City vs. Suburb Perspective

Matt and I have been hard at work outfitting the nursery and getting ready for Baby Jackson for the past couple of months. We are working hard at cutting corners and keeping costs at a minimum so I've been scouring Craigslist for all the deals I can find. Baby stuff is typically only used for a short time so you can get relatively new items for a fraction of the price. So, Friday we spent the day driving around the suburbs picking up baby supplies. We started the morning off in North Riverside, about 40 minutes from our condo in the suburbs. Right when we were pulling off the freeway Matt got a call that his work was closing for the day due to the 9 inches of snow we were getting in the middle of March (gotta love the Midwest), and because he's one of the supervisors, he had a lot of people to contact and let know of the change. So we pulled into a parking spot right off the main road so that he could start making the calls. I noticed a large dumpster next to our car so I thought I would throw away some wrapping paper from a gift that I had received in the mail that morning and my Starbucks cup. I was two steps out of the car when I heard an angry voice yell at me to get back in the car. I looked around and saw an old man hiding behind some bushes/shrubs/trees and I said, "I'm sorry sir?" because I thought I misheard him. He growled at me again to get back in the car and get away from the dumpster. I jumped in the car with wrapping paper and cup still in hand and told Matt that I thought the guy was going to shoot us. Matt rolled his window down and asked if there was a problem but the old guy just yelled for us to stay in the car. We both looked at each other and shrugged. Matt assured me that he only had a few more calls to make and then we would leave. We were there for 10 minutes when three separate police cars showed up. The old man had called the cops on us for an illegal dumping!!!!!!! When the officer approached our vehicle, he asked if we were the reason for him coming out. "I don't think so..." Matt said, because obviously three seperate policemen were not needed for this, but they spoke to the crazy old coot and he said we were making an illegal dumping! I told the officer that I thought it was a public dumpster and that nothing was put in it after I was yelled at. The old man still went over to look in the dumpster to see if anything had been deposited. Are you kidding me?!?! We apologized to the officer for the misunderstanding and drove away. As we drove off I said to Matt, "That man would save so many tax dollars by just purchasing cable and giving himself something to do." I am so glad that we live in the city where we call the police for gang violence, gun shots and drugs. We don't have time for that petty stuff. Still, the event made me laugh.