So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[2jakes]

My workplace break room has an old drip coffee maker with a bowl of
artificial sweeteners. Nothing else.
I don’t drink coffee, but on occasions will partake a swallow or two before heading
out on my assignments for the day.
That is some foul drinking stuff.
I can see why it’s called the “break-room”.

 

[tonyb]

Trivial:
People, which visited one of our little-town's bench seats in the nature and left behind things, like disrupted (what you would call) bank-statements. The grass around the bench seat looked like sprinkled with chunky confetti.

I despise litter almost as much as the people who create it. I haven't always been so strident on this topic, so maybe I'm just getting cranky as I approach geezerhood, but I find littering just so juvenile and disrespectful and antisocial. And it's so easy NOT to do it.

 

[sheeplady]

We have a really nice break room. There's even a faculty member (he is very distinguished in the field) who brings treats everyday. Today it was cinnamon donuts and chocolates.

Well, except for the lack of real tea.

Yes, I've gained 3 pound since starting the job in July, why do you ask?

 

[Fading Fast]

I despise litter almost as much as the people who create it. I haven't always been so strident on this topic, so maybe I'm just getting cranky as I approach geezerhood, but I find littering just so juvenile and disrespectful and antisocial. And it's so easy NOT to do it.

I'm with you, especially because, at least in this city, they've put garbage cans everywhere so you are usually only a few steps or, at most, a block away from one - to wit, it's not a lot of effort to throw your trash away properly.

In truth, while there's a lot of litter on the ground (but much, much less than the '80s), I rarely see people littering. But just yesterday, I saw a well-dressed young woman walking and eating what looked like pineapple slices from a plastic container and she picked one up, looked at it and flung it from her fork onto the ground and just kept walking.

I guess it's organic, but it was a bit jarring as it was so aggressive and she looked like a Millennial who would never do anything like that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Litter here is much, much less than it was before our Bottle Law took effect in 1978. The main grievance is cigarette butts and dog waste -- both of which remain rampant on our sidewalks. I've stood in front of the theatre in the evening and watched nice middle-class people walk by with dogs who they let take elephant-size craps right in front of our door and just keep on walking. And when I yell after them "HEY GET BACK HERE AND CLEAN THAT UP WE GOT A LAW" they just keep right on walking. Probably can't hear me because of the earphones.

Not to flagrantly generalize, but the people who do this are just about always leading yellow labs, and both the person and the dog are wearing matching bandanas. Pit bull owners, on the other hand, seem to be universally meticulous about cleaning up after their pups.

 

[tonyb]

I often pick up litter, because I'd rather not think myself the sort who does a lot of griping but takes little action. And it goes some way toward atoning for all those cigarette butts I so cavalierly tossed on the ground back when I was a smoker. Back then, such was, if not quite a commonly accepted practice, not nearly so frowned upon as it is now.

 

[Fading Fast]

I often pick up litter, because I'd rather not think myself the sort who does a lot of griping but takes little action. And it goes some way toward atoning for all those cigarette butts I so cavalierly tossed on the ground back when I was a smoker. Back then, such was, if not quite a commonly accepted practice, not nearly so frowned upon as it is now.

If you took the "pick up other's litter" approach in NYC, you would have effectively created a full-time, unpaid job for yourself. And I agree, growing up the standards were different and tossing cigarette butts on the ground was pretty common and not denounced in the late '60s / early '70s. But that is also the time the modern environmental movement started kicking into gear, so change was coming.

Litter here is much, much less than it was before our Bottle Law took effect in 1978. The main grievance is cigarette butts and dog waste -- both of which remain rampant on our sidewalks. I've stood in front of the theatre in the evening and watched nice middle-class people walk by with dogs who they let take elephant-size craps right in front of our door and just keep on walking. And when I yell after them "HEY GET BACK HERE AND CLEAN THAT UP WE GOT A LAW" they just keep right on walking. Probably can't hear me because of the earphones.

Not to flagrantly generalize, but the people who do this are just about always leading yellow labs, and both the person and the dog are wearing matching bandanas. Pit bull owners, on the other hand, seem to be universally meticulous about cleaning up after their pups.

As part-time dog owners, nothing gets my girlfriend and me angrier than dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs as they taint all of us. While not the funest part of owning a dog, I can't image walking away without cleaning up when they go - it would be incredibly rude and self-centered.

 

[tonyb]

Baby steps.

In most places I've lived or visited frequently enough over the decades to have some familiarity with, there is considerably less litter than there was. This change has been gradual.

That's how such changes typically occur -- slowly, incrementally. Witness tobacco smoking. It has taken a couple of generations or more, but smoking is much, much less acceptable than it was. Used to be you could smoke almost anywhere it didn't present a significant fire hazard. No more. Used to be you could toss burning cigarette butts out your car window. Now that'll win you dirty looks from other civilians and a citation carrying a stiff fine should it be witnessed by a cop.

 

[MisterCairo]

As part-time dog owners

I've gotta ask...

 

[Fading Fast]

I've gotta ask...

Very fair question. We use to live in the same apartment building with a friend of ours who worked long hours and had a lot of work related travel; hence, she used to leave her Springer Spaniel with us every work day and when she traveled, so we'd have him at least half the time and had since he was a puppy seven-odd years ago.

We were only two flights away from her and all we did was open up our door and he knew to run down to her apartment and vice versa. It worked well for all, but has gotten a bit more complicated now that we moved a block and half away and she lost her job. Still see him a lot (and her), just not as regularly.

 

[MisterCairo]

Very fair question. We use to live in the same apartment building with a friend of ours who worked long hours and had a lot of work related travel; hence, she used to leave her Springer Spaniel with us every work day and when she traveled, so we'd have him at least half the time and had since he was a puppy seven-odd years ago.

We were only two flights away from her and all we did was open up our door and he knew to run down to her apartment and vice versa. It worked well for all, but has gotten a bit more complicated now that we moved a block and half away and she lost her job. Still see him a lot (and her), just not as regularly.

Gotcha! Cool story...

 

[Fading Fast]

Gotcha! Cool story...

And here's how we met. I was taking the garbage out and a little black and white springer spaniel puppy comes running down the very long hallway of our building (250 units, 1928) and right into my arms for a big hug - never saw him before. As we are hugging and introducing ourselves, this woman comes up and apologizes - quite unnecessarily - for her dog "bothering" me (the opposite of what was happening).

From that chance encounter seven-plus years ago and our offer to watch him in an emergency, came one of my girlfriend and my best friendships (we've now met her entire family, wonderful people and a very close family) and have, effectively, shared our little buddy ever since.

Life is very funny as she moved off our floor shortly after that, so who knows, if we hadn't met by chance that day, we might never have met at all.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I despise litter almost as much as the people who create it. I haven't always been so strident on this topic, so maybe I'm just getting cranky as I approach geezerhood, but I find littering just so juvenile and disrespectful and antisocial. And it's so easy NOT to do it.

German peoples litter-favorites:
-disrupted paper-things
-cigarette-boxes
-and very often this release-sheets from ladies sanitary-pads

 

[LizzieMaine]

Consider yourselves lucky. At the playground on my block, the litter of choice is syringes.

 

[sheeplady]

Consider yourselves lucky. At the playground on my block, the litter of choice is syringes.

Urgh. I know. I went to a playground a while back and sure enough, addicts had visited. Stupid heroin.

I carry a box of extra thick Nitrile gloves in my car now. And I've taught my 3 year old about syringes- don't touch, get an adult, scream to get an adult if you have to. But don't touch or let anyone else touch! (I give myself a daily shot so this was an easy lesson to have visual aids for.)

 

[Trenchfriend]

Syringes on playground = german 90's. At least, in the bigger cities, not in my little-town.

Why they inject on playgrounds?? Would they say to a policemen "Were just playing doctor!" or what??

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's no lights on this playground, and police rarely, if ever, patrol the neighborhood. A perfect spot for all sorts of unpleasantness to occur. Few things are sadder than a playground where kids are afraid to go.

 

[2jakes]

The city removed public restrooms in one park.
Now there is no more traffic of unpleasant things occurring.

But now, I make sure I don’t drink too much water when riding my
bike in the park.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Few things are sadder than a playground where kids are afraid to go.

Very poignantly stated.

And it describes every NYC Park in the 1970s. The needles and syringes were insane, they literally covered the ground in some areas of the park. Better lighting and (much more so) better policing changed that as I saw it happen with my own eyes. When Giuliani made police get out in pairs and walk the park - along with increasing the number of cops, having them drive through the parks more often and improving the lighting - things changed quickly for the much better.

Even today, when there is the start of something - more graffiti or a mugging or two - the police presence in the Park ramps up noticeably (we walk our dog regularly, so am quite familiar with the norms and changes) and the problem goes away. Policing saved and continues to save NYC Parks.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Where I spent a certain part of my childhood, there was a public convenience adjacent to a playground & there were whispers & murmurings from adults about ill doings going on in that particular building, from child molesting to rape........ apart from a tramp ejaculating standing next to me ( I didn't realize what he was doing at the time ) I didn't see anything untoward going on in there.