4-Year-Old Who Loves Garbage Trucks Celebrates His Birthday Eating Breakfast With The Garbage Men
Other people may easily overlook garbage collectors, but he looks up to them.
Andrey_Popov | Shutterstock If you ask a kid what they want to do for their birthday, there’s a chance that they’ll come up with something that is pretty imaginative and out-of-the-box. After all, what child wouldn’t want a superhero or unicorn to make an appearance at their birthday party?
One little boy decided on a fairly simple plan for his fourth birthday that delighted his neighborhood’s garbage men. The boy, who loves garbage trucks, wanted to spend time with the people he sees driving and riding in those special trucks every week.
One boy decided to forego a regular birthday celebration in favor of a small breakfast with the garbage men.
A mom named Stephanie shared a video on TikTok of her son spending his fourth birthday with some of the people he looked up to the most. “My son loves garbage trucks, so we had breakfast with the garbage men for his fourth birthday!” she said in the caption.
In the video, her young son can be seen waving at the garbage truck as it drives slowly up the road. When it stopped at the neighbor’s house to pick up their garbage, the boy’s dad walked him to the end of the driveway with his sister. There, they had a table set up that was decorated with a green tablecloth and toy garbage trucks. On it, they had orange juice, pastries, fruit, and other breakfast offerings. They thoughtfully wrapped items up in foil for the garbage men to take with them.
The garbage men took off their gloves and approached the boy to give him fist bumps. One of them signaled to the truck driver to honk the horn so he could hear it. “Wow!” the boy exclaimed as he covered his ears at the loud noise. After the greetings were over, the boy handed each of the garbage men a foil-wrapped breakfast treat.
The post went viral on TikTok, and it found its way to the right people.
Stephanie’s video currently has 10.1 million views and almost one and a half million likes. Somehow, it made its way back to one of the garbage men who was there that morning. “Glad I was able to wish your son a happy birthday,” he said. “Thank you for breakfast!” She was shocked. Thank you for making his day special!” she replied. “I can’t believe TikTok found you!”
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Others pointed out how sweet it was that Stephanie’s son wanted the special celebration for his birthday to be spent with the garbage men. “I wonder if garbage truck workers realize how many littles look up to them,” one person said. “You’re doing a great job showing your kid that every job is important and that everyone deserves respect,” someone else said.
One person spoke from personal experience when she said, “Garbage man daughter here. This is my dad’s favorite part of the job. He always talks about the kids on his route, the ones that bring him cold drinks when it’s hot out, sit in the window, and wave every week. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
It could be argued that being a garbage man is not as well respected as some other jobs, but this kid clearly thinks the world of them.
According to a research article published by the University of California Press, “Occupational prestige is the social status allocated to an individual based on their occupation.” Unsurprisingly, the World Economic Forum reported that the top three most respected occupations are doctor, lawyer, and engineer. People tend to give more deference to jobs that have high incomes and professional reputations.
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But if you think about it, how would society survive without garbage men? Even though their job may not be glamorous, it is essential to the functioning of society. Sometimes, it takes a child to see what adults can’t, and to recognize that the importance a job holds has much more to it than a salary or uniform.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
