# My neighbor threw tuna fish in my recycling can **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567 "2013-12-05T12:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/81 "2013-12-06T12:10:04Z")
> [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > You sound like a terrible person. I bleached my ‘goddamned recycle bin’ cause it stunk like rotting fish. Only a dirty person would think this is ok, which makes you seem like filthy/arrogant scum. Eat a dick. > [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > They weren’t placed inside the bin. They were DUMPED inside purposely. There’s a huge difference. I guess people on here don’t mind the smell of rotting fish. If that makes me a drama queen in your eyes, so be it. Some of you just sound like a bunch of bullies with no lives. I pride myself on being a bit of a neat freak. I’m also not above bleaching and cleaning the inside of my trash can so my garage doesn’t stink like the town landfill. Having said that, you’ve got issues that have nothing to do with the state of your trash bin. Also, I’m reluctant to believe you’ve stopped reading this thread. You care far too much what strangers think of you, even when they don’t think of you at all. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/82 "2013-12-06T13:46:02Z")
Have you considered throwing your recycling into a quarry at all? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/83 "2013-12-06T14:32:46Z")
Personally I think you people are crazy. Whether the OP has issues or not, tuna fish stinks to high heaven when its fresh and it is 10x worse when it is old and moldy and rotting. FTR, I have never once cleaned out my recycling bin, but then, no one dumped tuna fish in it either. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/84 "2013-12-06T14:59:29Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Personally I think you people are crazy. Whether the OP has issues or not, tuna fish stinks to high heaven when its fresh and it is 10x worse when it is old and moldy and rotting. FTR, I have never once cleaned out my recycling bin, but then, no one dumped tuna fish in it either. While I do think that’s a little odd (garbage in general smells worse to me than tuna fish), that’s not really the main point here. It’s more the immediate thought that this was a “vindictive” act and then the whole eruption of emotion that followed over such a trivial matter. If this were my thread and I got those responses, I’d say “Oh, thanks for the reality check. Looks like I am thinking about this a bit too much” and, like you said, don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity/ignorance/inattention. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/85 "2013-12-06T15:22:28Z")
For future reference, the simple way to clean out a trash can is to take it to one of those coin-operated DIY car washes with the big wands that hang down from the ceiling. How to get it there (if you don’t have a pickup truck or similar) is an exercise left for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![AlaskanMatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@AlaskanMatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlaskanMatt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/86 "2013-12-06T15:24:01Z")
> [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > I’m so done with this board. I honestly feel like I’m surrounded by children. If you’re going to insult people, don’t expect them to be nice. I’m canceling my account. So many of you are gross/pathetic people. To call me a drama queen and all of these names and then be weird about me defending myself just reiterates the fact that catty people exist in this world. She dumped those cans FACE DOWN in the recycling. There was A LOT of food in them, which means she didn’t even feed the cat enough. I guess not feeding a cat, throwing rotting food in a bin when I gave her a plastic bag AND payed her makes me such a shitty/delusional person. YEAH OK. Seriously. Goodbye. You know, if you would have just posted about being annoyed by your neighbor throwing tuna all over in your recycling, you probably would have received mostly sympathetic comments. Your over-the-top assertions about your neighbor and what type of person she is because of this just turned that negative spotlight right onto you. It was, in all likelihood, a careless mistake. Not a catty attempt to get your goat because you are younger and in a relationship and she is an older single woman. The fact that you would go there, and over something so trivial, speaks volumes. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/87 "2013-12-06T15:54:55Z")
I think that the fact that the OP is now using the same terms to describe people on this board who do not agree with her that she used to describe her neighbor is telling. It seems like anyone who disagrees with her way of doing things is catty and childish. Also, her fixation on keeping her garbage can clean is weird. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/88 "2013-12-06T16:28:33Z")
> [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > That’s okay, but I’ll be weeping a little since you validating me was really all I wanted out of life lol Get real! I wanted opinions, but from people who actually read/UNDERSTOOD what I was mentioning in my post. It seems like most people didn’t get it at all. No, you wanted opinions that agreed with you and didn’t want opinions that didn’t. That is the very definition of validation. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/89 "2013-12-06T17:09:21Z")
> [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > I’m canceling my account. Do let us know how that turns out for ya. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/90 "2013-12-06T17:18:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Do let us know how that turns out for ya. [About as well as you’d expect.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=709696) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/91 "2013-12-06T17:48:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Also, her fixation on keeping her garbage can clean is weird. Right? It’s really bizarre how anal people can get about stuff that’s _supposed to be dirty_! Reminds me of a conversation I once had with a friend’s mother back in the day. A bunch of us had just moved into a house (most of us from our parent’s houses) and someone had their mother over for dinner. They were out on the deck in back. I went out there with an empty beer can to throw in the recycling bin, which was next to the deck stairs. As I was walking past them, my friend’s mother asked, “Did you rinse that out?” “Um …no? I mean, why would I?” I replied. “If you don’t it’ll attract bees.” she said. “Well… that’s why we keep it outside!” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/92 "2013-12-06T17:57:17Z")
In the OP’s defense on this one point only, a recycling bin isn’t for wet, dirty garbage or food waste. Our guy won’t take the bin if there’s food waste in it. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/93 "2013-12-06T17:58:13Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > [About as well as you’d expect.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=709696) Wow, that’s turning out great! Thanks for the link! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/94 "2013-12-06T18:04:17Z")
If an OP had come here and complained that their neighbor blew up because they threw tuna into the neighbors bin every poster would be against them. They would get told how rude, thoughtless, and probably illegal their action was. People would suggest they go out and buy their neighbor a new bin. One or two would advocate the death penalty for throwing tuna in a bin. 😛 Oh come on you know it is true, I have seen so many threads here where minor annoyances get turned into class one felonies once the peanut gallery is done with the thread. This is the board where leaving a dog outdoors is animal cruelty worthy of a police call. But when the OP poster rubs everyone the wrong way suddenly it is Bohemian hippy town where anything goes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/95 "2013-12-06T18:09:38Z")
I really don’t think most of the people are glomming onto the tuna bit as being the odd thing about the post. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/96 "2013-12-06T18:16:55Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Oh come on you know it is true, I have seen so many threads here where minor annoyances get turned into class one felonies once the peanut gallery is done with the thread. This is the board where leaving a dog outdoors is animal cruelty worthy of a police call. **But when the OP poster rubs everyone the wrong way** suddenly it is Bohemian hippy town where anything goes. bolding mine If the OP was _just_ about her neighbor throwing unrinsed cans in her bin, we’d probably have been behind her, or at least not given a fuck either way. In fact the first two dozen or so responses were perfectly (mostly) constructive, even supportive. …then the OP came back and opened up a 128-oz. can of insane all over everybody. Frankly now I _want_ to go find her and dump all my unrinsed cans in her bin. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/97 "2013-12-06T18:17:29Z")
It’s not the tuna, **grude**. It’s what the tuna represents. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/98 "2013-12-06T18:25:54Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > It’s not the tuna, **grude**. It’s what the tuna represents. dunno - smells fishy to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/99 "2013-12-06T18:27:57Z")
> [@mayaonfiya222](#): > > So, in the history of the world, there have been no jealous/catty women and I’m just completely delusional? Sure there are, but we expect these kinds of situations to involve murder and suicide. So recycling is kind of a let down. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567/100 "2013-12-06T18:29:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > It’s not the tuna, **grude**. It’s what the tuna represents. Might just be me, but I got not-dolphin-free-tuna vibes from the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbor-threw-tuna-fish-in-my-recycling-can/675567.md?page=6)