random thoughts – Day 1,109 – (Friday) – trash

When I arrived at the office, the alarm beeped signaling it was one of those very rare occasions that I was the first to arrive in the space. This was only the second time in a bunch of years, and by some miracle, I remembered my code to deactivate the alarm. Sometimes I amaze myself.

The day turned out to be even more rare/odd when it was realized I was the only occupant of the entire fourth floor. Just like the last time it happened, it was a bit unnerving being the only person rattling around in the cavernous space with nobody to talk to.

The oddities continued. For whatever reason, there was an empty shipping box dumped in my cubicle, which kinda sorta maybe pissed me off. Like a little bit of a lot. There was no way of knowing if it would be needed again, so instead of tossing it, I moved it to the cube where nobody currently sits, nor has for months. In doing so, I noticed an open carton of copier paper sitting on the floor in the unoccupied cube. 

The box of paper was unloaded and put into the cabinet near the printer where it belongs. The opened box of interoffice envelopes sitting on top of the office supplies cabinet was put into the cabinet. There may have been some grumbling and bitching about feeling like the office mother/maid and only person who seems to know where things belong and how to put them there, but there were no witnesses so it doesn’t really count.

Later in the day, when I was frustrated over some project issues, the boxes of decorations that had been sitting in the unoccupied cubicle for months were carried over to the storage space from whence they came back in November when the office was decorated for the holidays. The physical labor was really handy for burning off aggro. If only I could channel this at home. Sigh.

Daily John Street trash.

At the end of the day, the sun was out and it was a pleasant walk to the garage. One of the homeless guys who is always hanging around on Merrimack and John Streets was crossing the street and I took a wide path to avoid the daily request for money. As he crossed, a woman from the other side of the street was yelling to the guy asking if he needed a bag for his trash. He yelled that it wasn’t his. 

I caught up to the woman who worked at the credit union on the corner. She and her colleague were talking about the mess on the sidewalk outside the credit union. They said they saw the guy eating and they saw him leave the trash. There was a bunch of fresh bananas, several cardboard takeout soup cups, nip bottles, beverage containers, cigarette butts, and other trash. 

The women said this guy and the trash is a daily event, which tracks with what I see when I’m downtown. The trash is a problem, but so is the situation of the several guys living, drinking, and sleeping on the sidewalks and doorways downtown. The solution seems elusive.