Monday, October 20, 2008

The Ire of Southie Residents

Contrary to my prior thinking, I have discovered that there is indeed one thing that raises the ire of Southie folk almost as much as saving shoveled parking spots.

Dog poop.

I realize this is my second (and second too many) post on this topic in recent weeks, but I had another incident today, I think.

I worked from home today, and decided to get some fresh air around 4:30. I brought Rosie for a walk. Carrying her blue bag of doggie doo, I walked past the dumpster near the elderly home down the street from me. From the sidewalk, I threw the bag in their huge dumpster with the same degree of accuracy that I have used every time prior.

I never miss.

(Well, once I missed when I made some awful toss with my left hand, but I promptly retrieved the bag and threw it in).

I thought nothing of it. I have done this countless times before, both in daylight and in the dark. When the garbage is piled high inside the dumpster, I always see other blue bags of poo atop the mounds of trash.

We walked another block back toward my house, and before crossing the street I saw an older guy back near the dumpster, screaming at something in my direction. I could have sworn he mentioned "yeah you with the dog," but honestly could not hear him.

So we walked for a bit more, and then went home.

But, I felt bad. I didn't want an angry older guy to think that I ignored him intentionally, especially if he's about to ream me out for throwing a bag of poo into a dumpster, a common action in my neighborhood that I fully acknowledge I probably shouldn't be doing.

So I grab a bag of deposit bottles to put in my car (yes, I return containers for the nickels - why not), and walk down toward that corner to see if I can figure out who was yelling, and if it was at me.

While nobody was mulling around the street, I did see a few older guys at the corner pub. Since the window was open, I yelled in, asking if they saw who was yelling or if that guy was inside of the bar. I just wanted to set the record straight and see if I was the target.

The older guys said they couldn't hear me, and told me to come inside.

So, for the first time, I walked into the (not so welcoming to non-Southie born-and-breds) local pub, immediately becoming the youngest person inside by a good 25 years.

None of the six or seven older guys inside immediately came over to me, so I assumed none of them were the guy I was seeking.

But one guy sitting at the bar could not figure out why I wanted to find this guy. He kept asking if I wanted to make trouble with him (or something like that).

So here I am - all 5'8" of me, with rusty orange University of Texas hat atop my head, yellow gym satchel on back, and plastic bag filled with about 25 deposit bottles and cans in tow - in unfriendly territory, being asked by an older guy who won't take my "I just wanted to see if he was yelling at me and if I did something wrong" affirmation all that seriously.

Thankfully, his buddy next to him motioned toward my deposit bottles and asked about them. I told him it was probably "a buck worth," and then excused myself, saying I was headed to the gym....

..which was met with more stares, and then a "why are you doing that?" from the nicer of the two.

I simply patted my belly and said "to get rid of this" and then scooted out into the safety (?) of the streets outside.

Perhaps Rosie and I will be confronted by one of these characters sometime in the future.

For now, I'll be bringing the poop back home, disposing of it in my own trash where I probably should be throwing it all along.

What amuses me the most about all of this is the sheer amount of dog poop that is simply left on the sidewalks of Southie. It's terrible, and far worse to leave mounds of canine feces on public grassy areas and concrete than to actually pick it up in a bag, tie the bag, and toss it into a trash receptacle, public or private.

But I suppose the moral of the story is that neither action is right. Dog poop should be picked up and disposed of in the handler's own garbage.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read this twice. Still laughing!! : )

Oh the trials and tribulations of living in Southie!

I supposed you are right about disposing it at home; but i would think your neighbors would be happy you were disposing it AT ALL!

Anonymous said...

I never knew disposing of dog feces could become such a drama filled event. So what i'm thinking you do the next time one of your "lovely" neighbors decides to come out and pollute the airwaves with their nonsense is sling that blue poop bag at them. Lol Ok maybe not morally correct or even a very nice thing to do but quite comical and hey maybe it will keep them quiet. Otherwise I guess disposing of the forementioned feces in your own garbage would be acceptable and probably the morally correct thing to do. My 2 cents for the day. (The whole story is quite comical)

Amanda said...

As a fellow Southie resident, I can say I am just happy you throw it away. The absolute worst (and seemingly a rising trend) is when someone bags up the poop and then leaves the bag on the ground. Umm...hello? At least the poop would go away when it rains. Sealing it in plastic and leaving it on the sidewalk for all eternity is awful.

So the moral of the story - bagging poop and actually throwing away the bag is great and totally appreciated.

Anonymous said...

I also live in Southie and am happy that you pick it up. We pick up our dog's crap, and throw it in the nearest available can. I've only had one run it, with some psycho southie lady on I St. I am probably not as nice as you are, and told her that next time if she'd prefer, I'd leave it on her stairs. People are welcome to throw the bags in my garbage cans, better than on the sidewalk in front of our place.

Anonymous said...

I applaud your fortitude, but question your judgement.

You have to love the idiosyncracies of Southie like the fact that it's just understood that there are bars you can walk into and there are bars that are "not so welcoming to non-Southie born-and-breds".