Seeing red .... a moment of good citizenship?

[letmetalktomark]

I am normally a fairly tollerant chap but some things do flip me to the point the red mist descends ........ :twisted:

Last night I had met Mrs LMTTM after work in town and we were walking back home together.

I noticed, as we walked back, a lad sitting on his bmx unwrapping something from HMV. As we walked passed he dropped the packaging on the floor. I kept my eye on him as we walked passed and he was about to ride off.

Folk dropping litter is unforgivable to me. In this instance there was a bin less than 25m away and he was on a bike FFS :twisted:

So I decided to say something.

Anyone who has met me knows that I am no thug, giant softy is more accurate. But at 6' 3'' about 16 stone and in this instance wearing a cap and hooded jacket I may have looked a little menacing.

I asked the lad if he would pick up the rubbish and he said firmly "NO".

I saw red.

A few moments of conversation about why he had dropped it left me speechless ....

"whats the problem" ..... "its only litter" ..... "why do you care"

I tried again to appeal to him but to no avail.

So I put down the stuff I was carrying, walked over to him, picked up the litter and handed it to him.

"what do you want me to do with it?"

I had thought this had been clear all along.

"put it in the ******* bin!"

At this point it was obviously clear from my face I was not best pleased.

Anyhoo he solemnly walked the 25m to the bin and popped it in.

Result.

Told him he was a "good boy" and sent him on his way.

Felt good about it but felt equally angered by some peoples disrespect.

Hmm.

Rant over.

Calm

 

[jonnyboy666]

the last 15 or so years i have noticed a greater than ever before lack of respect for people and their own environment. i don't mean being "green" by putting rubbish in bins, what i mean is the younger generation don't understand personal respect between people. the only respect they know is the gangster form of respect which is actually fear not respect.

these days they (meaning kids etc) will square up to almost anybody, all you have to do is watch "police camera action" on tv, how many people out there go mental at the cops! i have been stopped before for speeding, any sane person knows to be polite and co-operative and you are less likely to get done, these numpties go mental and swear at them then moan when they get an inflated ticket for being abusive!

in your case above i have seen that and said things, i'm not a particularly big bloke so usually get the eff off treatment, depending who or how many i will back it up.

the worrying thing for the future is that they don't see anything wrong with what they do, and even more worrying is that when it's pointed out they don't care and would rather argue their clearly wrong position than do the right thing.


"life on mars" would suit me, going back to a simpler time, a retro time

 

[grahame]

Good lad. Well done.

I had a similar moment, but I was about 5 at the time:

I'd been brought up not to drop litter, so when I was at a motor racing meeting (at Croft) with my dad and saw a grown up drop an lolly stick, somethin made me go and pick it up.

I handed it to the "gentleman" who'd dropped it and said "Excuse me, I think this is yours, but you dropped it"

He asked me what I thought he should do with it.

Being 5 at the time, I didn't know about "shove it up your jacksie", so I said that "There's a dustbin just over there, you could put it in that."

The fine gentleman didn't know what to say, so apparently he went and put it in the bin.

Apparently my dad has never been prouder of, or more scared for, me.

 

[orange71]

Problem is these days is that people assume that there's somebody to do that job, that's what street cleaners are for. No sense of responsibility for your own actions :roll:

 

[Harryburgundy]

Well done Mark.....see it everyday outside the shop....and it's not just the youth. Just don't understand peoples lack of collective responsability.
Bring back bobbies on the beat ...bla ba bla

 

[IDB1]

Bloody good on ya matey.. .

If my kids attempt to drop rubbish they are suitably reprimanded and made to pick it up.. if there's no bin, they take it home with them.

My pet hate is people who won't clear up after their dogs..

I always carry a pocket full of poo bags when we're out with the hounds so, if I see someone attempt to walk away from their pooch's solid waste I head on over with a Embarrassing when you run out of poo bags isn't it and offer one of mine..

 

[letmetalktomark]

My pet hate is people who won't clear up after their dogs..

I always carry a pocket full of poo bags when we're out with the hounds so, if I see someone attempt to walk away from their pooch's solid waste I head on over with a Embarrassing when you run out of poo bags isn't it and offer one of mine..

Ian,

This really gets my goat too.

Have had the red mist descend whilst out with our hounds :twisted: :twisted:

 

[cyfa2809]

nice one ian and mark

actually i do it with the mrs (yeah i am a bit sh*t its not often)
she brings her plate to the kitchen/sink with rubbish on not a huge kitchen
so when i do the dishes i just leave the rubbish in the sink
for the sake of turning round and taking a step when your there anyway, she doesnt do it any more now that i have told her

but thats what gets me, 25ft to a bin! and i bet there was another 50ft further :evil:

i will say it again
idiocracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSROlfR7WTo

its actually upsetting

 

[s_zigmond]

My 3 year old daughter (nearly 4) often shouts at people for dropping litter. Along with telling people off for parking in parent and todler spaces and asking in a loud voice why the man sat on a street begging doesnt have to work for money like daddy and mummy do!

 

[letmetalktomark]

People whilst on driving on the phone get a telling off too.

I have gotten out of my car at lights to tell people. :twisted: