I’m waiting for the bus this morning and there’s an older gentleman also at the bus stop. I notice some metro tickets fall near his feet and realize that he’s throwing old tickets on the ground. I look around and see that there isn’t a trash can nearby, but still!! Is it really that difficult to hold on to the tickets until he can dispose of them properly?? It’s not as if they were taking up THAT much room in his pocket.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
litterbug
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7 comments:
The litter bugs are so sneaky. Did you say anything? I no I wouldn't, maybe one day I will.
Littering is a major pet peeve of mine. And it seems like it's pretty common here unfortunately. I don't so much as leave chewing gum on the ground, I really, really hate people who throw stuff on the ground, or let their dogs shit everywhere. Although at least dog shit is organic so it's not doing a lot of harm really.
Or when people throw old cigarette packs out of the car windows... arrrg. I normally show them the "thumbs up" and nod (looking like a complete idiot) in the hope that THEY will feel stupid.
It's a lost cause, but maybe one, just one, might think about what the others might think the next time the urge is there to throw something to the ground.
I do agree. I was with a parisien friend of mine in Paris, who works for the Encyclopédie Universalis (so he's supposed to be intelligent and have received a good education [though in fact he is and he has]), and I saw him calmly throw a a big paper on the street near la Tour de Montparnasse. I was shocked because I normally try not to do that, but he simply didn't care... Maybe parisiens see the matter differently... You should ask them, Seattlelite
function - no I didn't say anything. It isn't my style to confront strangers on the street.
tigre - I never thought of it that way. It is true that the poo washes away with the rain and doesn't really do any harm.
astrid - another pet peeve is when when people toss cigarettes on the ground and don't step on them to put them out. The cigarettes have to burn out and continue polluting the air.
jd - I should ask someone. I haven't seen any of my parisian friends litter, but I might ask one about his/her view on it one day.
How bizarre... the same thing happened to me but months ago.. I don't even remember if I blogged about it or not... An old man was tearing up his ticket and then let it fall to the ground. I turned to him and told him (in French) that there was a trash can just... over there... a few feet away... He looked rather embarrassed and looked down. I think he felt bad afterwards... and plus, I was someone much younger correcting him.. He, of course, detected my American accent, and when on the bus, he offered me his seat, as the bus was crowded.. I thought it was a nice gesture. When I was about to get off the bus, he said to me nicely, "bye bye" in English. Just so strange... He was a litterbug, but at least, a nice one. I think it is the teacher in me that sometimes speaks up first!
What I usually do is tell them:
"excusez-moi, je crois que vous avez laissé tomber quelque chose" ...
A very fun ad I saw in Lyon:
http://www.grandlyon.com.gdlyon-preprod-cat1.accelance.net/fileadmin/user_upload/images/Actualites/Proprete/GL_proprete1.jpg
translation for the non-french speakers:
we are not asking you do to that much, but at least respect the work of street-cleaners
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