of where the Department is today, as well as a history going back to before America was founded. The last four chapters would have been better off as three - clearly the author wanted to record everything experienced for science, but as a lay-reader, the final four chapters (of 19) being trimmed for focus would have been good.

Slightly less than perfection (5 star) - though the 4.5 is rounded up because (1) aging technology; (2) final four chapters could use cleanup; (3) I (personally) would have liked more tie-into the greater scientific community. Having that stop half-way through was disappointing. (4) I (personally) would have loved more than just "man on the street" - the people moving the piles inside the depot are just hinted at and I would have loved more about them - although the man on the street went all kinds of directions from sailors to commissioners to snow to sweeping.

Great book. Checked out through interlibrary loan; my (Waco) library went hunting for it and got it from Rice University's Fondren Library nearly two hundred miles away. Aren't librarians amazing?