Two Bags
It was six a.m. when a white SUV stopped in front of our house. We are located in the middle of the street. The driver opened the trunk and dumped a carseat on the sidewalk. He then calmly drove away. It was a nice and clean looking carseat, discarded on the sidewalk of a suburban street.
Where is the decency? Who does this stuff? Why didn’t you want to take it to Goodwill so another family can use it?
Just before noon, I was heading with almost a year’s worth of recycled aluminum cans towards the recycling place, only a mile or two away from our house. I arrived at 12:01pm and parked the car. The gate was already closed. I walked up with my two plastic bags full of smashed cans towards the security guard.
“Sorry we are closed.”
“I only have two bags.”
I put on my friendly face, but it was hard to tell behind my covid-19 face mask. Perhaps my eyes gave away a friendly demeanor.
“Alright, go ahead. Enjoy your day.”
“You too, have a nice day!
I walked up to the recycling center, still in full swing, as the last customers were emptying their pickup trucks. The foreman of the recycling place saw me coming with my two garbage bags.
“No, no no. We are closed.”
“I only have two quick bags. It will be quick.”
“Sorry, it is 12:15 and we close at 12:00.”
And that’s when I sensed my Michael-Douglas-Falling-Down-mode.
Falling Down
I stayed polite, yet figured the customer is always right. I realize folks want to wrap up their day and go home. Yet, I didn’t show up with a truckload of metal. I showed up a minute after noon, with a meager two garbage bags of crashed coffee and beer cans. I didn’t inconvenience them. It would take them five seconds.
“NO! It is not 12:15pm. It is 12:05pm. I only have two bags. It will take no time.”
All I wanted was breakfast! was the line in the famous movie Falling Down.
Luckily that’s where the reference to the movie ended. He checked with the cashier that it was still alright. Within a minute or so, I was able to unload the bags and collect my $17.35.
A drive-by-litterer and by-the-clock-recycler were not my friends this Saturday morning.
There is a happy ending however to this story. An hour after getting home, a pick up stopped in front of our house. They were in need of a carseat and picked it up.
The world is back in balance.