Thursday, September 1, 2011

Trash pickers.

This morning due to a lovely batch of events I was out with Bug and Monkey long before Bug needed to be to school. We had some time to kill before I needed to drop Bug off so I bought us all a Mickey D's Sausage Biscuit and a milk and went in search of a park to hide at. While I know our major streets and they run in a basic grid some smaller ones are pretty convoluted. I like to just explore these sometimes. Brother-in-law is looking to buy a house around this park I had in mind so I thought to check things out and follow the twisty way to the park. On my adventure I saw a truck in front of me just loaded down with metal. Twisted heaps of it. To my total amazement the truck stopped at a house with a pile of trash not in a can and two Hispanic men jumped out and began to dig through. They then crossed the street to a similar pile, pulled apart a dresser for the metal tracks and tossed them into their pile. Wow.

The pile was huge. So it made me think. In all the time it took to steal all that metal (Yes it was trash but they didn't exactly ask the owners if they could scatter their garbage to pick through it.) they could have looked for honest work. Even if just going door to door asking to wash windows or clean lawns. Something. Ugggg.......

7 comments:

  1. A few months ago we replaced all the furniture cube systems at work and had it set out so we could recycle it in the morning. I show back up at 5a, and there were 2 trucks and 4 guys who had everything worth good money loaded up including a lot of copper wiring.

    I made them unload it all back into neat piles (and even opened the gate up for them to make it easier). We recycled what they had loaded up it was about $2500. I was only gone for 4 hours and they swooped right in and loaded it up.

    I offered to pay them for work I actually needed to get done still but everyone of them said they were handicapped. They even accused me of being greedy and stealing food from their kids.

    So when you say Ugggg I understand the feeling. I would rather work hard honestly. Or win the lottery.

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  2. Max your last two sentences are it in a nutshell. I just don't get it. All the energy and time they spend picking trash apart. Are they really that dumb? Yes the economy sucks, especially here, but you just used more energy and time than if you were washing dishes at Taco Bell.

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  3. Stealing copper is big business here. Construction sites are a favorite but they'll go after air conditioners right at peoples homes.

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  4. Here, the local law had made the metal buyers require a copy of the sellers driver license, and a signature and photo of the license plate before they do business. Copper thief as damn near come to halt. Which doesn't mean they can't drive out of state to sell it, but it sure has put a kink in their after dark activities.

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  5. Copper is big business here as well. We have been lucky in our area in that regard but due to the house crash we have a lot of drug hoses hiding in the nice neighborhoods they once couldn't afford.

    I think regs like you guys have Stephen would help. It is horrible here. The level of metal theft and other crime just keeps rising and spreading.

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  6. It is amazing the extent some will go to with their "self employment" or shady means to make $. Creativity and resourcefulness is one thing.. but most seem to be opting for flat out thievery.

    20 years ago in St. Pete.. a homeless Nam vet knocked on our door and asked if he could collect the recyclables from our trash. We created our own bin for him so he didn't have to pick through garbage. That is being resourceful.. as back then they didn't have the recycling service for the garbage.

    That sort of thing would never happen now. Someone asking politely before helping themselves. The depravity blows my mind... and others call it "getting ahead."

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  7. I know what you mean Anne. Common decency in humanity seems to have gone out the window. Makes me sad. Hubby says I was built for an earlier time. The lack of courtesy and honesty is a huge part of why I am a hermit. I have been burned to often.

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