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A Question of Ethics

We had a severe windstorm here a few weeks ago. It happened to be a recycling day in our town, so recycling buckets and whatnot were strewn all over our neighborhood. A day or two after the storm, everyone seemed to have collected their belongings from wherever they ended up. However, there have been two blue recycling buckets sitting in the grass median of our parking lot for about two weeks now. I want one of them. I mean, it’s just been sitting there. But I feel weird just walking up and taking it. I have this illogical fear of a neighbor looking out the window and thinking, “Why is she taking something that isn’t hers?” But nobody is coming to claim it, so why can’t I have it? It’s funny that the geekboy and I had no problem picking things out of the dumpster at our old place (it’s how we scored new shower doors to replace a broken one), but for some reason this bothers me.

Posted in Advice Needed. on Thursday, Mar 5, 2009

13 comments

13 Responses

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  1. Soosan said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Are these provided by your city? ie. if you need another one, do you have to pay for it or can you just drop by and pick it up?

  2. sandra said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Take it. You’ve given the owners enough time to claim it. I would at this point.

  3. Soosan said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Yeah… if the owners were away (so not able to claim it) surely they’d be back by now. Take it, just be sure to be stealth and wear a disguise. A fake moustache will render you completely unrecognizable,

  4. freakgirl said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Soosan, this particular one isn’t the one provided by the city (although there is one of those out there). It’s a store-bought plastic bucket with rope handles; the kind a lot of people use to fill with ice and beer at a BBQ.

    A fake moustache! Brilliant! I’ll fashion one out of all this cat hair lying around the house.

  5. chuck said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Take it.

  6. Susie said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Forget the cat hair. This calls for one of these:
    http://www.etsy.com/view_listi.....d=21766073

  7. Soosan said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Ok, you HAVE to take it… there could be someone trapped inside!! (I know it’s not the same type of bin)

    http://tinyurl.com/bnf5a2

  8. freakgirl said
    on Thu, March 5, 2009

    Susie — I love it!

    Soosan — holy crap.

  9. freakgirl said
    on Fri, March 6, 2009

    We took it, under cover of night! I ran outside and the geekboy lurked around, whistling innocently.

  10. Kyla said
    on Fri, March 6, 2009

    Totally unrelated, but I have to ask:

    How is Meena not on this list?!
    http://www.peoplepets.com/phot.....est-cats/1

  11. freakgirl said
    on Fri, March 6, 2009

    Oh, she’s not tough. She just pretends she is.

    But those pictures are hilarious. Cuba is my favorite. SCARY. Maggie’s cat is named Cuba, and she’s the gentlest thing I’ve ever seen.

  12. Susie said
    on Fri, March 6, 2009

    Cuba will now be starring in my nightmares. Thank you.

  13. L.B. said
    on Sun, March 8, 2009

    get it, go on, go get it…now while no ones watching….hehehehe