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What does the public care about when sanitation workers search for children's watches while flipping through garbage?

2025-07-15   

A public service with temperature should not be "responsive to every request", but should be considered comprehensively. Recently, a news article about "sanitation workers flipping through 8 tons of garbage to help tourists retrieve children's watches" has attracted attention. According to reports, on July 1st, Ms. Lu and her family from Shenzhen arrived in Datong by high-speed rail from Taiyuan, but accidentally forgot the children's watch that was put into a clean paper garbage bag when getting off the train. The next day, Ms. Lu called the 12345 hotline to seek help from the Datong City Urban Management Bureau. After tracking, it was confirmed that the watch had entered the squeezing box at the transfer station with about 8 tons of garbage. Finally, after more than four hours of unremitting efforts by two sanitation workers, the lost watch was finally found and returned to Ms. Lu's hands that evening. This was originally a heartwarming news about the local urban management department successfully finding lost items for tourists, but unexpectedly it sparked many doubts and dissatisfaction from the public. This may have been unexpected by the relevant parties in Datong. Is a phone watch so labor-intensive? ”Have you considered the physical health and safety of sanitation workers? "" If it were cochlear implants, it would be understandable. A children's watch is unnecessary. "Similar voices have fermented in the public opinion field, forming a certain tension with the official narrative logic of" Shenzhen tourists praise Datong sanitation workers ". The same event, two narrative logics, precisely indicate that different positions and perspectives on the problem are different, not as clear-cut as right and wrong. The Datong Urban Management Bureau responded that helping citizens find lost items is not an isolated case, and "as long as the people have a need, we will definitely do it. Moreover, retrieving lost items for out of town tourists and enhancing their travel experience is also a way to enhance the city's image, which seems to be appropriate. But the doubts and dissatisfaction in the public opinion field represent another position worth reflecting on. The public's discussion on this matter reflects sympathy and empathy towards the two sanitation workers. On the other hand, the public's questioning of whether it is necessary or not and whether it is worth it reflects the problem of asymmetric consumption of human and material resources compared to the value of lost items in this matter. After all, going to such lengths for a children's watch is essentially a waste of public resources for personal mistakes. Whether it is appropriate or not is worth discussing. Especially, it should be considered that if this practice triggers a imitative effect and becomes a norm, tourists may lose something, and regardless of who is responsible or how much it costs, they will have to use public resources to find it, which may result in unbearable burden. So, this incident also reflects the scale issue of urban public services. There is no problem with public services striving to meet the needs of the people, but in practical operation, it may be better if relevant departments can develop more scientific and reasonable response mechanisms based on the urgency of the event, the importance of goods, the consumption of resources, and the rights and interests of workers, among other factors. A public service with temperature should not be "responsive to every request", but should be considered comprehensively. The latest response from the local urban management bureau stated that this incident has a promoting effect on work, and they openly accept criticism from netizens. In the next step, they will provide certain rewards to the sanitation workers. It can be seen that through this incident, the different directions of public opinion and official narratives can also become an opportunity to reflect on the allocation of public resources, the protection of workers' rights and interests, and the concept of urban services. Only in this way can we better achieve the refinement and humanization of urban governance. (New Society)

Edit:Luo yu Responsible editor:Zhou shu

Source:bjnews.com

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