Thursday, January 09, 2020

The Inexorable Grinding of My Gears

Some things really grind my gears. In the past I'm sure that I have railed more than once about people leaving their shopping carts strewn about the parking lot. I am also miffed when odious drivers who sit on my bumper when I'm already exceeding the speed limit.

But people dumping their flyers at the mailbox really jangles my nerves.

We have a neighbourhood mailbox situation. People drive up, grab their mail, and drive off.

You would think that they would be driving off with all of the contents. I mean it does not seem to this gaffer too odious a chore to bring the flyers back into you vehicle and take them to your own recycling bin. But many don't. Nope. They simply abandon their flyers.

They used to stick their unwanted flyers in the spaces between the boxes, which was rather thoughtless. I mean to say that flyers don't simply vapourize; someone has to deal with them at some point in time. But just as long as that someone ain't them, eh?

Then someone, a good someone, brought a trash can, which seemed like a better solution than just stuffing the flyers willy nilly. And it is.

Unfortunately, no one thinks to move it to the curb for recycling pickup. Except for one senior citizen, who shall remain nameless but who doesn't always remember to move it to the fore on garbage day.

And so the container can get rather full.

But the good, repsectful populace just keeps tossing their flyers on the top. The bin overflows and flyers get blown about, but still they discard the flyers.

The problem is at its worst in winter when the container gets frozen into the snow. I tried to move it to the curb for pickup. Alas, I was unsuccessful. And so, it will likely sit there until spring. Meanwhile, the nitwits good citizens will just keep discarding their flyers.

Not being able to shift the bin, I resorted to grabbing an armful of the flyers from the bin and walking them back to my house to put in our recycling bin.

That was yesterday, and the trash can is still pretty full as you can see. There also remains litter on the ground even after I picked up, most of it embedded until spring thaw.


See how full the container is? Before I grabbed a bunch, it was heaped up well above the rim, but people kept adding to the pile. And of course, it didn't stay there.



I guess carrying armloads back to my place will have to be my winter solution.

It is apparent to me that we are not that evolved of a species. I wonder if a better one will emerge in a few million years. Meanwhile, let wars rage, oceans rise, and the planet burn. Not to mention all those American evangelicals who are delirious about their president doing what he can to hasten the end times.

No, we are not nearly evolved enough.

16 comments:

Country Gal said...

I hear you . This kind of thing also drives me nuts , some people just don't care . Like when I see Timmies coffee cups chucked all over our valley village and the amount of garbage that gets blown about the banks and in our river , hubs also gets peeved when he is driving and people behind him are up his butt even though he is traveling the speed limit or just over slightly and this is on back country roads to , they are idiots . Guess we can only do our part as best as we can and be proud of it more than bitter about it all .

Tabor said...

Our recycle bins at the Post Office where I get my mail are always overflowing. These are the items that keep our Post Office non-profit, so I will no complain. I do think your neighbors are very self-centered.

Christina said...

Don't get me started on littering! It is such a big problem here in bonny Scotland. As soon as there is a little litter, it attracts more of the same.... I suppose the evangelicals are not that bothered about the end times, in their mind the best is still to come. Apologies, feeling a bit cynical after skimming the news headlines.

Marcia said...

Maybe you should set up a camera and catch who it is? You have to wonder what goes through someone's head who litters? Are they so clueless?

Jenn Jilks said...

I hear you. You know I go ditch diving all the time. It is shameful.

Joanne Noragon said...

That's a big mess. Do you have a homeowners association that can deal with this?

Marie Smith said...

This would irritant my husband to no end. I’m just glad we have door to door delivery.

Red said...

Good for you to try and do something about a messy situation. You're not getting any help.

Kay said...

Oh yes! My husband loved your post. We laughed out loud at your line about our president. So true. So true. I just don't understand why they support a man who cheated on his wife, grabs women by the p..., has lied over 10,000 times since taking office, etc. Why?

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

That's an inconvenient truth - that we are not evolved enough. I wonder if there is a way you can get people to at least deal with their own flyers?

David M. Gascoigne, said...

We don't have a bin next to our community mailboxes, but I have to say that there is no problem with littler so I assume that most people, if not all, take their flyers home. We never even look at them. They go directly into the recycling box. I really wish there was a way we could opt out of receiving them.

PipeTobacco said...

Wow! That would be exceptionally annoying to me too! That doesn’t seem to happen around where I live fortunately.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

I hear you loud and clear on this topic, John. Our apartment is directly across from the garbage disposal chute and from the number of clanging bottles, it's apparent that many folks simply ignore recycling. We do have designated "gree rooms" for recycling, but these are located on another floor which requires either walking down 3 flights or taking the elebvator. Apparently, that is way too much effort for many people.

Chickens Consigliere said...

You are a good person and a responsible citizen, AC. I am sorry it is such a thankless task sometimes.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I very much know your frustration. We live just off a major highway and I swear, people turn and pitch. It's almost always fast food wrappers, which really makes me mad because then the birds and stray animals drag it around. Jeepers...there are just people with no manners anymore.

William Kendall said...

It is frustrating.