Oscar Adolfo Olivares has been working as a sweeper for 24 years. He works from Monday to Saturday in different areas of the city of Salta. “I have three zones. One is on Mondays and Thursdays, another on Tuesdays and Fridays and the third on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Today we are in the Mosconi neighborhood,” explained Oscar, who has been walking the streets of Salta for more than two decades.
In this long journey of work, he has seen how the city changed, how the neighborhoods grew, how the neighbors changed. Their task begins while it is still night, and ends after noon.
“I like my job, I like the work I have been doing for 24 years, I do it with pride and I feel calm, happy with my work. There are days when I have heavy areas and others with light areas and well, I’m used to it. Now it’s time for the leaf and then it gets complicated but it’s seasonal and well, you get used to it, the neighborhoods also change, the way of life changes, you do your job. In my case, I get up every day. at 4:30 to come at 5:30 in the morning. The day ends at 2:30 p.m.,” Oscar explained.
The neighborhood friend
After so many years, and even more so in the same areas, the neighbors now know who their sweeper is. “The neighbors already know me, the kids who pass by to school and greet me every day,” said this man who has the respect and trust of the neighbors proudly.
“Good morning, how are you, Don Oscar, how are you doing? The people here are very friendly. I never had problems with any of the neighbors. Now they are all great and respectful people,” explained the Mosconi neighborhood sweeper.
Just like Oscar, there are hundreds of sweepers who travel around the city of Salta and its neighborhoods and who, over the years, already know the neighbors and their customs inside out.
Oscar’s task force is a squad of 18 colleagues. “I am 56 years old and I still work and I have colleagues who are even older than me. We all move forward. It is my rhythm of life. I work every day and if there are no people they call me to work in the afternoon and I go. Afterwards, breaks are organized and well. There are many people without work, and the truth is, I am grateful to have a job,” Oscar added that he gets to see everything on the street.
Just as there are the neighbors who say hello, there are also the others who forget that there is someone who picks up what they throw away: leftover food on the street, papers, bottles, dog waste and more, much more.
Although it may seem incredible, Oscar also encounters people on the streets who even dare to steal his work items. The first thing that disappears are the bags, and they even wanted to take his backpack.
In the streets you see hundreds of stories, and there are the stories of those who live on the street, who once asked for a piece of bread. Sad but that’s the reality.
There are also the other stories, those of the neighbors who wait for him with a sandwich, who pass him a package of cookies or a cup of coffee. “Since I leave very early, sometimes I buy some cookies and that’s it, but there are neighbors who are like that. They know you and wait for you, they share something with you, and those are the nice stories,” he added.
The stories that Oscar collects from the street, in addition to what they leave as waste.
A bad experience
Among those situations that Oscar experienced, he remembers one in particular, when he wanted to stop a fight in the street. “What’s wrong with you, don’t get involved,” they told me. It was to defend a girl who was being hit,” recalled this man who is also a father.
Oscar has a 28-year-old daughter. Her name is Virginia, and she was going to let that situation of violence pass as if it were nothing. It was impossible.
And he couldn’t just stare, or pass by as if it weren’t there.
This Wednesday is Worker’s Day and from your workplace, what you want is for all your colleagues to have a nice day. “A happy day that you spend with your family and that you remember that here there is a friend who is always with you in good times and bad,” said Oscar, while he made a brief cut in his tasks.
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