“I work hard” said the Sweeper. “People don’t appreciate what I do and how much work it is. People think things happen by themselves; but there is so much work going on behind the scenes”
“Take the woman who lives in that apartment with the open window behind me.” The sweeper continued as he swept up the leaves in the court yard.
“She and her son, know about the tooth fairy, and they make a big deal about putting the tooth that fell out during the football game, under his pillow at bed time. In the morning the tooth fairy gets all the credit for the coins the kid finds under his pillow.”
“She also tells him about the Sandman who helps kids sleep by sprinkling magic sand in their eyes; in the morning, he knows he’s been there because of the crusts in the corners of his eyes.”
“But I don’t get any respect like tooth fairy or sandman.” He continued.
“When the boy’s football team made a clean sweep of the playoffs, … they though it is all their own doing.”
“And when the woman met her new boyfriend at the football game; she was swept off her feet and became head over heels in love…”
“No thanks for that one either.”
“No one respects the fine art of sweeping. If I didn’t like sweeping so much, I’d go on strike.”
“I really need to get peoples’ attention; maybe I should get one of those noisy leaf blowers, they’d notice me then for sure… but no, that’s not my style.”
“If I want sweeping to be mainstream, I need to invent a game that people can play. I’m thinking of a game where you slide a rock on ice, and to get it onto a target, you have to sweep in front of it … Yes, that’ll be a game that will really get the sweeping profession some respect.”