Pickles by Brian Crane for November 08, 2022

Not many people pick up OP’s trash. I’m one. My son is another. I got it from my dad… and there are some good stories about his trash picking… like the time he got ticketed* for rolling a dead tire down to where he could haul it off… or the time someone broke into his trailer which was apparently full of trash (at the accessible end) and went away without stealing anything.

With a couple of very strange exceptions, I find that such folks are good people and easy to be friends with.

‍*  He and my mom had camped at a state park. A ranger ticketed him, and since he was traveling, agreed to lead him into town to pay his fine to a JP. The JP heard the story and asked my dad to show him his vehicle. When he found the trailer about 20% full of trash he not only let him off, he gave him a free pass to the county dump.

Or they’re just inconsiderate %@$#!&s

I grabbed a broom once in a shopping mall and just started sweeping with it. Passers by deliberately threw things on the ground in front of it.

Or think there’s finally somebody paid for that.

Where I once worked, the shop electrical and assembly workers threw packaging on the floor as they did their jobs, picking it up at intervals or at the end of the shift. The shop supervisor, who knew very little about their jobs, suspected they weren’t working hard enough and “helped” them by picking up the debris. He was actually spying on them and “motivating” them to work faster.

So whenever he turned his back or left the area, they would carefully put the trash back on the floor. He must have finally suspected this was happening. But having begun this fiasco, he was rather obliged to finish it, that day at least — of course losing face in the process. He knew, all things considered, their jobs were more to be valued than was his.

Things like this aren’t necessarily admirable, but they are Real Life. And the lessons we learn can be further applied to situations big and small.

The road I live on is moderately heavily traveled, and often people throw trash in front of the house, which I pick up and toss in my trash, some folks do not care!

They got you, Earl. Right down to the litter.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Now you know how Opral feels…

They think you’re getting paid to do it and want to provide job security!

You can stop at ANY time..!!

I have seen the opposite. Once I clean up an area, people seem reluctant to throw their trash there but when there is already trash there…

It is a better Hobby then Ben’s of eating and sleeping.

What gets me is these smokers who flip their cigarette out the window or dump ashtray in parking lots. This is litter but I guess someone else is supposed to pick up after them?

I remember taking the Cub Scouts on roadside clean-up. “Mr. S, look at this funny balloon!”

Opal thinks so, it’s keeping you out of her hair Earl.

Stop complaining, Earl! No one,asked you to volunteer but it’s good exercise and a good feeling you’re doing your part. ☺️☺️☺️

At the top of the hill of the off-ramp where a traffic light exists, the number of cigarette buts on the side of the road is just insane. It’s not a “normal amount”. Are people dumping their ashtrays in protest for waiting so long just to make a left turn?

the law of unintended consequences, sigh

That says it all!

Slobs, they be, matey.

My dog thinks that’s the only reason I keep him around.

Earl, Roscoe’s squatting a load over there. Didn’t you listen to my suggestion to also bring a pooper scooper? OK, my wife doesn’t listen to my day at work stories either.

I think that my neighbors are thinking the same thing! Bob goes out every day to mulch leaves and they just continue to blow into our yard! Lol

This is an honest observation. People tend to think that they’re okay as long as there’s someone picking it up or if no one’s looking. People like that don’t care about the way it looks or how it affects someone else.

Well…?

One and another, no telling.

Tuesday is trash day in my neighborhood and everyone’d trash bins are parked on the curb. For the past five years, on Tuesday, I don disposable gloves and pick up litter along the first mile of my walking route. Out of approximately 250 days I’ve picked litter up out of the curbs and parkways, only two people have ever commented on it.

I do it to keep trash out of the ocean, because if I did it for accolades I’d be SOL.