But then it seemed like something else was going on. Nobody was leaving or talking to each other. They were just sort of milling about. Seemingly anxious or something. There was a buzz in the air like something was about to happen. Like a protest or something. I couldn’t figure out what was going on so Roscoe and I pulled over to watch for whatever was coming next…

A minute or two later, a dumpster was carted out of Trader Joes. Then another. Then another. And they were parked along side the building. The people waiting around immediately started digging in the dumpsters. Not like a frenzy but definitely rushed. They were pulling out big plastic bags and ripping them open. Inside were fruits and vegetables. Much of it was shrinkwrapped. Like straight off the shelves. I couldn’t see what else was in there.

I was sort of stunned. These people were dumpster diving at my local Trader Joe’s. They knew when the trash was coming out and were waiting for it. It wasn’t the idea of people getting food that way that surprised me. And I was glad the food wasn’t going to waste. Nor am I snobbish about street stuff. (Hey, I got a few pieces of furniture in my place brought in from the curb…) it just was the clientele was surprising. Because this wasn’t like a homeless situation at all. Some of the divers looked like straight out hipsters or parents.

Then I wondered if maybe they were all doing it for some sort of charity? Like maybe they were gathering the food to donate somewhere else? Or something? But it wasn’t that vibe. It was too rushed. Too excited. Plus, if they were a charity organization I’m sure they could work out something better with Trader Joe than having them huck it all in a dumpster and carting it outside “for charity”.

I gotta admit it freaked me out a little. Sign of the economy stuff or whatever? These ‘regular’ people were grabbing up the goodies from the trash. But then again, most of the stuff was shrinkwrapped or in plastic bags– and the food was probably entering their very first day of expiration. It was far from “gross”.

So when I saw some dude walking away with a full plastic bag of perfectly decent groceries and throwing it in the back of his car– I kinda shrugged and was like, ‘Whatever. Pride or less pride or whatever— that dude just got a free bag of groceries! Good for him!’

But still… I did feel weird taking out my camera. So I didn’t.

ok bye!
tOdd

PS. Here’s pics I took a while ago when Trader Joes first opened…

UPDATE: Apparently I’m a bit of an ignoramusus about what was going on here. (most likely freegans and anti-waste people. not like hard-times people necessarily). And didn’t mean to seem jerky or judgmental at all. In fact, to mention pride was wrong. Now that I’m clear on it– this apparently doesn’t have to do with pride– seems more like it has to do with attitude. Just hadn’t seen it before and that was what’s happening.

Including some feedback from the April Fools situation and some other randoms etc yadda…
—————————————-

From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: SSUP
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 19:22:46 -0700

Hey Your Oddness,

You don’t mind if we have a local chapter of SUPP, do you? Of course I’m not
supposed to be telling you about this since it’s super secret, but some
folks were paranoid that we could get in trouble, or something. There will
be cupcakes.

-Mike
Portland, Oregon
Land of the highest unemployment in the nation on a fairly consistent basis

———————————————

From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 14:55:25 -0400
Subject: “upset”

I was totally going to ask for a free magnet even though I thought the April fool’s joke was funny but you got me with the *. Always one step ahead of me!

I never wrote before so… thanks for making me laugh when I’m at work.

Chris
———————————————

Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 13:20:54 +0530
Subject: Query about oddtodd.com/DFarchive.html
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com

Hello,

This is John, a game addict. Being a lover of online games I spend maximum time on playing various online games. I liked the collection of games atoddtodd.com/DFarchive.html – a lot to play this weekend! So do you randomly pick the games or is there any specific criteria? Will be great for your reply.

Warm regrds,
John Smith

———————————————
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: April Fools Uncool
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 14:21:58 -0700

Sorry man. I usually am right with ya, but this one really was just not cool. Personal pet reasons like many others.

A free mag would be a apropos apology, but your explanation on your website does the trick.

Here is my addy.

Paul
———————————————
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: I really believed your post because
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 15:40:56 -0400

I had to really give my beloved “Kitty the Wonderdog” away 2 years ago. She’s ok and I get to visit her. I was not home enough to give her the attention she needed and my son was getting older and staying late at school for activities etc, leaving Kitty alone for 10 – 12 hours a day. She is a maltese and they are very cuddly and needy.

She lives on the Upper West Side now with my friend’s parents and is fat and spoiled now. I guess now that I live in Phoenix, I may never see her again except in pictures.

So, I believed you.

Send me Elf Up!

Susanne
———————————————
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: Coolio funlink
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:01:42 -0400

If you haven’t seen it already, this site is hilarious. ThereIFixedIt.com.

Also thanks for dealing with the issue with the comments. Those losers that live to type the word “first” are my Monday’s Annoyance. What’s with the first thing anyway? First to say absolutely nothing, if you ask me so what the heck is their point?
———————————————
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: Was Very Sad…
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 02:07:07 -0400

Todd, I totally believed that post, and could picture every word as I read it.
You were very convincing; paradoxically, I read it in disbelief.
I was very sad to read it, you totally got me.
I do believe that you love Roscoe very much.
I would love an elf-up magnet to mark the occasion when OddTodd almost had me in tears.

P.S. I hate April Fool’s Day (but not in a bad way).
Your friend,
Heather
———————————————
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:46:07 -0400
Subject: Roscoe
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com

Hey Todd, yours was one of the first I visited yesterday and it pretty
much bummed me out for the rest of the day. I remember when u first
got roscoe, when he got his teeth out, even when he pooped in front of
the church. i was sad there would be no more roscoe stories and
remember when my parents put my dog chief up on an adoption site
i would totally love a magnet– Justin,xxxxxxxxxxx

thanks for the site and all you do–
viva,
Justin
———————————————
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: April Fool
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 05:16:42 -0400

Todd,
I got to say, man that your site is becoming lower and lower on my list of daily sites I visit. I know you are busy and I know that you have more pressing issues and Im glad you are working. But I LIVED for your cartoons when I was unemployed. They cheered me up and gave me, little as it was, something to look forward to on a regular basis. Is it really THAT hard to crank out an Odd Todd cartoon now and then? I was really looking forward to seeing what you were going to do with April fool and the thought of giving away your dog never crossed my mind. That was pretty low. And pretty lame too.

Send me a magnet, Im pissed and upset. Probably shouldn’t be over a stupid website but that was pretty close to the last straw.

Still love ya, man. Just disappointed

JON
———————————————
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:44:59 -0700
From:
Subject: A gift of laugh for Odd Todd
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com

Dear Odd Todd

Many thanks for many laughs and mucho fun over the years. In return I share with you my latest and greatest. You will belly laugh.

Good vibes 4-ever! Pantucci!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkIDZlMavEw
———————————————
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 12:11:38 -0400
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: Extra pet sensitive.

Dear tOdd,

I’m not a fan of April Fools, period. But I think at the very least,
innocents such as children and animals should be kept out of all the
mayhem. I lost my much loved dog around Christmas 2000. Granted that’s
been a long time, but I still feel the loss pretty deeply at times. One
of those times was yesterday with your prank. That’s why it upset me
and perhaps why it upset others with similar stories. I’m not mad at
you, cuz I don’t really know you (though we share the same birthday!),
but sometimes you can be a complete butthead. So yeah, I think I’d like
that magnet.

By the way, the reason it was so believable for me is because your site,
and by extension your life, seem to be undergoing some changes/upheavals
lately. I miss your cartoons (I was especially disappointed by not
having a much appreciated Halloween cartoon last year). At this point
I’m thinking things aren’t going to go back to how they were when I
first came on board (c. 2002). But of course, you can’t be expected to
remain stagnant. I’ll try being more patient and wait for things to
evolve. Good things are on the horizon, no?

Sincerely,
G
———————————————
From
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: April Fool’s
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 08:51:51 -0500

Hi Todd,

You did have a really believable post yesterday. I did scroll down their site to see whether Roscoe was posted there. Even though people were mad, perhaps you introduced a few to this really nice-looking animal welfare group, and who knows – one of them may adopt a friend!

Barbara G
———————————————
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 09:25:13 -0600
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com

not sure about the magnet but MAN was i shocked and hurt and sad….my pets (blue the basset hound; walter etc) have been featured twice in your wednesday section and i have never been without an animal in the house since i got one waaay back in 1996…when i finally realized a dog was missing from the home….

you totally got me….so bad that it was one of those things you just gotta tell the girlfriend (she’s in the pet pics sometimes too—all beautiful and stuff) the very moment i saw her….it was sad news for us like hearing a friend had received mad medical news or worse…died…

damn i got taken….i guess on second thought i do need something to make my heart vibes good towards you again….Tanya’s pissed too so you better send two magnets…or she’ll write you too….

we’ll always love you but man you took us!!

mike
—————————————-
From:
To: oddtodd7@hotmail.com
Subject: Roscoe Apology
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 11:48:32 +0000

Todd -

I am the guy that got royally pissed off at the end of the messages xxxxxxxxxxx. Sorry I blew up disproportionately, but I was already aggravated when I read your story I couldn’t believe you would be that much of a prick to give away Roscoe. Then when you tried to make a joke out of it I thought about all the people who have had to find new places to live because of the recession and how many pets had to be given up to other or just abandoned and all the heartbreak involved, and seeing as I was already a bit aggravated I just blew up. Sorry.

I have been checking your site out for years and while you are generally funny the site has been going downhill. I understand that you have to pay the bills and all that but I remember a time when there were new cartoons that were funny all the time and games and the like. The procrastinating comments about new stuff coming real soon went from making me feel like “Awesome! Can’t wait!” to “Um, ok… soon I bet!” to “Quit lying to everyone! You aren’t making shit!”

Anyway, I still like your site, but I used to love it. I’ve done the Oscar pool and the duck race and I will gladly take a elf up magnet, but I have to say – if I had just started checking out your site in the last couple years I would have no idea who elf up was.

-T
—————————————-
Hi Todd,

I definitely bought the Roscoe story. And it made me sad. I actually thought about it a lot throughout the day. Saw picture in mind’s eye of him awaiting new owner like some cast away child from Dickens.

My address is:

Thanks,

John
—————————————-

Back in my kindergarten days around Easter time, I was in a class of like 25 kids. We were all hanging out busy playing with blocks or thinking of gum or whatever we did. But on that day, we were all super psyched because we knew at the end of class– if we were ‘good’– we’d all get an easter egg! Rumor was they had our names on em and everything! I think they were painted up by some teachers assistant or whatever..

Finally at the end of class, the teacher had everyone sit down like dogs and pant for our eggs. A table was set up for them! And there they were! The rumors were true! Different colors! Different styles! And unbelievably one of them up there had MY name on it! Treasure!

The teacher called up the first group. “If your first name is A through F… Come get your egg!” And the A-F kids all gathered around the table and snatched up their eggs. (I cursed my last place T name). Then G through L. The G-L’s all headed to the table. They all returned with coolio name-brand eggs. They showed them off to us still waiting. I couldn’t wait to see my egg…

“M through P come get your egg!” I was practically whizzing in my pants in eggtiscipation! (sorry) And then finally R through Z come get your egg! Four or five of us rushed to the table for our eggs. Robert got his. Sharon took hers. Foreign exchange Zeron got his. And I excitedly searched the table for my ‘Todd’ egg when it dawned on me that I was standing all alone. Just me. With only one blue egg left on the table. And that blue egg had the name ‘Ted’.

I think I went full blast tears on this one. Bawling tears. The teacher came over and apologized and quickly corrected the mistake with a sharpee or some shit. It looked worse. My egg was all sorts of f-ked up! I headed back to the group with my crossed out scribbled on defect egg. Utterly humiliated and crying.

Fortunately, in kindergarten kids aren’t smart enough to know it was a prime opportunity to start calling me Ted from there on out. It may have stuck…

ok bye!
tOdd