Inflicting trash on other people

In our area, the local law enforcement agencies take non-violent prisoners out frequently to clean up the roadside trash. That gives these prisoners some productive time away from the jails, and helps keep our area fairly clean. I just don't understand the mindset that causes people to throw out their water bottles, and fast food coffee cups, etc., as they are driving. It doesn't take much effort to toss them when they get home.
 

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The non recyclers are definitley an issue. They say why bother since most will wind up in a landfill-true to a point if recycled loads are too 'dirty' or have too many non recyclables. But that's for the collectors to decide. I've also been chastised for making an effort to recycle like keeping the trash and recycling organized. They even wonder why I tear off the clean parts of a pizza boxy for recycling. And to prevent a mushy mess I don't put cardboard the outside recycling container until collection day, on plastics and metals go out right away.
 

Sunny said:
I can remember back in my childhood, seeing signs posted in public places that said, "No Spitting." That would be pretty unthinkable now. Yet, in those days, it was necessary. It probably referred to the use of chewing tobacco, and people had to be taught to stop using it. No one wants to behave in a way that is perceived as being disgusting, but apparently some of us need a little nudge in the right direction.
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The early anti-spitting campaigns/laws in many cities were part of an effort to stem the spread of tuberculosis.

car_dontspit.jpg


As far as public littering goes we have laws on the books in most states that call for a fine, public service, etc...

http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/states-with-littering-penalties.aspx
IMO those quality of life laws should be enforced but many people in today's world view the enforcement of such laws as money grabs or burdensome to the poor so law enforcement looks the other way.
 
It’s 11:30 at night and I’m following a beige Lincoln north on I-81, not clocking the speed or doing anything other than listening to radio calls and thinking about the upcoming weekend while in patrol duty. I just started to go around the Lincoln when I saw the driver’s window being opened and then a brown bag was tossed out the opening. I later collected the sack, which turned out to be a McDonald’s bag.

I flipped on my lights and did a routine stop. The driver was a 39 y/o female. After checking her personal information and running the plates and registration, I asked her if she knew why I stopped her. She told me “No.” After I explained what I witnessed, she told me that she had no idea that littering was against the law. I asked her if she ever noticed the road signs and read them. She said she did, but didn’t think that it meant that a driver couldn’t throw out garbage.

I couldn’t decide if she was playing dumb or was serious, so I decided to cite her and that would give her the choice of either paying the $250.00 fine or telling it to the judge. She must have paid the fine because I never received notice to report to court to testify.
 
Gary O' said:
My opine;

I seriously doubt foreigners are the major culprits.
Over all, immigrants and their families are exemplary in their behavior, morals, and habits.

I am, however, rather ashamed of....well..... us.

On more than a few occasions I've called folks on their leavings

'Hey... HEY! ....you fergot sumpm' has been quite effective


and, gottta say here, I rather dislike wallyworld, but my lady loves it
...and, while sitting in the truck, waiting, watching wallyfolks, or posting you guys, I noticed there's a trash can at every cart return station.
That's pretty much above and beyond in my book, as most stores have ridded their lots of trash cans
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Over all, immigrants and their families are exemplary in their behavior, morals, and habits.

Gary.....Are you serious? It’s been my experience that most foreigners from South America, the mid-east and the far-east are by far the worse behaved, disrespectful and rude people that I have had to deal with. Conversely, the better behaved foreigners have come from the U.K. I have always believed that because we are culturally different, this is what has caused people visiting the U.S. to sort of leave their manners and etiquette at home. There’s no way that some of the things that I’ve witnessed these people doing, they would do back in their country.

I broke up a fight between a Russian and an American in a bar’s parking lot. I separated the two of them by putting one in my car and the other in another Trooper’s car. I asked the American what happened. He told me that they were playing pool when he hit the cue ball into a pocket. According to him, our rules are that he loses his turn and the cue ball can be placed anywhere behind the spot on the table. The Russian disagreed and an argument ensued when the Russian spit in his face, so he cold-cocked him, which started the two rumbling. I later learned that in Russia, spitting in a foe’s face is like us shooting the guy the bird. I think in Russia they call it gleeking or geeking or something like that.

Again, I think this is due to our differences in our cultures.
 
Sunny said:
The Drekja thread got me thinking about relatively minor annoyances, aside from people who are parking in the "wrong" parking space. There is usually nothing we can do about it, since fortunately most of us don't run around with a gun and an itchy trigger finger. Here's one of those annoyances:

Last week I was shopping in Costco. When I went to get my shopping cart from the long line of carts, there was literally not a clean looking cart available. Every cart had somebody's garbage in it! Used tissues, discarded drink containers, food wrappers, etc. Why do people think it's OK to dump their trash in a shopping cart for someone else to clean up?

This may sound politically incorrect, but I'll say it anyway. Most of the shoppers in that particular store are foreigners. Sometimes, I get the feeling that I am the only person there speaking English. Usually I like the exotic-looking clothes some of them wear and listening to all the languages; it makes me feel like I'm traveling in a foreign country. But I have to wonder if this trash-dumping is something they've brought with them from whatever countries they are from. (They are obviously from multiple countries). So maybe they just need a bit of acclimating to America?

In any case, I find it annoying and kind of disgusting. Yet, what can anyone do about it? Probably nothing, other than switch to a different store.
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How did you verify that the person who left trash in the cart was a "foreigner?" Did you see who left the trash in the cart? Did you speak to them & find that they can't speak English? Even if you did verify that they were a foreigner, does that make all foreigners trash dumpers?
You're not "politically incorrect;" you're just a plain, old racist....along with the ignorance that goes along with racism.
 
Litter bugs are a pet peeve of mine...

We live on a county road and it seems that everyone, even the locals think it's a place to clean out their cars.

Yes they bring out the ones on community service to clean it up, but it irritates me to no end..

Do they even enforce the litter bug law anymore, anywhere?

Used to be a $500 fine. Wouldn't take much to rack up a ton of fines around here........SMH...:mad:
 
911 said:
Gary.....Are you serious?
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Oh, I've run into my share of unsavories from other countries, but I've had the acquaintance of many I admire.

911 said:
It’s been my experience that most foreigners from South America, the mid-east and the far-east are by far the worse behaved, disrespectful and rude people that I have had to deal with
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No argument from me.
I have never had to arrest any.

My very worst experience was getting acquainted with a couple South Africans in mainland China.
Mouthy sorts.
Almost got thrown into a gulag due to hanging with 'em.
 
I’d imagine Costco right here in Adelaide ( Australia ) is no different to Costco’s anywhere.

They have a area where you can fill out a complaints form and you can remain anonymous if you have a issue about anything in their store .

I’m sure they would do something about cleaning their trolly’s as we Aussies call them if they were informed of the issue.

personally we never see much more than a leaflet they hand out at the entrance discarded in the trolly‘s

I’ve never complained however at the same area you can nominate an employee who has given good service I’ve given a few the thumbs up for customer service.
 
The one I usually go to has a number of garbage cans right at the door, next to the food pavilion (where they sell hot dogs, pizza, etc.) But there aren't a lot of them throughout the store, that is true. But then, most stores don't have garbage cans all over the place, and most people don't use the shopping carts as trash receptacles.

The more I think about this, the more I am convinced that this is a matter of teaching American customs to people who may be new here. Most of the customers at this Costco are speaking to each other in rapid fire languages other than English, and a fair number of them are dressed in exotic looking outfits, probably from various African countries. They are obviously new to this country; that is not an arguable matter. (And before I am accused of singling out the Africans, I am not. There is an interesting mix of Hispanics, Asians, Europeans, people with Muslim veils, orthodox Jews, and many whom I could not identify if I wanted to. Remember, I live just outside of Washington, DC.)

I agree with whoever said that I probably should have spoken to the store manager about it. The buck has to stop somewhere.
 
When 911 pulled over the 39 year old woman for littering he said, "I couldn’t decide if she was playing dumb or was serious,." Nah, she's dumb. I don't think we have to import people, who trash up the place. We are quite able to do this on our own. But I do have to admit Walley World gets very unusual customers. There is something in the air in Walmart that brings 'em out. It makes the old KMart look elegant., tres chic.
 
I leave the garbage in the cart. Let it build up. Why should I clean up after these people? It gives them incentive to keep littering because someone keeps picking up after them.
 
I also left the garbage in the (many) carts that had something in them. But that meant pulling out cart after cart, and some of them are always stuck together, and Costco carts are big and heavy anyway, making what should be a simple maneuver a heavy and unpleasant task.
Finally, of course, I did get down to one that was actually empty.
 
Gary O' said:
Oh, I've run into my share of unsavories from other countries, but I've had the acquaintance of many I admire.


No argument from me.
I have never had to arrest any.

My very worst experience was getting acquainted with a couple South Africans in mainland China.
Mouthy sorts.
Almost got thrown into a gulag due to hanging with 'em.

Gary.......I like the line, “You can’t arrest me. I’m not even an American.” Then, there was the time I cuffed a man from Brazil for inappropriately grabbing a few women at a fireman’s carnival. He told me that in his country, it was considered a compliment. I told him that in this country, if one of these women had a husband around, in this country, he may have been beat up or worse.

He was with his cousin who asked me to let him go and they would leave. I agreed.
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'Gary.......I like the line, “You can’t arrest me. I’m not even an American.” Then, there was the time I cuffed a man from Brazil for inappropriately grabbing a few women at a fireman’s carnival. He told me that in his country, it was considered a compliment. I told him that in this country, if one of these women had a husband around, in this country, he may have been beat up or worse.

He was with his cousin who asked me to let him go and they would leave. I agreed.'

Looks like it worked out.

I wasn't in south America all that much, but what I observed was higher morals overall than in the US...but then there's Rio
 

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