BE KIND AND REFIND

Ever find something you just know somebody else lost? Being a garbage man there are times when this happens to me. I mean I know some people throw out some perfectly good stuff, but every once and a while you can just tell that they tossed something by mistake. (I even when to dump this one trash can once and there was this old guy sitting on it. Now I know there is no way they were tossing away grandpa! Turned out he fell asleep while taking out the trash, but you get the idea.)

Now some of my fellow garbage man, even though they are also grimefighting super heroes have this philosophy that “finders keepers, losers should have beepers.” Not quite sure how having a beeper would help the situation, but that’s what they say if they come into the lunchroom toting something they found in the trash that is real cool.

As for myself, well what I do is try to take it back to the person who accidentally tossed it. I got to be honest though at four in the morning, grateful isn’t necessarily how some people react when you pound on their door. Plus the normally keep nodding off so they often don’t even hear what you say. So a lot of times I just try to wait to give it to them later.

There was a time when I would just leave the thing on their porch if they had one. Only problem with that is sometimes in the dark I would end up going to the wrong house. And believe me if you find something on your that smells even the least like rotting garbage no matter how good it still is you might not be happy. Even more so if the thing didn’t belong to you in the first place.

Still there are those rare moments when I return something and the person really is grateful. On I want to tell you they just look so darn happy. Sometimes it even brings them to tears.

Of course they might be in tears because the thing they lost was mixed in with some onions that were in the garbage, but I think it is the thought that counts. It has to be in some cases when the person keeps claiming they really did intend to throw away that chair that only had three legs left.

Heck my rule is when it doubt, take it back. I just wish that always ended with it being a good thing. However I never give up. There is always the next time when the person will say thank you instead of having their dog try to bite me.

Ah the joys of garbage. Sometimes it does bring tears to your eyes. And sometimes they are actually from happiness rather than pain like from a dog bite.

The way I figure every trash can contains all kinds of stories. Some good, some not so good. Just like life, there are times when you have days that smell great others when it is down right rotten. Hopefully fewer stink though. And that depends though. A lot is based on which way the wind blows and if you took a shower in the morning instead of just wetting the towel.