Pumpkins Are Food
Pumpkins are food...I know that, I like pumpkin pie. They of course are also considered a decoration during Halloween around here...and probably wherever you are as well. What I can't get past is how ridiculous the unwritten rules of conduct are that (apparently) people live by that the displaying of these pumpkins makes plain, at least to me.
Several stores I frequently drive by had piles of pumpkins outside on the sidewalk...not a small pile either. They had them on top of the sign with the store's name on it, on the sidewalk by the entrance, in the aisle inside the store, everywhere. The most ridiculous display (to me) was pumpkins adorning the logo for the store that sits about ten feet from the street with the parking lot between the pumpkins and the store itself. Why doesn't anyone ever take any of these pumpkins?
There were homeless people standing on the corner in front of the store with cardboard signs begging for money. Don't tell me these people are too honest to steal? I know, you're saying, "They just want alcohol". Alright, you could use pumpkins to make alcohol...hell, they make it out of a lot of other things, why not pumpkins?
The unwritten rules will allow a store to put just about anything on the sidewalk as long as they put a price on it. Then, nobody steals it...for some reason. As far as I knew, that was the rule. I have gone into a lot of convenience stores that have sodas stacked up on the sidewalk with the price stuck on the side and nobody I have ever seen has walked off with anything from those displays. That is just plain crazy, but, that is the unwritten rule. Whoever came up with that rule was brilliant, they saved a lot of money building enough storage space for their inventory. To flip that around, I can put anything by the curb in front of my house and it will be taken within an hour by somebody...I guess that is another unwritten rule. If it's by the curb of a residence, it's "fair game". Someone should print up some documentation.
Getting back to the pumpkins, they didn't have a price anywhere around them...so, what are they for? If they are selling them, their logic escapes me. They piled food all over the sidewalk a few hundred feet away from people that claim they are hungry...what am I missing? If I were one of those homeless guys, I'd be running down the street with my shopping cart full of pumpkins! Don't look at me like that, you would too if you knew the rules...they didn't have a price on them.
We erect a lot of mental barriers without realizing it. We need to stop that. I'm not saying people should steal pumpkins necessarily (unless you're homeless), I'm just asking why it hasn't happened. I think it's a total lack of imagination...and that can cause a lot of problems.
Several stores I frequently drive by had piles of pumpkins outside on the sidewalk...not a small pile either. They had them on top of the sign with the store's name on it, on the sidewalk by the entrance, in the aisle inside the store, everywhere. The most ridiculous display (to me) was pumpkins adorning the logo for the store that sits about ten feet from the street with the parking lot between the pumpkins and the store itself. Why doesn't anyone ever take any of these pumpkins?
There were homeless people standing on the corner in front of the store with cardboard signs begging for money. Don't tell me these people are too honest to steal? I know, you're saying, "They just want alcohol". Alright, you could use pumpkins to make alcohol...hell, they make it out of a lot of other things, why not pumpkins?
The unwritten rules will allow a store to put just about anything on the sidewalk as long as they put a price on it. Then, nobody steals it...for some reason. As far as I knew, that was the rule. I have gone into a lot of convenience stores that have sodas stacked up on the sidewalk with the price stuck on the side and nobody I have ever seen has walked off with anything from those displays. That is just plain crazy, but, that is the unwritten rule. Whoever came up with that rule was brilliant, they saved a lot of money building enough storage space for their inventory. To flip that around, I can put anything by the curb in front of my house and it will be taken within an hour by somebody...I guess that is another unwritten rule. If it's by the curb of a residence, it's "fair game". Someone should print up some documentation.
Getting back to the pumpkins, they didn't have a price anywhere around them...so, what are they for? If they are selling them, their logic escapes me. They piled food all over the sidewalk a few hundred feet away from people that claim they are hungry...what am I missing? If I were one of those homeless guys, I'd be running down the street with my shopping cart full of pumpkins! Don't look at me like that, you would too if you knew the rules...they didn't have a price on them.
We erect a lot of mental barriers without realizing it. We need to stop that. I'm not saying people should steal pumpkins necessarily (unless you're homeless), I'm just asking why it hasn't happened. I think it's a total lack of imagination...and that can cause a lot of problems.
posted by itsjustme at 3:51 AM
10 Comments:
"those aren't pumpkins..."
what?
daniel
When I was younger, I saw some 10 speeds sitting outside of Kmart. I was going to go ahead and rip one off, but those bastards had a cable on them, keeping them secure.
I recently saw some lawn tractors out on the sidewalk at Walmart ... no cable. So I'm assuming the rule is that it won't get ripped off if it's wildly convenient and easy to steal. A bike requires that you lift your leg over and pedal away. A lawn tractor would require a pick up truck and ramp, or a gas can and hot wiring abilities. A pumpkin is typicaly heavy, and would require a bend and lifting motion. Who wants to bother with that much effort to steal?
I always figured that if I really needed to eat, I'd steal a radio. Seems like every car dealer around has free hot-dogs or pizza and soda if you come into their store and take a test drive. Granted, this would only be weekends and holiday push sales, but if you're hungry, dinner is on the bastards who wouldn't think twice about stealing from me.
Just tune in and find your next lunch.
A pumpkin named Jarve once told me what squirrels are REALLY up to. But it was fairly complex and it used a lot of big words (some of which I suspect Jarve didn't even really know) and so I forgot what it said.
I ran out of money once and got REALLY hungry for a few days. I found some sidewalk change and bought a donut. If it had been around Halloween I wouldn't have grabbed a pumpkin! The rule must be pretty powerful.
Aren't pumpkins hard to eat raw? The homeless guy would have to have an oven to bake a pie or at least toast the pumpkin seeds.
I'm sure they have campfires...you could cut the pumpkin up and put it in a pot or in aluminum foil or put it on a large rock next to the fire.
I also think they should make their own stills for pumpkin moonshine, it would save them some money. They could find/steal what they needed to make the still as well. People throw all kinds of stuff away that would be useful.
If the brewed pumpkin moonshine, there'd be a run on pumpkins, once the idea spread. So either, they'd bum money for food and actually buy food with it, because they have "pumpkin juice" ... or pumpkin theft would go through the roof so badly that there'd be news reporters talking about "the problem."
Pumpkin Moonshine is a great idea. Sterno is a readily available fuel that might be utilized for cooking them and heating the still. I'll even help out with a useful link.
http://www.ibiblio.org/moonshine/make/make.html
I am starting to wonder how to market it!
Weird
P.S. thanks for the link!
Hi,
Love your posts. keep the good work mate
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