I Smell a Rat, No, That's Just the Garbage

There are three fourplex townhouse buildings here at the entrance to the neighborhood. I have been wondering why we have not had to pay for garbage pick-up. I just put my garbage at the curb like everyone else. Last week the garbage truck did not pick any of our garbage. Twelve families put garbage at the curb as usual. Now the garbage collection company, Republic Waste, has decided not to pick up our garbage unless our cans have a Republic Waste sticker on them. They left little neon green tags on the garbage with no stickers. They even put tags on plastic bags. The tags instructed the garbage owners to call the company and make arrangements to put stickers on the cans. I had the same company at the house where we used to live. They require prepayment before they will pick up the garbage. Funny, this was the same company the got in trouble with the City of Houston for charging the city for garbage that did not belong to the city. One of the local "undercover"tv reporters did a series on them. So, I guess as a result of that, Waste Management need to make sure they only pick up garbage from their customers.

When we first moved to Houston we lived in a fourplex in a similar residential area. The difference was that the building owner paid homeowners dues so we could use the pool and they also paid water and garbage bills. We just took out the trash and it was picked up. Not here. The question is who will blink first? One of our neighbors noticed that the trash had not been picked up and asked if we knew why. When she was told that she would now have to pay for it she was not happy. Good Christian girl that she is, her comment was "Hell no, we've been here for three years and have never had to pay. That garbage will sit there until they have to pick it up. So there it sits. This could get interesting, or at least smelly. And what about the animals that roam around at night? They will tear up those bags. And so the standoff begins...