Something to watchWorking with others
Clean Streets
A short animated video about two sanitation workers, the pride in their route, and the partnership one of them still misses
Why it’s worth your time
The jobs people overlook can hold some of the deepest pride and friendship at work. In this StoryCorps conversation, animated by the Rauch Brothers, retired New York sanitation worker Angelo Bruno and his longtime partner Eddie Nieves remember their route, the neighbors who knew them by name, and a lesson an old-timer taught Angelo about seeing his own work. It's short, and it may well bring someone you worked alongside to mind.
How to find pride and meaning in your work
- Watch the video.
Listen for the moment an old-timer stops the truck to show Angelo the block behind them. It's the heart of it.
- Write to a work partner you miss.
Think of someone who made the work better just by being next to you. Send two or three sentences: what you remember, and that you still think about it. No catching up required.
Good moments for this: when someone you worked with crosses your mindafter a teammate leaveswhen work feels thankless
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
The old-timer's lesson was to stop and see what the work had made possible. Most jobs rarely offer that view unless you take it.
Questions people ask
What is the StoryCorps video Clean Streets about?
Two New York City sanitation workers, Angelo Bruno and Eddie Nieves, who shared a route in Manhattan's West Village for nearly ten years, talking about what the job taught them and what Angelo misses after retiring.
Who made Clean Streets?
StoryCorps recorded the conversation, and the Rauch Brothers directed the animation. The audio first aired on NPR in 2010.
What is StoryCorps?
A nonprofit that records conversations, usually between people who know each other, and preserves them. Some are animated as short films like this one.
What it says, and how it holds up
StoryCorps records ordinary people talking with someone they know well, and some of those conversations get animated. This one happens to be about work, and about a job that tends to get noticed only when it doesn't get done. The pride they describe doesn't seem to depend on anyone else finding the job impressive.
In about two minutes of conversation, Angelo Bruno and Eddie Nieves cover what made their years on the route good: neighbors who brought out coffee, small favors that were never in the job description, a partnership close enough that they tried to take the same vacations, and the easy teasing of people who know each other well. At the center is a lesson from an old-timer who stopped the truck so Angelo could look back at a clean block and be proud of it.
For anyone thinking about their own work, it leaves two questions: what would you miss, and who? Those answers are easy to overlook while you still have them. If the relationship on your mind is a difficult one, this isn't the film for it; a few warm minutes about a good partnership won't do much there. And if your own work has stopped feeling like anything you're proud of, it may be worth asking what changed, the job or the people around it.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.