AREAS ARE ALWAYS WORSE THAN THEY LOOK . . .

 

It was such a pretty day today.  I planned to go to a spot on Main Street that looked bad when I drove by, but the Dollar Store at Main & Mapledale looked like it needed some attention.  

It didn't look that bad.  I thought it might take me maybe 15 minutes, and I could still go where I wanted to go.

It was probably as bad as I've ever seen it.  I picked up 1,825 pieces of trash here, but it only took me an hour and a half.  That's really fast!  All the trash was new, and new trash is easy to pick up.

Well, it wasn't all easy to pick up. 

Behind their Serv-Ice machine, oh my goodness!  What a stinky, disgusting mess! There were cans and packed down food containers and clothing.  Ick!

There's surely a law against a mess like this at a place of business.

I got it all picked up and now it can dry out.  

Then I went inside the store and told the manager I cleaned it, and maybe they could try to not let it get like that again.  Lucky I didn't find snakes back there!

When I got to the front of the store, I started to clean around the bushes.  I get such a big kick out of just how much trash hides in bushes  

So I pulled it out and left it on the parking lot for a minute . . .

Can you believe that?  

There were some people walking by who stopped to see what I was doing.  It's so funny to see the looks on people's faces.  It's the same look that's on my face.  OMG!

Why is there SO MUCH TRASH here?  Was there a big wind storm?  Was there a parade I didn't know about?

I stepped next door at the Ido Restaurant.  The parking lot was packed.  Their food is so good.

Not one piece of trash in their entire parking lot!

So there wasn't a special event that caused the Dollar Store to have so much trash.  The employees at the Dollar Store just don't pick it up.  The employees at the Ido Restaurant do.  It's really that simple.

While I was picking up the trash, there were no customers at the Dollar Store.  So what were the employees doing?  Seems to me like they could take a few minutes each day and keep their property clean, especially when I give them a hand every now and then.

I finished there and headed to the place where I wanted to clean, but I only had 30 minutes until my phone alarm told me it was time to go home.

I saw this awful mess, and I thought I better see if I could clean it up in 30 minutes.

I did.  I picked up 774 pieces of trash here.  It still needs mowed pretty bad, but there's no more trash and broken glass.

While I was picking up trash here, four young teenagers walked by.  One came over to me and asked if I smoked.  I told him no, and they walked on down the sidewalk.  I felt like saying, "No, I don't smoke, and neither should you!"

They walked past again, and again.  They didn't talk to me anymore, but I wanted so much to say, "You see all this trash?  If you don't have anything to do, you could keep yourself busy and out of trouble by helping me pick up trash."

But I didn't say anything.  Maybe I will if I see them again tomorrow.