It’s often nice to enjoy nature, even the simple aspects of it. Green parks, proud and majestic trees, meandering streams and rivers – they’re all examples of the outdoors that can be admired within the confines of many urban and suburban environments. The great part is that it doesn’t take much money at all to simply appreciate some of these parts of nature.
There are some individuals, however, who try to take matters into their own hands, and are a bit too “overzealous”. In this 14th edition of Squirreling Gone Wild, I’ll share a recent scene that I encountered where some people tried to take frugality just a bit too far when enjoying nature.
The experience I had with these characters started innocently enough. I was driving down a suburban boulevard on a recent warm, summer day. This was a four lane road, with a median in between both sides of traffic, and was not heavily trafficked. The median, as the road approached the traffic light, was very nicely landscaped. Highlighting the landscaping was a nice arrangement of flowers that was on a slightly elevated grade. I’m not a flower expert (don’t know too many guys that are), so I couldn’t tell you what kind they were. What I do know, however, is that the flowers were yellow, red, and very vibrant.
So, as I approached the stoplight, I met a yellow light about to turn red. Naturally, I stopped at the light. Then, to my left, I saw a car pull up. Immediately, the passenger door next to me open, as did the backseat door on the other side of the car. Two women scurried out of the car, and made their way to the median. One looked to be in her 50’s, the other in her 20’s. Perhaps a mother and daughter.
In the blink of an eye, they were furiously pulling flowers. I sat there amused and stunned. They just pulled and pulled and kept on pulling. I kept the window rolled down, and could hear them speaking to each other in excited, hurried tone while they accumulated flowers. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, as it didn’t appear to be English. Regardless, they clearly getting a kick out of this. They had these mischievous grins on their faces as they kept pulling flowers.
Finally, a man in the car waved to them as the light was about to turn green. They each carried an arm full of flowers to the car, tossed them inside, then got in. At that point, the light turned green, and they took off.
It all happened so fast.
I drove off after that, and chuckled at how sneaky those people were. Then, my humor turned to a more realistic view of what these clowns did.
They took flowers that were intended to be for the public, paid for by taxpayer dollars, and took them for themselves. They had absolutely no regard for the right thing to do in that situation.
So, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that these people absolutely knew that they were doing something wrong. They had those naughty smiles as they accumulated flowers at a dizzying rate.
What could I have done differently? This was the thought in my mind as I kept on driving. Maybe I could have used this new smartphone I bought, and taken a video of them along with their car’s license plate number. Perhaps the local police would have liked to have seen it? I would guess that it’s against the city’s ordinance to take public property like that. Or, maybe I could have just gotten out of the car and asked them to stop doing it.
Alas, I was just sitting there stunned as I had previously watched them, so they got away.
I wonder what they did with those flowers. Did they put them in a vase in their home? They could have filled several vases the way they were going. Or perhaps they’re going to some function and want to take a bouquet of flowers. Maybe someone they know had a tragedy and they wanted to brighten the person’s day?
Regardless, it was frugality run amok, what those frugal flower bandits did!
Have you ever seen someone do something so blatantly tacky? Have YOU actually done something tacky like this? As you know, it’s safe to confess here:)
When I was about 10, I picked some flowers from my neighbor’s yard. My stepfather, who was very strict and frugal, walked me back over to their house where I had picked the flowers and made me PAY for them. (The owners were sort of shocked and amused.) Needless to say, I’ve never picked flowers that weren’t my own! Perhaps if these people were sent a bill, they’d think twice before ever picking flowers like that again.
Little House – I have to agree that taking someone else’s property – even flowers – isn’t fair. That’s why I wanted to take a picture of them doing it, along with the license plate. They clearly didn’t care for normal, fair rules of society. It would have been great to picture these people’s faces when they got a large bill or fine in the mail!
I think the “concept of other people” is being replaced with the “it’s all about me” attitude. Everyone does selfish things from time-to-time, but it has become pervasive in society. The older I get, the less thoughful people have become. Maybe, it just seems that way, because I was born in the ’60s.
Hope to Prosper – these people clearly had the “it’s all about me” attitude. The thing is, they had these smiles that just made it appear to me that they knew how sneaky they were being. The way they jumped out of their car, frantically pulled the flowers, then jumped back in and sped off – it all smacks of selfishness. In a way, it was amusing to see, and almost like a comedy. That said, I wish I could have turned them in to get them fined, to show them that you just can’t do that. They were like overgrown teenagers, except the two ladies were adults and also appeared to be mother/daughter.
I also would have been stunned. I don’t know if I would have laughed or been angry. I can’t imagine taking the risk of stealing flowers in a busy intersection just to have some fresh flowers around the house. I wonder if it was a dare or a road rally or something. Or, if they were just being trouble makers. Or, frugal gone wild…
Everyday Tips – it was both funny and irritating, if that’s possible. At least it was for me, and that’s how I’m framing it now.
Babci (my mom) claims that there was an old woman at her church who used to steal flower arrangements from the graveyards to decorate her home with. What’s worse, stealing from the living taxpayers or from the dearly departed?
Sandy – wow, that’s something else what the older lady (that you mentioned) did. I think that’s worse than the people I saw. It’s a source of fascination for me, how these people just go ahead and do such crazy things!
Haha, that is squirreling gone extreme. On the other hand, maybe the flower takers were simply pissed taxpayers that didn’t agree with spending the money in the first place, and were just trying to recoup what they believed was rightfully theirs? 😉
Kevin – that’s a interesting and funny observation. Angry taxpayers! In that case, they took far more than their little allocation paid for:)
That is odd. They are full grown adults – that’s just unnacceptable.
When I was 6, I picked flowers from all over the neighborhood, but I didn’t know they had a “cost” attached. When one home owner “caught” me and was angry, I just cried and cried and offered them the whole bouquet of stolen flowers. The lady stopped being mad almost immediately and explained that hard work went into gardening and I was tearing it all up. I felt so guilty (still do)…
BFS, that’s a funny story (no offense), as I have a 7-year old daughter and can understand the mindset of a young girl through her. I’m sure you meant well, and it had to be a surprise to see an adult that worked up even though you meant no harm. Anyway, my take is that if the lady was so angry, she needed to chillax a bit and realize you were just a little kid:)
Squirrelers: Haha, I agree. I can’t believe they had the balls to do that in broad daylight. I’ve never seen that happen myself, and I used to live next to one of those landscaped medians.
“Babci (my mom) claims that there was an old woman at her church who used to steal flower arrangements from the graveyards to decorate her home with. What’s worse, stealing from the living taxpayers or from the dearly departed?”
Good God… how does that person even live with herself? Imagine she gets caught one day… how will she explain that? Setting aside the fact that it’s outright theft, the last thing I’d want in my house is stolen flowers that were given by loving companions of the deceased!
HA – that was pretty entertaining. The vivid descriptions paint the picture just as well as any video would have.
Sigh – unfortunately you’ve labeled the act as “tacky” and I have committed it before.
Back in my younger days, I had a way with the ladies. I will forever forget this one day in high school when I casually strolled over to my girlfriend’s house, picked her flowers out of her family’s front porch garden, and proceeded to get scolded by the mother when she realized they were HER flowers. 🙂 Needless to say, I think I charmed my way out of that debacle.
FinEngr – That’s actually pretty funny. Kudos to you for charming your way out of that move:)
Sometimes you see things that are just so over the top it leaves you dumbfounded! I wouldn’t even consider taking public flowers for myself. I do hope manners make a comeback…soon!
A friend of mine was in her yard when she heard a car stop in the alley. She walked over to see what was up — and saw a woman filling her arms with flowers from her garden! When the woman looked up and saw she’d been caught, she smiled and said, “You have so many, I didn’t think you’d miss a few,” and added she was having a party that night and wanted flowers for the table.
Whaaaaaa?
Here’s the beauty part: She is married to a judge!!!!!
I told my friend she should have reached into the car, pulled the woman’s wallet out of her purse and taken a few bills, saying, “You have so many, I don’t think you’ll miss a few.”
Donna – that’s funny and very ironic. Interesting how some folks can rationalize things.