Published by deborah.woehr on 18 Apr 2008 at 12:25 am
The Law of the Garbage Truck
I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…..
‘Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’
You are the people who treat me right, so I wanted to share this with you.
Thank you for being a part of my life.
Sent by a former colleague, turned friend.




















Scot on 21 Apr 2008 at 5:29 pm #
Deborah,
Lot of wisdom in this anecdote. Gives me a fresh perspective on how to make my daily commute here in Houston. Lots of garbage here, but now at least I can smile.
You’ve done a terrific job with updating your blog. I’m getting back into it but it’ll be slow going for a bit.
Scot
deborah.woehr on 21 Apr 2008 at 5:32 pm #
Welcome back, Scot!
Hope Houston is treating you well.
Chris on 01 May 2008 at 8:07 am #
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for posting this great story! My name is Chris, and I work with David J. Pollay, the author of The Law of the Garbage Truck™ - Beware of Garbage Trucks™! I just wanted to stop by and let you know that you can read the original story on David’s blog davidjpollay.typepad.com I know he’d love to have you stop by!
Also check out the video of people in New York City taking the No Garbage Trucks!™ Pledge: bewareofgarbagetrucks.com. It’s pretty cool.
Thanks again!
Chris
chris@bewareofgarbagetrucks.com