Business Ventures of the Ghetto Kind

Meet my favorite neighborhood character.

I am not sure of his name, but for sake of being kind, we will call him The Grocery Cart Man (TGCM), and refrain from referring to him as "The Crackhead" until evidence has proven his head is indeed made of crack.

TGCM routinely rummages through the random yuppie garbage spread about the community, and sells it to migrant workers that live (i.e. drink) adjacent to my home. It's alway interesting to see what today's prize is. In the above picture, a tarp of some sort was the product du jour. I have seen him carrying an entire sofa in his stolen cart, topped with a bottle of laundry detergent. Once, I put a broken vaccuum cleaner (it literally spit ball-bearings everywhere as the smell of burning hair and rubber began to linger) out on the curb the night before trash day, only to find it misssing the next morning, and maybe it's just a hunch, but my bet is some body made a very disappointing purchase that day. I take that back, the cart might not be stolen. For all I know, this businessman could have sponsors for his grocery cart - Walmart, Krogers, the 99cent store - they could all be paying him to do PR by driving their carts around the area for a week. Genius idea, really. What amazes me, is the urgency and sense of mission with which TGCM moves around in the evening. And don't you even THINK about getting on the same road as this gentleman when there are sales to be made - he will run you over, in your vehicle or not! Time is money people. And when you've got the shakes and need a fix, not even a large engine will stop you.