Disclaimer: Many of the stories are completely fictional. Other stories are fictional accounts of true stories. Other stories are completely true. Sometimes the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
The following story is entirely true.
Have you ever tried to throw a trash can away? I once tried it and found that it can’t be done.
I had signed up with a trash company that was one of the more premium trash companies in my area. They gave premade Rolodex cards and refrigerator magnets to prospective customers.
When you signed up, you got a 96 gallon rolling trash container to put trash
Our kitchen trash can had seen better days. It sort of resembled a banana peel in that it had several sections very loosely attached at one end. It had held its last piece of trash.
I took it to the street on trash day and left it beside the big trash container since the container was already full. The garbage company had told me that, on the rare occasions that I had more than 96 gallons of trash, I could simply place the overflow beside the trashcan and the company would pick it up. They gave great service.
After time for the trash truck to have come and gone, I looked out the window and saw my discarded trash can still there. I thought that was odd. Why was the trash truck so late?
I went to the big 96 gallon container and checked. It was empty. I picked up the old trash can and put it inside Old 96 gallon and rolled it back to the side yard where it lived most of the week. I figured that maybe the trash company didn’t see it.
Next week, I rolled Old 96 out to the street with the discarded trash can safely in the bottom of it. There is no chance they will miss taking it this time. It is at the bottom of Old 96.
We left to run a few errands in town and came back to find Old 96 standing there at the street with his new-found buddy “Boomerang.”
That’s right, the trash company had seen “Boomerang” at the bottom of Old 96 and decided that I must have accidentally put it in there.
Being a professional trash company, they decided to go the extra mile and return my “mistakenly-discarded” trash can to me. Thanks, guys. Why didn’t you do that with the 2,493 dustpans my kids mistakenly threw away last year?
I called the trash company and explained that I had a trash can to throw away and what had happened. The man explained to me that it would be a good idea to tape a note to the trash can that said it was trash and to take it.
Okay, I printed a sign up on the computer that said “I am trash, please take me.” I taped this to Boomerang and put it back in Old 96.
Next week, I rolled Old 96 with Boomerang inside with his note securely taped to him out to the street. The trash truck came and went and I went outside to find, you guessed it, dear old Boomerang. The trash company had taken the sign I made.
I finally got the trash company to take Boomerang, though. I took a utility knife and cut him into smaller pieces and distributed the pieces between several different trash bags.
For weeks, I expected a regenerated Boomerang to show up on my door step looking to haunt me for the rest of my days. So far, so good.
A side note here: Years later, we moved to Texas. We had an old trash can that was on its last legs, too. We were still using it and the trash company decided to keep it. Texas is a whole 'nother country.
That is a funny story :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.. Hope you have a great week.
DeleteThis story made me LOL! It's not unusual; I had a similar experience.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. On the flip side of this, out here we had a rolling trashcan outside that had seen better days. Actually when the neighbors next door moved out they left it behind. I used it for a couple of weeks. I would roll it out to the street full of trash and it was left behind like it was supposed to be. Then, one week, it was gone. This trash company usually leaves some of our trash behind, but they took the trash can. Have a great weekend.
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