I saw a homeless guy poking around my neighbor's trash.

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: uberman
I have three college degrees and have spent long amounts of time in over 26 countries.

How many over?

I stopped counting at 26.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: So
As I was leaving for work this morning (around 7:30AM), I saw a homeless guy with a bike rummaging through my neighbor's recyclables for soda cans. I gave him a look, but didn't do anything about it and went about my business. My question is, should I have done something? I am planning on talking to my neighbor and informing him of what I saw, but I don't know if confronting a big homeless guy when nobody else is around would be a good idea. I guess I could have called the cops, but IDK if I'd get laughed at for a report of "homeless guy rummaging through someone else's trash"

I saw a story on the local news the other week about this. It is indeed a small industry for the indigent to rummage through trash and collect bottles and cans for recycling. A neighbor, who apparently has a house, has at least one cubic ton piled in their side yard. The woman comes outside on an hourly basis to rummage through it for about 30 minutes at a time. I'm guessing a hoarder, as it doesn't seem like she's actually profiting much from this.

Anyhoo, it is illegal around these parts to rummage through trash for recyclables, so I suppose you could report it. Considering the actual dangers of discovering what could be in the trash....

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Mr Pickles

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Nitemare
Tell your neighbor to start recycling?

It was his recyclable bins.

At least where I live, it is illegal to take items out of the recyclables bin. The items place therein are for the city (who gets $$$ for them). It is not free game like things placed in the trash or cuttings bin.

BTW, I know that one of the reasons I paid what I did for my house was to not be near the homeless. If I see one in the area, I call the cops (mostly because most homeless people are also unstable, tend to commit property crimes and tend to become violent when confronted and they certainly do not "live" around here).

Call me stuck up, but if I wanted to live near the homeless, I would move downtown.

MotionMan

OK, I will.

I'll also call you un-American because it's still a free country and people can go wherever the hell they want, whether or not they have a permanent residence or meet your hygiene standards.

He is stuck up. You are dead wrong. People can't go wherever the hell they want. Trash is still your property. Its being stored in your container. Stop calling someone looking through trash homeless as if owning a home has anything to do with looking through trash.

You can't objectively view this with facts and standards. Believe it or not, being that this case is about humans, we might want to inject a little fucking humanity into all of this. Granted, people cannot legally carouse your things, but it doesn't hurt anyone or anything. It doesn't negatively affect you in any way. You may think it does, you may want to believe it does, you may make up stupid reasons as to why it does, you may even profile a man looking through trash in the same way you probably profile a black man running down the street, but it doesn't negatively affect you any more than him looking through your trash affects me.

OP: Are you so detached from society that you believe seeing one "homeless" person warrants a thread? As if it was chupacabra or something. Live a little dude...

if trash is on the curb its no longer privite and is free to the public just FYI

Not all the time. Some judges have ruled that trash sitting on your own property is still of private domain. We'd have to get into the case law, but it depends on the container its in (plastic bag or real trash can), the interpretation of the ultimate point of abandonment, and believe it or not, the frequency in which the home owner throws the trash away. The fact that you throw your trash out often in the same way, like by putting garbage bags into cans and walking them to the street twice a week, shows that you were well aware that you were giving up the right to private domain for the containers contents and judges have ruled that this pattern is enough to consider you have abandoned the trash with undoubted intent.

Its a really big deal considering the police often search trash, and in some cases can do so without a warrant. In other situations they can't.

 

[Pastore]

As long as he's not making a mess of the area, I say who gives a crap.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: MotionMan

At least where I live, it is illegal to take items out of the recyclables bin. The items place therein are for the city (who gets $$$ for them). It is not free game like things placed in the trash or cuttings bin.

Actually, the money goes to multi-million dollar corporations like Waste Management. You wouldn't want a homeless person to get the money for food or a cup of coffee.

BTW, I know that one of the reasons I paid what I did for my house was to not be near the homeless. If I see one in the area, I call the cops (mostly because most homeless people are also unstable, tend to commit property crimes and tend to become violent when confronted and they certainly do not "live" around here).

Call me stuck up, but if I wanted to live near the homeless, I would move downtown.

MotionMan

Yes, you are "stuck up," ignorant and uneducated. I certainly would not want you as my neighbor. If your company goes under, We'll see you downtown.

Well, I would not consider myself ignorant and uneducated considering I spent a great deal of time in my youth working with homeless organization, organizing school and youth group food drives and spent the beginning part of my career working with an organization dedicated to helping the very lower class. I also still participate in many holiday-related homeless programs (with my family) and carry bags of food in my trunk that I give out to beggars on a daily basis. You see, I actually know these people and their state of mind. So, in fact, I would say that my position is based on being knowledgeable and educated on the subject.

I suppose I just came to a different conclusion than other knowledgeable and educated people.

MotionMan

I have three college degrees and have spent long amounts of time in over 26 countries. Many of those countries are third world countries. I've lived in northern Europe and Latin America. The reason I mention this is that there is more to an education than a college degree. I've spent a decade of my adult life helping educate the poor in a depressed areas of the US.

You're claims to having work with a "homeless organization," and a "beginning part of my career...helping.. the lower class," shows a lot of class awareness. Whether this is a deep seated insecurity based on feelings of low self-esteem, guilt or self-worth should be discussed with a therapist. It is your lack of empathy for other human beings and self-centeredness that is of concern

And I bet you tell every person who will listen about all the "good deeds" you have done in your life.

If you're homeless because you're crazy, then fine, I have sympathy for you and you deserve help. But if you're homeless because you made some "bad investments" or are just a drunk/crackhead/etc, then I could care less about you and I really wish none of the money from taxes went to you.

 

[Chunkee]

In college, we used to set the cans and bottles out next to the dumpster in a sack...ah, the reverence of the charitable soul

 

[imported_Imp]

I can top this...

Today, I was walking home after 'work', and I saw a dead homeless guy on a bench, infront of a building part of the city's college campus. There was 1 ambulance and the paramedics were covering him with a blanket on hom.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: Imp
I can top this...

Today, I was walking home after 'work', and I saw a dead homeless guy on a bench, infront of a building part of the city's college campus. There was 1 ambulance and the paramedics were covering him with a blanket on hom.

cool?

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Nitemare
Tell your neighbor to start recycling?

It was his recyclable bins.

At least where I live, it is illegal to take items out of the recyclables bin. The items place therein are for the city (who gets $$$ for them). It is not free game like things placed in the trash or cuttings bin.

BTW, I know that one of the reasons I paid what I did for my house was to not be near the homeless. If I see one in the area, I call the cops (mostly because most homeless people are also unstable, tend to commit property crimes and tend to become violent when confronted and they certainly do not "live" around here).

Call me stuck up, but if I wanted to live near the homeless, I would move downtown.

MotionMan

OK, I will.

I'll also call you un-American because it's still a free country and people can go wherever the hell they want, whether or not they have a permanent residence or meet your hygiene standards.

Give us your address and we will send all the homeless people to live in your neighborhood.

I do not believe that sane people choose to live the life of a localized (staying in one place) homeless person. Accordingly, I believe that all such people have mental problems. Because of that, I see them as a possible threat to the safety of my family. Even the niceties of treating your fellow man with courtesy and respect go out the window when it comes to the safety of my family.

BTW, you can see the difference between a typical homeless person going through the trash and an "professional" recycling-diver. I do not care about the latter.

MotionMan

That is a monumental leap in logic. Can I interest you in a "Jump to Conclusions" Mat?

Just because someone has issues like substance abuse or PTSD that impede their ability to hold a steady job doesn't make them axe murderers out to kill your family.

Just admit that you don't like it because it makes you feel uncomfortable seeing someone like that who has nothing. A lot of people will respect your honesty.

In my up close and personal work with the homeless, I do not believe that I have made a monumental leap in logic. By the time someone becomes a full-time homeless person (i.e. not just someone temporarily down on their luck), their center of reality usually has shifted and their reactions to being confronted (or perceived confrontation) shift to the extremes of either up and running or attacking (flight or fight). I have witnessed this first-hand.

I would guess that no one "likes" having homeless people in their neighborhood. People ignore it, tolerate it or dislike it. I wish I could not care or can tolerate it, but it is simply not the type of neighborhood that I chose to live in or where I want to raise my family. I do not believe that makes me a bad person - so there!

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: uberman
You're claims to having work with a "homeless organization," and a "beginning part of my career...helping.. the lower class," shows a lot of class awareness. Whether this is a deep seated insecurity based on feelings of low self-esteem, guilt or self-worth should be discussed with a therapist. It is your lack of empathy for other human beings and self-centeredness that is of concern

WAT?!?

MotionMan

 

[MrPickins]

So?

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: uberman
You're claims to having work with a "homeless organization," and a "beginning part of my career...helping.. the lower class," shows a lot of class awareness. Whether this is a deep seated insecurity based on feelings of low self-esteem, guilt or self-worth should be discussed with a therapist. It is your lack of empathy for other human beings and self-centeredness that is of concern

WAT?!?

MotionMan

He's better than you because he's been to 26 countries and helped poor people. Obviously

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: uberman
You're claims to having work with a "homeless organization," and a "beginning part of my career...helping.. the lower class," shows a lot of class awareness. Whether this is a deep seated insecurity based on feelings of low self-esteem, guilt or self-worth should be discussed with a therapist. It is your lack of empathy for other human beings and self-centeredness that is of concern

WAT?!?

MotionMan

He's better than you because he's been to 26 countries and helped poor people. Obviously

Originally posted by: ric1287
And I bet you tell every person who will listen about all the "good deeds" you have done in your life

Not really, ric1287, you're missing my point. I merely said that I had traveled often and taught in depressed areas. I had not discussed "good deeds" nor peoples' lives saved. My point is that so many people have small schemas and are lacking in empathy because of their very young age and lack of life experience.
They may become more educated and mature as they age or they could stagnate and develop the personality and wisdom of Archie Bunker.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: isekii
Does it really bother you that much ?
it's trash~

Well, it's not the trash, it's the idea that the homeless might start to think my neighborhood is a safe haven. Then we're infested.

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I understand the way you feel about this; I'd probably feel the same way.

The thing is that once it's on the sidewalk, it's public property...or so I've heard.

We don't actually have sidewalks though. 😛

Why don't you have sidewalks? Pretty anti-social to build a neighborhood w/o sidewalks.

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: isekii
Does it really bother you that much ?
it's trash~

Well, it's not the trash, it's the idea that the homeless might start to think my neighborhood is a safe haven. Then we're infested.

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I understand the way you feel about this; I'd probably feel the same way.

The thing is that once it's on the sidewalk, it's public property...or so I've heard.

We don't actually have sidewalks though. 😛

Why don't you have sidewalks? Pretty anti-social to build a neighborhood w/o sidewalks.

I think they are afraid that homeless people may sleep on the sidewalks if they had them and then claim easements. It's part of the anti-social neighborhood mentality.

 

[DangerAardvark]

You should have thrown some of your trash at him too, then wrote it off on your taxes.

 

[imported_UncivilizedAMD]

Originally posted by: So
As I was leaving for work this morning (around 7:30AM), I saw a homeless guy with a bike rummaging through my neighbor's recyclables for soda cans. I gave him a look, but didn't do anything about it and went about my business. My question is, should I have done something? I am planning on talking to my neighbor and informing him of what I saw, but I don't know if confronting a big homeless guy when nobody else is around would be a good idea. I guess I could have called the cops, but IDK if I'd get laughed at for a report of "homeless guy rummaging through someone else's trash"

Your post disgusts me. I could only imagine what kind of personality you have. There's bigger stuff in this world to worry about. It's just a homeless guy trying to make a decent living. At least he is better than those who just wait by the lights with a sign asking for money or those who try and live off welfare or other forms of governmental payouts. And if I was a cop, I would certainly be laughing at you for your stupidity and girlishness. "Oh no, I'm in big danger because there's a big bad homeless guy taking cans from my neighbor's recycle bin." ROFL!!! :laugh: And as a fellow citizen I would be f'king angry because you are wasting taxpayer dollars by consuming the time of an emergency dispatcher and attempting to waste the time of a police officer, both of whom could be doing better things and handle bigger criminal activity or emergencies.

 

[OCGuy]

Yea here we go. All of the great internet citizens of the world. Give me a fuckin break.

Im sure you all would love homeless people hanging around in front of your house, violating city ordinances (going through trash).

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

I'm already there. San Francisco is disgusting with their harassment of the homeless.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

I'm already there. San Francisco is disgusting because of the amount of homeless.

Fixed.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Yea here we go. All of the great internet citizens of the world. Give me a fuckin break.

Im sure you all would love homeless people hanging around in front of your house, violating city ordinances (going through trash).

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

I live in a smaller city, but there are still a good number of homeless / transients here. They go through my recycle bins fairly often, at least weekly. Unfortunately for them, I take aluminum stuff in myself, but my neighbors always leave a ton of beer cans in the bins.

I'd much rather have people rooting through my waste bins for income than breaking into my house for income.

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

I'm already there. San Francisco is disgusting because of the amount of homeless.

Fixed.

Community Colleges are very inexpensive in the Bay Area. You should try some classes since you are unable to cut and paste correctly.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: TheKub

Originally posted by: So

the hobstarmy?

Homeless United agaiNst Greedy Recycling Elitists

H.U.N.G.R-E

Or you could change Elitists to Yuppies and make it H.U.N.G.R.Y. 😉 I'm just sayin...

And you could add Androgynous to make it H.U.N.G.A.R.Y.

you could put elitist back in and make it a typo

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: uberman

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

If you guys like homeless so much, move to downtown LA or San Francisco.

I'm already there. San Francisco is disgusting because of the amount of homeless.

Fixed.

Community Colleges are very inexpensive in the Bay Area. You should try some classes since you are unable to cut and paste correctly.

No, I think I had it right.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Imp
I can top this...

Today, I was walking home after 'work', and I saw a dead homeless guy on a bench, infront of a building part of the city's college campus. There was 1 ambulance and the paramedics were covering him with a blanket on hom.

did you give him half your lunch and an empty can?