In my years trash picking I’ve had pretty generally good experiences with the people whose garbage I picked through. Some have asked me politely to leave while others have simply noted that there was nothing interesting to find (whether I trusted that or not is another story entirely). At the same time many people have been very kind and generous, going out of their way to give me information about the stuff they put on the curb or to encourage me to take things home.
Today, however, I met someone who was quite displeased with the notion of me going through her trash. In fact, she was furious.
I was looking through the bags in the picture above. I was a bit more than half-way done when a woman opened her front door and started screaming at me. She told me to put her trash back, that I had no business going through her garbage, that I was a bad person and that I should get a job like everyone else. It was a quite the diatribe I tell you what!
I put a few of the things I had found back in the bags as she requested (including some old records) but kept what I already had put in my backpack. I wanted to keep what I had found and wasn’t really convinced by her logic. She never really explained why she was so angry, though it doesn’t seem she has much respect for the scavengers of the world. All in all I think I composed myself pretty well under fire.
Ah well, so it goes. I expect most of the people I meet going forward will be much more pleasant. However, I’m not going to post pictures of the things I found here – it’s not worth the potential hassle. Either way it’s getting close to the end of the month so I’ll definitely have some more finds for you soon!