Refuse… To Listen

I have two pieces of furniture that I want to throw away, so I looked online for disposals. My trash collection company’s website said they will haul one large piece per week with at least three days’ advance notice. Since my trash is picked up on Friday, I called first thing Monday morning. The employee’s tone implied that I was inconveniencing her for the entire call.

Employee: “[Trash Company].”

Me: “Hi, I have two pieces of furniture—”

Employee: “Address?”

Me: “It’s [My address].”

Employee: “We can only pick up one at a time so you’ll have to do two weeks.”

Me: “That’s fine. They’re—”

Employee: “What kind?

Me: “One three-seater couch and—”

Employee: “Does it recline, have any metal interior or electronic parts?”

Me: “No.”

Employee: “You’re sure?”

Me: “Yes, it’s a basic couch.”

Employee: “You’ll need to disassemble it for collection.”

Me: “Oh. I don’t have—”

Employee: “Yes, you have to cut it up or break it down. It doesn’t matter how; you just can’t put a whole couch in the truck.”

Me: “I don’t have any way of doing that. Your website didn’t—”

Employee: *Sigh.* “There is a $50 charge for whole furniture.”

Me: “Okay, can I pay that now?”

Employee: “It will be added to your next bill. Anything else?”

Me: “The second couch?”

Employee: “You can’t do two in one week.”

Me: “I know, you already said that. I—”

Employee: “You’ll need to put one out this week and one next week.”

Me: “I understand that. It’s—”

Employee: “You—”

Me: “Can you stop interrupting me?”

Silence.

Employee: “What is the second piece of furniture, ma’am?”

Me: “A reclining loveseat and yes, I will pay the extra $50 to load a second unbroken piece of furniture for the second week.”

Employee: “Fine. You’re on the schedule.”

She hung up.

I got the whole couch out the first week and apologized to the workers for not being able to break it down, explaining my conversation with the woman. They assured me it was no problem, not so subtly said that the person I spoke with is not good with customers, and even helped me get the second one out of the house and into the truck all in one day.

When my bill came, I only had one $50 charge for the first week’s collection because I didn’t have a couch out the second week!