Tuesday is Garbage Day here in suburbialand. Two months ago, when we moved in, we invested in one of those big wheeled garbage cans, with A LID. You know, to keep the garbage in and the animals out, like so:



We paid about $18 for it, and it's not like we expect it to last for eternity. HOWEVER. We planned on it lasting more than two months. The waste removal company that services our street is pretty bad about leaving the empty cans in pretty bad shape after they take the trash away--lying in the street, rolling around on the sidewalks, lids chucked randomly on the grass, etc.

I came home today to find the garbage can laying across the end of our driveway, empty, lid nowhere to be seen. Apparently, it's really tough to put the empty garbage can back on the curb and toss the lid beside it. Apparently, garbage men (garbage women?) are cool with taking off with people's garbage can lids, which pretty much renders them useless. No lid = might as well put the garbage out in bags = let's just open a crow and raccoon farm on our front lawn.

I'm PISSED. I got home about half an hour ago and I'm still seething. I'm mad because we paid for that stupid garbage can two months ago, and now it's no good. We have so much other stuff to be paying for right now, having to shell out another $18 for another garbage can, for no good reason other than someone else's laziness, is frustrating. It's not like it's a ton of money. But we try to take care of our things, we buy the "proper" garbage can as described by the city, and now we have to get another one...and who knows how long it'll be good for? Will we need to buy another in two more months? Two weeks?

I just wrote a very strongly worded email to the waste management company asking where I should sent the receipt for the new garbage can we need to buy and requesting demanding a response ASAP.

And as soon as I hit send, I realized...

...I'm one of those people.

I'm one of those people that complains to company management.

I'm one of those people that sends angry emails demanding to be compensated for things.

I'm thisclose to being one of those people that writes hateful letters to the editor of the local paper to rant about the latest misstep by town council or about the plow driver not getting to her street quickly enough in the last snowstorm or water rate increases.

It's just a matter of time before I'm yelling at the neighbourhood kids to get off my lawn.

When did I become one of those people??

(PS. Regardless of how petty and cheap I feel, I am NOT paying for a new garbage can.)