A Cornucopia of Condominium Crap

Earlier this year, stuff started showing up in the lobby of our condo building.  Random stuff.  Sometimes hilarious, random stuff.  There's a fake fireplace in the entryway and the top of it is the perfect location for folks to leave their crap that they no longer want, but feel that someone else may still want.  It's not an original idea and I can appreciate the "waste not, want not" attitude, but our building's management apparently feels it's not acceptable.  Probably since they're still trying to sell some units in the building and walking in to see some one's garbage may not make the best first impression.  It was brought up at the last Owner's meeting of the Homeowners Association and residents were told not to participate in this practice anymore.  Well, either the person/people responsible for the goody-leaving missed that meeting or they've just prioritized the sharing of their stuff over following the rules, because every few weeks it seems something else shows up.

The first 3 occurrences were the most hilarious.  Sadly, I didn't think to start taking pics until the 3rd time, so I missed out on photo documentation of the first two.  But here are reasonable likenesses of them:

First:

An industrial-sized can of Pickled White Asparagus Spears.  Like something you'd find at Costco or, perhaps more likely, a restaurant supply store.  This was easily a lifetime supply of Pickled White Asparagus Spears for about 12 people.  Can't imagine why it wasn't wanted.

2nd:

That's right, kids.  Your very own 2010 Il Divo calendar.  For those unfamiliar with the vocal stylings of Il Divo, they are the Operatic Super Group manufactured by Simon Cowell.  To my limited knowledge of them, they sing mostly adult contemporary songs that have already become popular by other singers, but they sing them in Italian.  And Opera.  It's bizarre.  Check out a sample with this take on a Mariah Carey song here.  But they're very handsome and do have a following - just not in the condo of one of our neighbors, apparently, who I'm guessing got it as a White Elephant Christmas gift or from someone with either awful or hysterical taste in gifts.  We discovered this one evening on our way out with some friends.  They claimed to know someone who would, for some reason, enjoy a different pic of these guys for every month of 2010, so they took it.  But last I heard, they never gave it away.  So either they've kept it for themselves and have a secret love of these Italian stallions, or it is sitting in a box somewhere, depriving a true fan of real happiness.  Kinda sad, either way.

3rd:

By this time, I realized I'd been missing out on some golden opportunities, and finally thought to take a pic.  I think it's nice that they offer a pair for both before and after Labor Day.

I lost track of the order I've taken the rest of the pics, but here they are:

Hopefully someone was able to get some help from this.  Made me wonder if the person giving it up had successfully faced codependency and was moving forward, or if they gave up trying.  Is their offering of this book a way to be anonymously needed by someone else?  I'm sure I'm thinking too much about it...

If Z hadn't scored a free, big calculator when the mover left it as we moved out of our place in NYC, I think he would've been all over this one.  He likes big calculators.  That may somehow be Freudian, come to think of it.

Day planner, anyone? 

Pretty self-explanatory.

At least the previous magazines could provide some useful info.  These are just garbage.  I'm not saying I didn't look at the headlines and think about grabbing one to read, I'm just saying...

These are cat toys.  And a mat to go beneath a cat food bowl.  This one makes me kind of sad after I laugh, because apparently something happened where a cat no longer needed these things.  I prefer to think that the cat just had a different taste in toys and decor, not that they got rid of the cat or that he/she went to live on a farm...

(Special shout-out to our neighbor and friend, Eric, who spied this one day and, knowing of my photo collection and fearing that I'd miss this, sent me the pic.  I do believe he and his lovely wife, Lacey, also sent me another pic of something they found in the lobby once before, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was or where that pic is...)

This is a bag of cat food cans, which initially worried me, given the above pic of the toys.  But the note says "Please help yourself.  My cat won't eat."  So if we're to assume this is from the same person, hopefully the cat who didn't like the above toys is still alive and well, just a finicky eater.

It'd been a while since anything had shown up.  I often find myself feeling a bit of nervous excitement as I enter the lobby, hoping that I'm going to find some new bit of comedy gold.  But I don't usually find myself hoping that there's going to be something I might actually want.  That all changed yesterday.

Z had the day off and texted me a picture of the latest drop-off he discovered.  At first glance, it was mildly funny but mostly just exciting because something new had been added:

But then I looked more closely and realized that one of these books was actually one that I've been wanting to read!  I had a brief flash of hesitation before quickly texting my husband back to ask him to pick up "the one with the dog on it" ("The Art of Racing in the Rain").

I'm not sure where that leaves me in all this.  Can I still make fun of the situation if I'm now actively taking part in it?  I mean, I'm not leaving stuff there.  And I don't know what happens to the stuff when it's not taken by someone who actually wants it, anyway.  Things are never there for long and I have a hard time believing that some of these things are so desirable that they are snatched up immediately, so I imagine building management gathers and discards anything they find.  If I didn't take that book, wouldn't it likely have ended up in the garbage?  And it's a hardcover book with a solid reputation that's in like-new condition - not a pair of used, white high heels or a bag of cat food.  So it's not weird that I took it, right?  I can still make fun of the other stuff, right? 

Well I plan to, regardless.

And if I get any more pics, I'll be sure to share them here.