Restored faith in human nature

6:53pm Tuesday 19th August 2008

I'd like to thank a lovely young waste disposal man who helped me out this morning. After an awful night of waiting to hear news of my sick father, we had forgotten to put the bin out at the back of our terrace and realised we may have missed the wagon when we heard it at the front.

I shouted to one bin man to ask if they'd already collected at the back and they had, but he said he would come back and collect it for me. He ran back, waited patiently for me to unlock the gate, emptied the bin and returned it. In this world of 'jobsworth' mentality and 'elf 'n safety' culture, it restored my faith in human nature that this polite and courteous young man was prepared to go out of his way. He didn't know that I'd been up half the night waiting for the phone to ring, and he didn't realise how much his act of kindness had brightened up my dull day.

Mersey Road Sale