I think that I could call this hot-line ^[1] every single day. There are always shopping carts – I assume from the nearby Albertsons – sitting along my street. But what I wonder is if they’ll pick up carts that are obviously on private property, not just along the boulevards or near bus stops?

I have neighbors who are um…interesting….to say the least. They have a personal collection of shopping carts on their lawn. Sometimes just one – sometimes two or three. I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen them out collecting cans from the neighborhood, and while they have several cars in the driveway – I’ve never seen any of them move and I believe they usually walk to the grocery store. So they do use the carts, but when they’re not in use they don’t put them in the garage, they leave them out on the lawn.

My neighborhood is by no means fancy, but their house is one of just a few that looks trashy.

No – I’ve never talked to them about it – my one conversation with them put me off a bit. I met one of the three roommates shortly after moving in a few years ago when she was sitting outside reading a magazine and drinking a beer when I got home from work. She couldn’t go inside because her roommates were “preoccupied” (my word, hers was R-rated.) This is what she yells at me from across the street just after introducing ourselves.

So if I call the shopping cart hotline on them, do you think they’ll get picked up from where they sit up near the house?

Should I call – or is that being a bad neighbor?