An amusing anecdote

So my brother had flown down from Connecticut to be with me on Dec 26th (the day I had my PD equivalency test). It was a Wednesday, garbage collection was very early the next day, so I put the very full and smelly garbage can out on the sidewalk. What I didn't realize that day was that garbage collection would be one day later that week because of the Christmas holiday.

As K was getting ready to leave the next evening, I asked him to go bring in the garbage can, which he did. Faithfully. All the way almost to the door between the house and the garage. It is one of his enduring, sometimes endearing, habits - he gets so absent minded, it is mostly amusing (after I'm done ranting, usually). He was in his usual I-may-be-here-physically-but-mentally-I'm-playing-my-perfect-game-of-tennis mode, so he forgot to even register that the garbage can was still heavy (in other words, not empty). So naturally he forgot to tell me that he brought in a bin that was still full of garbage into the garage. All the way up to the door into the house. I'm lucky he brought in my bin, and not one of my neighbors'. :P

Next day, I came into the garage to get some solution bags, and got a BIG whiff of "eau de garbage". I thought, "Huh. Note to self: Rinse out the garbage bin." It wasn't until I had to move the bin to get to the solution bags that I realized it was still full. Very carefully rolled the bin into the farthest corner of the garage, as far away from the house as possible. But I still had to live with a smelly garbage bin - by the time garbage collection time came around the next week, my bin was full to overflowing... and a very potent smell of garbage was beginning to permeate the house.

I gladly rolled the VERY full bin out to the sidewalk that week, I'll tell you that! Next morning, garbage had not been collected. I just thought they were late that day (it being Jan 2nd, after all). Came back from work that evening to see that the bin was still full, so I left it out one more night. The garbage-men came by on the Friday, instead of Thursday. Again.

In a huff, I went to look up the phone number for the waste-management company, to complain, and to ask if garbage collection was now changed to Friday mornings. And on the calendar they had sent me the previous year, I saw a * for the weeks of Christmas and New Years. *Garbage collection will be one day later when there's a holiday in the week*

Hmph! Deflated again. Palm, meet forehead *THUNK*