+ Neighbours | Act Two

My Garden with common rubbish chute on the left

That was that? No, not that easy.

Next came the chronic irritables!

We then suddenly had bouts of trash placed in the common rubbish chute area. Everyday, there seem to be trash in plastic bags on the floor instead of into the rubbish chute.

I would think it is common knowledge to all normal Singaporean that you would tied-up your trash in a plastic bag before throwing it INTO THE RUBBISH CHUTE!

This "elusive dumper" is so selfish that they just leave the trash bag untied with the rubbish inside spewed and spreaded over the floor when the wind blew.

Not a thought was given to cleanliness to the common area, or the well-being of the rest of their neighbours, not even sparing a thought for the cleaner. Totally aghast with such "ignorance."

It eventually angered the Bangladeshi cleaner who cleans our floor everyday.

It became his extra daily work routine apart from sweeping the floor, he had to gather-up the blown away prices of rubbish and throw it for them.

I assume he did it for some time, until one day it bothered him so much that he gathered-up courage and approached my wife while she was waiting for the lift. He asked her while showing the mess, whether we were the ones who did that.

My wife told him that we were disgusted too. We have lived here for the past ten years and only those few months that the elusive dumping started. Timely enough when the four families came to live here. She asked him to ask them instead.

He thought for a while and agreed, because he worked here for a few years now, but the last few months were the first time he had seen this irresponsible act done daily.

ACT TWO.

Unsure if it was the same person, but there was this one time that the "elusive dumper" threw a plastic bag full of yesterday's leftover meals and fish guts.

It stank the whole lift landing as it was the closest to the rubbish chute. The filth and fish blood trailed out onto the floor. It stank like a dead rat for days.

The cleaner did not clear if away. I believe he intentionally did that to "teach" that somebody a lesson, but unfortunately at the expense of us and our next door neighbour.

Our next door neighbour expressed her disgust too when we met at the common corridor. Just like us, she could not open her front door as the wind will carry the stench into her home.

I could not stand it myself. We were the worst affected as our home is the closest to the chute.

Since I had to do my gardening, the stench was unbearable. I had to force myself to gather-up the filth, tied the plastic bag and threw it into the chute for our selfish neighbour.

I had to wash the dried blood off the rubbish chute floor several times to get rid of the pungent stench. The stench lasted for several more days before it subsided. Not sure if it subsided or our noses became immune to the smell.

Anyway, hope that was that.

What went through my mind was:

• Did the "elusive dumper" smell it too during this daily dumping routine?
• Did they smell it too while waiting for the lift?
• Would it triggered their conscience that what they did was wrong?

Well, it did not. Nope. It did not stop there.

We started to see the trash thrown at the same place over and over again daily. The thing is, I could never get to see who it was with my own eyes.

Every time I hear someone walking to the lift landing, I had to peek through the peek hole to see if anyone was throwing rubbish. I would then go out to see if the rubbish was placed there instead of thrown into the chute. I became a vigilante of trash of sort.

Strangely, the "elusive dumper" seems to throw it either late at night or very early in the morning when no one is around. Why is that? Is that guilt or just their trash throwing timings?

A day before Hari Raya, we get to witness another trash throwing session. Bulky items, like a broken down side table and planter stand with bags of rubbish all clogging the rubbish chute area.

Bulky items are suppose to be thrown at the designated area on the ground floor. Yes. That is common knowledge too.

Guess it was even a gigantic task to lug around such items all the way downstairs to throw them, when the daily ones are easily left on the floor for someone to clean-up after them.

Heard the Bangladeshi cleaner cleared the trash this afternoon, but not without the mumblings of frustration.

I hear you, man. I wish I knew who it was too. Sigh!