On Their Knees, Begging For A Job At The Landfill

"Wanted: Laborer willing to work 10-hour days outdoors in the stench and dust of the Pinellas County landfill. That's year-round, so you'll really enjoy the summer months when the landfill is ripest."

Starting salary: $9.50 an hour, plus benefits.

Hanus placed an ad in the St. Petersburg Times for the openings on Nov. 24. In rosier times, such an ad might attract 10 job seekers. Hanus said that with the overwhelming response, he stopped taking applications around noon the next day.The ad was for spotters, who show customers where to dump their loads and make sure that prohibited stuff like batteries, oil and paints aren't going into the landfill.Some who applied had college degrees, Hanus said, and many had recently been laid off or seen their companies shut down. The three people hired had a fair amount of experience working outdoors and solid customer skills, Hanus said. They started Dec. 8.

None of the four applicants who had begged on their knees for work because they could not pay the rent or feed their families was among them."