...and Doing Your Best Is Better than Being the Best

So the economy's in the toilet, and everywhere I go people are complaining that their friend/kid/neighbor/husband can't find a job, so I have a hard time understanding why people who have jobs don't try their best to keep them. 

Why am I bitching? 

Because I watched the trash collectors blatantly ignore my neighbor's overflowing trash can because he failed to move it LITERALLY two feet from the end of his driveway to the street.  If you tell me that there is a law preventing them from doing this - some kind of property thing or whatever - I will apologize and move on, although that doesn't explain why did they decided not to pick up the leaves that were in plastic bags on my street.  Only the paper bags were picked up.  Really?? 

Consumers should be getting the best service.  There shouldn't be one complacent worker out there.  More people are using food stamps, waiting for unemployment checks, and struggling.  As a business owner, I reward my loyal clients with discounts and grandfathered-rates, as do all my friends that are self-employed.  We do what it takes to make our customers happy, and when we screw up (which is bound to happen when one is stressed), we overcompensate. 

I know it's bleak out there - why not do the best you can to offset that? 

Sheesh.