Keyboard Eco-Warrior

College & University, Florida, Impossible Demands, Lazy/Unhelpful, Retail, USA | Right | March 9, 2020

(During college, I work at an on-campus smoothie store and have plenty of… interesting interactions with customers. This particular customer is known for being difficult occasionally and will bounce back and forth between vegan smoothies and non-vegan smoothies despite insisting she is “really vegan; be careful!” Regardless, today she approaches the register, orders, and asks me this afterward:)

Customer: “Hey, I just noticed there are only trash cans in here. Do you have recycling that I can put this can in?” *holds up an aluminum can*

Me: “Oh, I wish. We don’t have any inside the store currently, but I know there are recycling bins all over campus. I think there’s one outside the left-hand door.”

(She hems and haws for some reason.)

Customer: “Ah. It’s okay. I think they manually sort recycling now. I’ll put it in the trash.”

Me: “Are you… sure? There’s a recycling bin right outside. I could even hold onto it for you and recycle it.”

Customer: “They sort trash now.”

(She tosses it in the trash bin while I proceed to stare a little strangely.)

Customer: “It gets sorted. They’ll recycle it.”

This story is part of our Recycling roundup!