[elrod-tom]

Well, this just pisses me off!!

Last night, we go through our regular Sunday drill and put the garbage out on the curb. This week is a little different, as we cleaned out our basement over the weekend.

Like most nice neighborhoods, we have folks who roam around the night before and pick out things that they think they will be able to re-sell. I've never really objected to this...I mean, hey, it's stuff I'm throwing away, right?

Until this morning...ugh, what a mess!!

I've just spend 20+ minutes cleaning up after someone who thought that my putting something on the curb meant that not only could he sift through it, but that he could open up my bags and just leave them!! Well, you can imagine the mess out there...you'd have thought that racoons had opened up these bags. Plus it rained last night, so some of these bags are now waterlogged. I'm sure the folks who get paid to pick up my trash won't appreciate that...and might even leave some of the stuff behind as it's heavier than the city ordinance permits. So I'll have to either separate and re-bag waterlogged trash, or take it to the dump in my mini-van.

All this because some ******* thinks it's not only OK to pick through my trash (which I don't really mind), but that he can also leave it any old way he feels like when he's finished. I guess I can't leave my trash out at night any more. I mean, I just tied the bags at the top, so it's not like it's a big deal to him to re-tie them. I guess if I had really sealed them well, I might have expected that they'd just cut them open.

This just pisses me off!! If you're going to pick through my trash, at least have the common courtesy to NOT leave a MESS for ME to CLEAN UP!! I mean, am I really going to have to wait until the morning to put out my trash? I guess it's either that or stand guard over it.

GRRR!!!

 

[ken36]

Maybe it was the CIA,

 

[elrod-tom]

Nah...if anything, it might have been those folks from the National Enquirer again.

 

[GAD]

Not sure where you live, but could it have been animals? We live in the country, and the worst culprits are the crows. They rip open bags and throw stuff everywhere.

GAD

 

[F107plus5]

We have racoons that occasionally dig into our stuff, but my Wife suggested something even more sinister, that perhaps it's someone digging to find something for identity theft.

She even has a shredder right next to her desk for stuff before it gets into the trash can.

...she watches the news too much methinks. But she does have a good point I guess.

 

[ecclesand]

We have folks that come around and go thru our trash too, but they drive by and only stop if they see something they want. And, it's usually in the early morning hours (5:00am). I see them every trash day and they are very respectful of the folks that live here.

In our previous home, we had problems with neighborhood thugs going around and dumping folks' trash for kicks, so we just waited until the morning to take our trash out. It's a pain in the butt...especially after a weekend of cleaning the garage or basement, but it's better than the alternative. You should get some of those ink canisters that banks stick in the bags of money and stick them in your trash bags. It would leave more of a mess for you to clean up, but I bet it would only happen once!

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F107plus5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif We have racoons that occasionally dig into our stuff

Is it the mythical fat raccoon? The one that's the size of a a small child and waddles like a fat man? I've seen him near the dumpster once or twice....

 

[mdarnton]

Do you really mean to say that one single incident, under non-standard conditions (cleaning the house and leaving a lot of stuff outside) is going to change your standard-situation behavior forever, after who knows how many times this hasn't happened? Wow! Life must be closing in on you pretty fast.

 

[elrod-tom]

GAD - It wasn't animals...animals don't take out magazines and stack them on the ground while they look for something they want. We also live in a pretty urban area...not exactly overrun by racoons.

F107plus5 - I know what you mean about trash and identity theft. We shred anything that might aid someone hoping to do that. I don't think that's what was going on...I think it was "junk men" who couldn't be bothered to clean up their mess.

mdarnton - I doubt that I'll really start taking my trash out in the AM...when it's out there, it's pretty clearly just trash. That said, the next clean up job I think I will.

 

[Samgotit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom /img/forum/go_quote.gif GAD - It wasn't animals...animals don't take out magazines and stack them on the ground while they look for something they want.

"Ahh," he says as he points skyward, peering over his trifocals, "but the the illusive, literate, North American urban meerkat will do exactly that!!!"

Or, less likely, it could be a human. Anyway, you, a shotgun, a folding lawn chair, and a pot of coffee would be the best deterrent.

 

[bhd812]

I take mine out in the early AM before i leave for work or what not, that day they come to pick it up i wake up 5mins earlier and i am good. years back some prick set fire to both my garbage cans and a few of the neighbors. anything non food and small (mags and small crap) i throw out in the AM on the day of pickup cause i know some mofo is going to destroy and rampage threw it. if it is something someone could want and big (big metal stuff or small furniture) i take it out rite away cause within a day someone picks it up. food of course gets thrown out anytime (kitchen garbage can) but everything else once a week.
i been at your house before Tom and its seems such a nice neighborhood so maybe it was a one time deal? i know the feeling of cleaning the crap up well and i hate when there was glass in the cans..

oh and it was not me looking for vinyl! (thread on another forum about me going threw dumpsters for vinyl..hehe)

 

[Dimitris]

How about you buy a big bin to put them in? That way the racoons cant get to them and hopefully the guys that go through your garbage wont move them out.

 

[Konig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe it was the CIA,

Wont CIA just take the whole thing and perform mass spectrometry/electron microscopy on it?

 

[colonelkernel8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wont CIA just take the whole thing and perform mass spectrometry/electron microscopy on it?

Yeah, duh, they wouldnt sift through it for cryin out loud.

 

[fatcat28037]

I put an old sofa on the curb for garbage pickup. They wouldn't take it, so I pinned a sign on it, "$20.00", someone stole it. It worked out just fine.