Legal Marketing & PR

Law of the Garbage Truck

By Edward Poll, J.D., M.B.A., CMC

Yesterday, I took my restored 1983 Porsche Cabriollet out for a spin. I've always loved this car, but some of its aging has caused me to enjoy it less. No more! It's as fit as new, even with a new coat of paint.

I returned to the car from an appointment. As I was standing there, opening the door and getting ready to get in and return home, a garbage truck pulled up next to me. All kinds of images went through my head, but I certainly didn't expect what happened next.

The driver removed his ear plugs, turned off the motor of the truck and started talking to me. He admired my car, asked me if I wanted ;to sell it and proceeded to tell me about his 1984 Porsche. In this moment, I could be accused of being a class snob. I certainly didn't expect a garbage truck driver to know a lot about Porsche, let alone own one. The pay scale for garbage must be good.

He knew the value of mine, a benefit to me from our conversation since I don't really know the true value of it; since I'm not seeking to sell it, I haven't paid attention to its current market value.

A further connection between us, apart from the car, turns out that his wife works in a law firm that I know very well. How is that for coincidence!

On this day, as well, I read an email from a friend, an email about garbage, The Law of the Garbage Truck. The essence of his point is that many people walk around this world with all types of garbage in their lives ... They need a place to dump this garbage, sort of like a land fill. But, we don't have to accept their garbage!!  Be happy, ignore others' unjustified dumping, and when you can do this, you can be a better lawyer, better family member and a much healthier person, yourself.

Full post as published by Law Biz Blog on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).