Why don't folks care as much about clean streets as they do about clean ears?

 

If I had to say which item I find littered on the streets of OGCLE territory more than any other, it is the Q-tip (or off-brand cotton-tipped swab). At first I thought these must have fallen out of garbage bags/cans when people put their trash out. It's unlikely, but what is the alternative?- that people walk around cleaning their ears in public? I've never actually witnessed a Q-tip in use on the streets, but they are EVERYWHERE. Here are photos of a couple that I passed just this morning walking one block. WTF??!?! 

 

So maybe people aren't using them to perform ear hygiene. The only other use for them that I know of is to apply make-up. But I've never seen any that have make-up on them. So what's the deal-a-roo?!? (actually, I probably do not want to know).

A Q-tip blooms

Yummy, this one looks well used.

 

In case you're wondering, the second most common item I find all over the streets and sidewalks is the used dental pick. Gross as it is, it makes a little more sense- I mean, people could be coming from restaurants and picking the remnants of dinner out of their teeth. Of course, flossing in public and then tossing the used pick on the sidewalk is disgusting. But it makes more sense than cleaning your ears in public.

Nothing should surprise me anymore.

FWIW, I did pluck up these two Q-tips after photographing them. Some bloggers photograph this kind of stuff and just leave it there, and they get their blogs featured in Gothamist and other local news outlets. I'm not bitter though, really I'm not!* (*That's a little CBT I'm performing on myself; I'll let you know if it works.) Hey, the person who picks up a stranger's used hygiene products has a right to be bitter.

Here's a funny thing that happened recently though. The other night I was b*tching to my poor husband about this while we were exiting the train station (which always has quite a collection of Q-tips and dental picks). I said, "Why do people leave dental picks and Q-tips all over the place?!?" and a man walking by, without skipping a beat, said, "Oh, those are mine, sorry." Har har. Actually, I did laugh out loud when he said that; but overall, the situation is a sad, pathetic reflection on human behavior.