Something smells funny in Chicago, and this time it’s really the trash.

A report released by the Inspector General’s Office on Oct. 7 said an investigation from May to September found that workers, garbage truck drivers and laborers for the Bureau of Sanitation weren’t working as many hours as they should in 10 city wards. Instead, they were working less than six out of the eight hours they were to work each day.

The report said for about two hours a day, garbage workers were paid “but did nothing.” The workers’ lack of productivity based on the 10 wards investigated, and 40 others in the city, is estimated to cost the city $14.3 million annually in lost wages.

Michael Picardi, head of the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, was not a happy camper last week when he told the Chicago Tribune that union workers would be punished for not following union rules, and that non-union workers have it coming, too.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, on Oct. 5, the city announced it would lay off more than 1,000 workers, split between the Police Department and Department of Streets and Sanitation.

The investigation found workers were wasting away up to 26 percent, or about two hours and 30 minutes, at most, of the work day by doing nothing. It also claimed the workers were paid nicely for their eight-hour work days.

Before you say they have bad conditions to work in, you know, with smelling garbage all day long-it’s what they signed up for.  According to the report, the workers were paid “well.” If I got enough an hour, I wouldn’t mind it either. And with layoffs coming, this new report doesn’t do much to back up any cause for them not to lose their jobs but only solidifies it. Unfortunately, a few bad apples can spoil the whole tree. But not to completely criticize the workers-I feel for them, too.

In their defense, I would probably schlep off a few minutes here and there, too. Why? Well, after riding around on the back of a truck all day picking up bags and bags of trash that smell like

mashed-up fast food with a hint of sweaty sock, I would want a break for some fresh air rather than the stench of rotten alleys and exhaust fumes.  But in no way am I applying for their job anytime soon, either.

What I don’t appreciate is that Chicagoans are paying for their tailgating talks, or whatever they’re doing. The report mentions one example of their lack of work as being termed “waste,” where an employee was at the location they were supposed to be but doing something else, or “falsification,” where they were on the clock, but were doing things like eating at restaurants.

Whatever the case, it’s clean-up time, and someone is getting kicked to the curb. Hopefully our garbage won’t be the one sitting there.