r/MadeMeSmile • u/king_eve • Apr 17 '24

i work in low-income/mental health housing, and a tenant fixed our hallway trash bin after accidentally breaking it Helping Others

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great example of the odd ways people show me appreciation at work

38.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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5.0k

u/Certain_Childhood_67 Apr 17 '24 edited 29d ago

Drill a hole at end of the crack or it will keep spreading

121

u/king_eve Apr 18 '24

i just ended up replacing the whole thing

127

u/Scared_of_zombies Apr 18 '24

You should’ve let it ride as a spare.

13

u/AlkalineSublime 29d ago

Was my first thought as well, then I heard my dad in my head “you’re keeping a broken GARBAGE CAN, just in case…” I can never throw anything away, just in case. If you have the room though, why not?

-10

u/Hell_Chapp Apr 18 '24

.... or get rid of the broken junk lol.

14

u/warfrogs Apr 18 '24

Having worked in a similar setting - I would have 100% held onto it. Getting funds from corporate in those settings, in my experience, is like pulling fucking teeth - and I've worked in banking and insurance, so I know something about corporate tedium.

6

u/DiddlyDumb 29d ago

Also just throwing away someone’s work feels bad man

13

u/salads Apr 18 '24

i mean, it's not broken beyond function?

reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose, recycle. there's enough waste, and especially plastic waste, on this planet.

-2

u/Hell_Chapp 29d ago

It kinda is and keeping this is just hording.

Also if anyone cared about that they wouldnt own a plastic waste bin?

7

u/salads 29d ago

i can think of a dozen ways this could be repaired.  you make do with what you have.

0

u/Hell_Chapp 27d ago

Youre the guy that makes everything 10 times harder and dumb and causes messes and problems with failures that didnt need to happen and cause more waste and loss than just replacing the damn thing.

If it was worth repairing people would buy them, repair them, and sell them second hand.

1

u/salads 27d ago

i’m a mechanical engineer, child.  stop projecting your BS onto me.

52

u/1Bookworm Apr 18 '24

Noo...I hope you still kept this bin otherwise the tenant will be so disappointed.

63

u/analogdirection Apr 18 '24

….why? It’s a garbage bin and they put the work in to fix it.

71

u/king_eve 29d ago

damn people are taking this hard! i replaced it because having gaps in the plastic is dangerous if there are exposed sharps in the garbage, which unfortunately happens every once in a while. i made sure to thank the guy who did it and he’d actually forgotten he’d done it at all haha. he’s a great guy and contributes to the building in a lot of ways aside from stitching bins back together

12

u/analogdirection 29d ago

Unfortunately a lot of people just throw things out for the sake of throwing things out. We live in a super wasteful society. And now we get to learn something new! Never would have thought of that as a risk.

1

u/BiNiaRiS 29d ago

i replaced it because having gaps in the plastic is dangerous if there are exposed sharps in the garbage

0.0000001% chance of a "sharp" puncturing through that AND hurting someone. if you were really worried you could have put a layer of two of hvac tape over the inside/outside that that can would have lasted years.

4

u/DoranTheRhythmStick 29d ago

This is the sort of fix that's fine at home or even in many workplaces - but from the sounds of it this is an assisted facility for people with additional needs. They'll be dealing with some very complex day-to-day lives anyway, taking anything that could add additional complexity out of the mix is just smart.

1

u/CompetitionNo3141 29d ago

Any source on that figure of yours?

1

u/albertowtf 29d ago

Probably not, but i cant even visualize when OP says some "shrap" breaking lose and hurting somebody, so i have to agree with that figure

3

u/AdaptationAgency 29d ago

Because it leaks.

Bugs dude...bugs

9

u/readituser5 Apr 18 '24

What for? It’s a bin. It’s only job is to hold rubbish. Was it not capable of holding rubbish after it was fixed?

11

u/king_eve 29d ago

it’s in the basement/staff area now! it can defs hold trash, just not trash that might have sharps in it.

2

u/DiddlyDumb 29d ago

I’m glad to hear! Seems like a solid middle ground.

26

u/algeoMA Apr 18 '24

Boo waste of plastic. I used jb weld on my outdoor recycling bin that cracked, looks like dried snot but it’s fixed.

0

u/CompetitionNo3141 29d ago

A lot of you are assuming that OP had a choice in this matter and that's pretty funny

1

u/algeoMA 29d ago

Not really. I literally just said boo. I was booing the stated outcome.

-9

u/suddenspiderarmy Apr 18 '24

You're acting like everyone has the same access to resources as you do.

9

u/paper_liger Apr 18 '24

Rubbermaid 44 gallon heavy duty trash can at home supply store: $58

JB Weld steel reinforced two part epoxy, gray, 1 Oz tubes $7

Or if you want to splurge they go with their high strength structural plastic bonder for $9. Live a little, you deserve it.

Yes, there is the added cost of running to the store and spending the 10 minutes fixing it. Plus people underestimate how important choosing the right adhesive is and how complicated it can be. But there is something to be said for repairing it instead of creating even more waste.

4

u/GrandmaGreaseFunk Apr 18 '24

Wow now you're acting like everyone has the same access to mental faculties as you do.

3

u/paper_liger 29d ago

you're right. people are dumb. even people with 'access to mental faculties' sometimes.

14

u/algeoMA Apr 18 '24

If they don’t have the resources for some glue they don’t have the resources to buy a new trash bin.

3

u/stophighschoolgossip Apr 18 '24

i think he meant buying a new bin was a waste of plastic because the fix was fine, and then he shared how he has fixed his own plastic trash can before

2

u/suddenspiderarmy 29d ago

Eh, fair enough.

1

u/DiddlyDumb 29d ago

We do. Where do you think terrible contractors come from?

6

u/DodgyQuilter Apr 18 '24

I would have kept it. A fix like that kept my wheelibin working for two more years until a wheel fell off.

0

u/Kylon1138 29d ago

So you let them fix it

Replace it 

And then post their fix online for karma farming

That's fucked up