So... etiquette question

[conuly]

You're about to throw out a can or a bottle of soda. You live in a state that does bottle deposits (which, incidentally, have not kept up with inflation at all, but that's not the point). You approach the trash can. There's a (probably homeless) person reaching into the garbage to take out cans and bottles for the deposit. Do you a. act normally and throw out the can or bottle b. kinda perch it on the edge of the trash can c. hand it directly to the can collector or d. walk to the next can up, which you think they haven't hit yet? (D is the coward's method, and thus, the one I always choose.)

On a related note, Eva shamed me today by giving her last 50 cents to a panhandler on the train. I would've given him some money too, but all I had were $20s and I kinda need those for the groceries. There's definitely no polite way to ask for change from a panhandler, is there? (If there is, let me know, I'll adopt it!)

Comments

[janewilliams20]

Hand it to the collector. If they don't have a suitable bag for gathering large quantities of bottles/cans, and I have a spare, give them that as well.

The only way I know of "getting change" from a beggar (I assume that's what a "panhandler" is?) takes a little more time - I was about to grab a meal at a railway station anyway, and there was a two-for-one deal on. I offered to buy him breakfast.

[conuly]

They always have their own bags.

And yes, "beggar" is such an old-fashioned word here!

[janewilliams20]

I wonder where "panhandler" came from? A quick Google isn't giving me any hints, and I'd never heard of it before.

[janewilliams20]

Forgot one bit - I'd exchange some kind of pleasantry with the collector. For some of them, that'll be the first time they've been treated as human all week.

[gisho]

If there's someone physically there collecting, hand it to them. If you're getting rid of a deposit bottle otherwise, set it on the lid or beside the can so the next collector needn't fish. (Except in high winds.)

Some public trash bins in my area have a separate basket on the side for recyclable cans, which is nice.

[conuly]

Yes, I always set them on the ends if there isn't somebody collecting them, for precisely that reason.

[zhelana]

Just hand it to them. :)

[ice-kitten.livejournal.com]

I usually just hand them my cans/bottles and they've all been quite thankful~

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Yes, why not? I'd shake out any remaining liquid first, so he wouldn't have a sticky spill to deal with.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I once gave a summer's recycling to a bottle scrounger because it was easier than finding time to hit the recycling center. "Hey, we're moving-- do you want ours?" and a plastic bag later, and the guy tried to pay me I think.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I'd just hand it to them, "here ya go" - it's degrading enough to have to pick stuff out of the trash, without also being treated like an invisible unperson.

I try to carry some quarters in my pockets when I go to the city, so I have something to give the street musicians. I don't give money to panhandlers because it does no good (http://evasvillage.org/wordpress/cost-panhandling-poor-homeless/). Eva's impulse was kind-hearted but misguided - there's a difference between charity that actually helps people, and 'charity theater' that only relieves a guilty conscience.

You needn't feel too guilty, anyway, because a lot of panhandlers are spangers (http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_3_panhandling.html) who make more per year than your whole family. "Don't feed the raccoons."