# David Sedaris gets a garbage truck named after him **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585 "2014-08-01T17:03:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/1 "2014-08-01T17:03:09Z")
A richly-deserved honor for the American expatriate humorist: [http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/local/south-downs-litter-picker-has-truck-named-after-him-1-6204429](http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/local/south-downs-litter-picker-has-truck-named-after-him-1-6204429) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/2 "2014-08-01T17:20:58Z")
It’s pretty amazing the interesting life he’s lead 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/3 "2014-08-01T17:48:39Z")
I’ll see your David Sedaris, and raise you one Dave Barry… …who has had the honor of having his name painted on a sewage pumping station in North Dakota. The article he wrote about it is not available on-line. But as I recall, after previously writing about N Dakota as a terrible place to live, the good folks of Grand Forks invited him to a tour of their great city. The mayor greeted Dave Barry at the airport, offered him a ride in a beat-up car, and promptly took him to the largest laundromat in town, before bestowing the honor of naming the sewage station after him,at a ceremony during a snow storm. Etc, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/4 "2014-08-01T19:38:52Z")
Ah, the burdens of fame… ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/5 "2014-08-01T20:22:45Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’ll see your David Sedaris, and raise you one Dave Barry… > …who has had the honor of having his name painted on a sewage pumping station in North Dakota. > > The article he wrote about it is not available on-line. > But as I recall, after previously writing about N Dakota as a terrible place to live, the good folks of Grand Forks invited him to a tour of their great city. The mayor greeted Dave Barry at the airport, offered him a ride in a beat-up car, and promptly took him to the largest laundromat in town, before bestowing the honor of naming the sewage station after him,at a ceremony during a snow storm. Etc, etc. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Ah, the burdens of fame… To be clear, Sedaris was given this garbage truck honor by people that had no knowledge of his fame as a writer. At the end of the article linked to in the OP, they posted an update w/ information about Sedaris’ “world following.” ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/6 "2014-08-01T20:24:22Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’ll see your David Sedaris, and raise you one Dave Barry… > …who has had the honor of having his name painted on a sewage pumping station in North Dakota. > > The article he wrote about it is not available on-line. > But as I recall, after previously writing about N Dakota as a terrible place to live, the good folks of Grand Forks invited him to a tour of their great city. The mayor greeted Dave Barry at the airport, offered him a ride in a beat-up car, and promptly took him to the largest laundromat in town, before bestowing the honor of naming the sewage station after him,at a ceremony during a snow storm. Etc, etc. [Dave’s column](http://www.miamiherald.com/2002/12/04/928815/building-takes-your-breath-away.html) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/7 "2014-08-01T23:23:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A richly-deserved honor for the American expatriate humorist: [http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/local/south-downs-litter-picker-has-truck-named-after-him-1-6204429](http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/local/south-downs-litter-picker-has-truck-named-after-him-1-6204429) Sweet. 🙂 Sedaris is a treasure, I wish he was my brother or something so I could just give him the occasional hug just because. (Dave Barry, too.) NPR did an interview with Sedaris about a year ago, during which he talked about chuntering around the local roadways picking up litter. Lovely man; I “follow” him on NPR and have read all of his books. I have a feeling that this will mean a lot to him. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/8 "2014-08-01T23:53:31Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > To be clear, Sedaris was given this garbage truck honor by people that had no knowledge of his fame as a writer… Color me dubious. He got the honor for his good works and not his writing, I believe, but a moment’s Googling would’ve told the local officials a lot about him. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/9 "2014-08-02T01:01:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Color me dubious. He got the honor for his good works and not his writing, I believe, but a moment’s Googling would’ve told the local officials a lot about him. You’re assuming they bothered to Google him at all, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-sedaris-gets-a-garbage-truck-named-after-him/694585/10 "2014-08-02T02:05:27Z")
If you were going to bestow some honor on a resident alien, wouldn’t you want to make sure he wasn’t a fugitive, a criminal or the like, so that you didn’t have egg on your face when/if the press did a little digging as to just who this guy was?