i am so not okay what happened to me just now.

rollopodio · #1 January 2nd, 2006, 03:23 PM

so i'm moving here soon and we cant take a whole lot of stuff so i have been making trips to goodwill lately. well yesterday i decided that i would go through the whole house and get everything that we were going to send to goodwill and i was just going to throw it away. (i know i should have taken it to goodwill but i didnt have a car and i was tired of making trips there) so i got like 4 big bags full of stuff. this afternoon i took them to the dumpsters(here at the apartment)about an hour ago i just happened to be sitting on the computer and just happened to look out the window and one of the maintenence men was out there. i figured he was just throwing away some trash but he kept bent over and then i saw him pick up one of my trash bags and throw it in the dumpster and grab another one. HE WAS GOING THROUGH MY F###### TRASH i am so livid. it wasnt at all like the bag broke and he had to pick everything up he was untying the bags looking through them and tying them back up. they were in knots too. it wasnt like it was easy to untie them. i called the office and they were already gone becuase i called a 404 and they left at 4. thats not even all. he looked through 3 bags which he is looking through the third in the picture. and when he was done with that bag he grabbed the bag on top of the left dumpster and opened it a little and i guess it wasnt easy access so it took it off the dumpster and put it beside over on the far left of the wall surrounding the dumpsters and untied it and rummaged through it. i couldnt see him becuase he was crouched down but i kept watch becuase i knew that whatever way he went i would see him and he picked up the bag and carried it off. all it had in it was some old books of ashtons and some old toys that he said he didnt want to take to va. i am so livid right now. i am planning to call first thing in the morning and report him. and i will write a note to all the people in the entire apartment complex and let them know not to throw away anything that they dont want the maintenence men to see.

i'm thankful that there was nothing in there with my name or brads name on it that was of personal nature but that is totally not okay.

you can sort of see there on the left of the picture the bag on top of the dumpster that he will go through next. this was the best angle i could get and i hope it is enough proof. i hope someone else saw him. i am so so livid.

Can't Wait · #2 January 2nd, 2006, 03:48 PM

I would be mad too. Last time i put a few things (old vacuum, broom, picture, ect.)out on the curb for the trash man to take it was gone before the trash man even got to my house. It feels weird to know someone is taking your stuff even when you put it out as trash.

Rhonda66 · #3 January 2nd, 2006, 04:06 PM

Where I live, people often put things in the trash hoping that someone will take it. I guess the thought is that if it's in the trash, then you no longer care what happens to it. Remember that one person's trash is often another man's treasure. If the maintenance guy doesn't rummage through it the trash man or someone else probably will anyway. Think of the positive side - that the poor guy might be able to use something and instead of filling a landfill, it will be recycled

People here are much worse than that too - they go into the donation collection bins at the supermarket here and pull out bags and then they rip them all up and strew whatever they don't want all around the bins - now that is incredibly rude!!!

bookwormmommy · #4 January 2nd, 2006, 04:14 PM

Yes-I have known people who would "dumpster dive"--They said that people would throw away great stuff. And of course, legally, once it is in the trash anybody is free to look through it or take it. Which is why shredding personal documents is recommended. I can see it being unsettling, but probably he wasn't looking to get info on you, just thought there would be something he could use. I wouldn't stress about it too much. But I would invest in a shredder if you haven't already.

#5 January 2nd, 2006, 04:17 PM

It can feel like a total violation, eh? I don't blame you for feeling that way.

I have a different story.. I had a landlord, who I thought was awesome, ask me why I threw away a mop. I thought it was broken but he showed me how it wasn't and fixed it right there for me and gave it back...

#6 January 2nd, 2006, 04:43 PM

I would welcome someone to have the stuff if they can use it. Some people are less fortunate and what he received may have been a blessing. I can't imagine him making a lot of money as a maintenence guy. I make sure that I don't throw personal information in the trash.

rollopodio · #7 January 2nd, 2006, 05:41 PM

i have put furniture and things like that beside the trash and i feel comfortable with people taking that but people rummaging through the bags really gets to me. especially my bags. i feel violated in a way. who knows how much he has done this. its really scary if you think about it. i would be happy to have the less fortunate people have my things but for goodness sake it the flippin maintenence guy. and i'm sorry if he doesnt make alot of money. that isnt my fault. he did not go through anyone elses bags besides mine. brad was working at kmart and making 750 an hour and i know we never went through peoples trash. sorry if i sound rude to you guys. i'm just really pissed.

Blue Eyes 409 · #8 January 2nd, 2006, 06:23 PM

I know what you mean it is scary to know that someone went threw your stuff. Even if it was stuff that you were throwing away you could have had very personal stuff in there.

My house got broke into several years ago and that took me a long time to get over.

rollopodio · #9 January 3rd, 2006, 08:31 AM

update:

i just called the office and spoke to the manager and told her what happened and she was shocked sort of. she said that it could be her fault a little becuase they had never actually told them that they couldnt go through the trash but she said she thought it was just common sense. she said she would talk to him and make sure that it never happened again and she appologized alot. i feel better now. i'm still a little freaked out to throw trash out here though.

#10 January 3rd, 2006, 08:53 AM

I'm happy you feel about it all... I think we underestimate the feeling of violation at times... I hope it turns out for you in time.

Cheers! Michelle

mommywannabe · #11 January 3rd, 2006, 08:54 AM

COPIED FROM THE TTC BOARD:

maybe he wasnt able to buy Christmas gifts for his family. maybe he had a little boy at home. maybe he was trying to hide because he was embarrassed. seeing as he took the things with your son's stuff in it, maybe he has multiple children. people will do degrating things to provide for thier kids and family. maybe i am just naive, but its possible he wasnt looking to violate your privacy. if it is stuff you were gonna give away anyway, he might not have thought you would have a problem with someone taking the stuff you didnt want. i dont know, i was just trying to shed a different light on it. i didnt mean to make anyone mad, but, maybe the situation wasnt exactly what you thought it was. hope i didnt step on any toes, sorry if i did.

casey

rollopodio · #12 January 3rd, 2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

COPIED FROM THE TTC BOARD:

maybe he wasnt able to buy Christmas gifts for his family. maybe he had a little boy at home. maybe he was trying to hide because he was embarrassed. seeing as he took the things with your son's stuff in it, maybe he has multiple children. people will do degrating things to provide for thier kids and family. maybe i am just naive, but its possible he wasnt looking to violate your privacy. if it is stuff you were gonna give away anyway, he might not have thought you would have a problem with someone taking the stuff you didnt want. i dont know, i was just trying to shed a different light on it. i didnt mean to make anyone mad, but, maybe the situation wasnt exactly what you thought it was. hope i didnt step on any toes, sorry if i did.

casey[/b]

i totally understand where you are coming from. and i try to look at it like that but it just still makes me feel sick. i am just not comfortable with it.

Athey · #13 January 5th, 2006, 05:17 PM

Yeeeeaaars ago when my mom and I were living together in Nebraska and we were moving to Washington. We had this huge uhaul and had loaded the thing TOTALLY full. There was NO more room in that thing, and we still had an assortment of random things in the house. Just misc things we didn't care about and just took up space, so we ended up putting it all on the curb to go out with the trash. Tons of random cr*p and trinkets and some broken stuff.

We didn't care about it, but it was still sad to just toss it. We needed to move out so we didn't have time to do the whole donation thing.

Anyways, we had them out on the curb and were gonna be heading out the next day. Morning comes and I swear it was almost all gone!!! All the neighbors had come and raided our pile of cr*p! lol!

It was kinda weird, but it was also kind of better then having it all just go to the junkyard. And some of it was still nice, so it worked out good for the neighbors. hah.