Recycling and Other Southern Myths
Rage. That's what I feel...because I left my damned Cheetos at the checkout stand.
Lets start at the beginning. As we may have mentioned before, recycling basically doesn't exist in New Orleans. I know this city/state has some bigger problems, but for whatever reason any hint of sustainability has never been made a priority around here. Adair told me that at her school they do teach the kids to sort out the recyclables, but it's all a ruse, as the teachers just toss it all in the trash at the end of the day. I'm not sure that the thought really counts on this issue, but oh well. I'm not trying to push my granola Oregonian agenda on anyone, but I feel like most of us can agree that recycling is generally a good thing; especially in a city that finds itself with such a wealth of glass bottles week after week.
So, fine. No recycling, I can live with that. Putting a juice container in the trash once in a while won't kill me, no matter how strange it feels. However, what just might do me in, and what has now affected me on a very personal level, is the staggeringly large amount of plastic bags checkers use at the grocery store.
Adair and I, having moved down here with basically nothing, make a run to the store at least once a day, and often more. On our very first trip, we began to notice that on average, there were approximately 1.5 items per plastic bag. Apparently they are taught to err on the side of caution, probably because some loud customer (similar to me) made a stink about his po' boy buns getting squashed under the weight of his jug of sweet tea (or other similarly stereotypical southern food item).
Now, to the event that gave rise to all this angst. The other day, we bought a mirror. Apparently it came with mounting brackets, but I threw them out with the cardboard box (in the trash). So, I bought some mounting tape, hoping that would work, but it's so damn moist everywhere down here that it barely lasted two hours. So finally, I took yet another trip, to buy some actual mounts, ready to put some holes in the walls. Short sidenote, I was in a bad mood, because I just went to get a haircut, and apparently at SuperCuts you are supposed to sign in somewhere when you enter the place. I only found this out after two people who entered together after me signed up first. Injustice!
Anyway, I found the brackets, and also grabbed some bread and, I must admit, a bag of Cheetos. I went to the express checkout lane (where they station only the laziest/surliest employees) with my three items, and completed my transaction without either of us saying a single word. Grabbed my bag, and hurried home to avoid getting caught in the inevitable 2:00 thundershower. I arrived home, dumped the contents of my grocery bag out, and found...ONLY THE BREAD. Now, I know that I have only myself to blame. I wasn't paying attention, I was consciously rude to the store clerk, and I should have noticed that there was a second bag FOR MY THREE TOTAL ITEMS.
Now I get to go back, and make what amounts to a fourth attempt to buy something that will allow me to hang this mirror. And, I have no Cheetos.
Lets start at the beginning. As we may have mentioned before, recycling basically doesn't exist in New Orleans. I know this city/state has some bigger problems, but for whatever reason any hint of sustainability has never been made a priority around here. Adair told me that at her school they do teach the kids to sort out the recyclables, but it's all a ruse, as the teachers just toss it all in the trash at the end of the day. I'm not sure that the thought really counts on this issue, but oh well. I'm not trying to push my granola Oregonian agenda on anyone, but I feel like most of us can agree that recycling is generally a good thing; especially in a city that finds itself with such a wealth of glass bottles week after week.
So, fine. No recycling, I can live with that. Putting a juice container in the trash once in a while won't kill me, no matter how strange it feels. However, what just might do me in, and what has now affected me on a very personal level, is the staggeringly large amount of plastic bags checkers use at the grocery store.
Adair and I, having moved down here with basically nothing, make a run to the store at least once a day, and often more. On our very first trip, we began to notice that on average, there were approximately 1.5 items per plastic bag. Apparently they are taught to err on the side of caution, probably because some loud customer (similar to me) made a stink about his po' boy buns getting squashed under the weight of his jug of sweet tea (or other similarly stereotypical southern food item).
Now, to the event that gave rise to all this angst. The other day, we bought a mirror. Apparently it came with mounting brackets, but I threw them out with the cardboard box (in the trash). So, I bought some mounting tape, hoping that would work, but it's so damn moist everywhere down here that it barely lasted two hours. So finally, I took yet another trip, to buy some actual mounts, ready to put some holes in the walls. Short sidenote, I was in a bad mood, because I just went to get a haircut, and apparently at SuperCuts you are supposed to sign in somewhere when you enter the place. I only found this out after two people who entered together after me signed up first. Injustice!
Anyway, I found the brackets, and also grabbed some bread and, I must admit, a bag of Cheetos. I went to the express checkout lane (where they station only the laziest/surliest employees) with my three items, and completed my transaction without either of us saying a single word. Grabbed my bag, and hurried home to avoid getting caught in the inevitable 2:00 thundershower. I arrived home, dumped the contents of my grocery bag out, and found...ONLY THE BREAD. Now, I know that I have only myself to blame. I wasn't paying attention, I was consciously rude to the store clerk, and I should have noticed that there was a second bag FOR MY THREE TOTAL ITEMS.
Now I get to go back, and make what amounts to a fourth attempt to buy something that will allow me to hang this mirror. And, I have no Cheetos.
Dane, Oregon and Washington and Maui County are the only three places on the planet that give diddly squat about recycling. Everyone else thinks we're weird. They also think we're soft because we jump during those electrical storms...I have a feeling you're going to come out of this a better man. ha ha. Glad the disc golf experience resulted in an exchange of phone numbers and a gesture of goodwill and honesty from a stranger.
ReplyDeleteRed beans and rice...yummmm.
J