Feb 28, 2005 - 00:09:40 CST
FARGO -- It's not yet 7 a.m., and already Jeanne Rogers is picking up her fourth Dumpster load.She leaps out of the 16-ton truck, motions the driver to back up and places a hook on the Dumpster.
The truck groans as it unloads the bin and lowers it back to the ground with a thud.
It's cold in the winter, smelly in the summer, and hard work year-round.
But Rogers, 26, likes it better than some previous jobs, including a stint in lingerie sales at a department store.
"It's probably the best job I think I've ever had," said Rogers, who may be West Fargo's first female sanitation worker.
Sanitation foreman Dennis Correll said no other women have worked in the department in the 13 years he has been there. None applied, he said.
Sanitation departments in Fargo and Moorhead, Minn. don't currently have female sanitation workers, though women work in related departments, such as recycling and streets, officials in both cities said.
"It's something most women wouldn't even think about doing, no matter what the pay," Correll said.
But so far, Rogers doesn't mind. The pay and benefits are good, and she likes the hours, weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to about 2:45 p.m.
And everyone gets along, sanitation workers said. The department, at a dozen members, is small enough for everyone to work together, Correll said.
She has always preferred physically challenging work. She grew up with three brothers and three sisters. Her late father had a thinning and slashing business clearing brush and trees in northwestern Montana. Though she's not a large person, Rogers sometimes went out working with him.
"She's always just preferred the outdoor work to the indoor work," said Rogers' mother, Jean Ryan, now of Litchville. "She likes to work hard."
Rogers moved to Fargo about five years ago. After some retail jobs, she worked construction. She roofed and worked on bridges before starting at Sheyenne Disposal's transfer station, which takes West Fargo's trash to a landfill in Gwinner.
While at Sheyenne Disposal, she heard about job openings with West Fargo's Sanitation Department. The city added three sanitation workers this year to keep up with growth.
Rogers applied, and for nearly two months has been one of West Fargo's dozen sanitation workers.
"She's good and fast and efficient," said Chad Mangin, of West Fargo, another new hire. "She throws just like everybody else."
In the summer, her co-workers have promised her, the garbage will get smelly and sometimes rotten.
"Summertime is when you learn when to hold your breath," Correll said.
For now, the cold is more troublesome than the smells.
"The weather makes a big difference, just like the ice that sits at the bottom of the can, so they can get pretty heavy," Rogers said.
One recent morning, Rogers was riding in a truck soon after it roared to life in the sanitation garage.
First came the commercial trash. Then it was on to residential streets.
Dressed in a bright yellow jacket and stocking cap, Rogers took turns driving and throwing garbage with Klein.
"She's just one of the boys," Klein said.
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