Friday, February 22, 2008

So what's the deal with all the condiments?

"Wo y lk sm t ss?"

"Pardon?"

"Would you like some hot sauce?'

"Oh, sure. The medium kind."

I drive off, I open the bag at the stop and find--is it one?--is it five?--how many this time? This mumbling window guy has big hands--there are eight packets of hot sauce in the bag with my one small taco today.

This morning I walked from the church to the edge of town. That's about two miles. I started checking out the condiment packets. Mostly taco sauce in the half mile either side of the convenience store that has burritos for the high school lunch crowd.

On the sidewalk,

In the grass,

...the packets were everywhere. I did not take pictures of all of them and I have not posted all of the pictures I did take.
Here's one tucked under some leaf mulch.

Condiment packets were not the only litter, of course. There were straws, cans, gum and candy wrappers, soft drink lids and straws, receipts, plastic bags. I even saw about a dozen bank deposit slips.
The condiment packets sat in solitary company to posts. Or gathered in committee meetings of as many as half a dozen.

The solitary ones were more likely to be opened and used. The gatherings more likely to include several which were unopened.

This one pointed out specifically.


Now these guys would certainly welcome condiment packets in their weekly gatherings. They were downright friendly as I walked past.


Of course, they probably did not realize that I had just taken two dozen pictures of condiment packets.

Taco Sauce

Ketchup


Hey look! Mustard!

Mayonnaise

Eeeeyewww!

So the question remains: what's the deal with all the condiments? Why does the mumbly guy with the big hands at the window give me as many as a dozen hot sauces, or as many catsups and neglect to give me one napkin? If they didn't give us so many more than we need, would there be so many strewn all over the place along the street? Does the convenience store have a trash can outside the door where folks could toss their condiment packets? Why are there condiment packets on our road, too? We are two miles out in the country.

And finally, would you like some hot sauce on that?

6 comments:

Kat said...

That actually makes me really angry. Come on people!!!! Why throw trash on the ground!!!! BAH! Makes me mad.

Thanks for stopping at my blog. I appreciate your comment!

Anonymous said...

I'm lucky to get one pack, nearly begging, and if I forget to ask... well, I'd be going without...

Paulie said...

That would have made a great post for "C" on ABC Wednesday! lol Blogs can be really different -- guess that's what a blog is all about, huh?

susan/sc said...

I had to come see what you did on your walk! You know when I worked fast food in my teenage years, they really wanted you to be attuned to giving out one napkin, one pack of ketchup, etc. But when I go to the drive through now, I get a handful of napkins, multiple packs of condiments. Our society has become really wasteful in so many ways. I do my part - eat too many packaged foods - with all the packaging waste involved. Seeing this makes me want to do better! Susan

Max-e said...

I share your sentiments entirely - I hate littering, which is a national past time in this country. It is really bad

Anonymous said...

I live within two blocks and one red light of a number of condiment-giving outlets. It seems the drive-through crowd must complete their eating preparation about the time they reach my front yard. I'm still looking for the sign that says "Trash here".