Roosters and Recylcing

Ok, Oregonians are just weird. Hate me all you want, but seriously, a 9 foot tall rooster as a lawn ornament?!? I don't get the attraction. At all. And no, Amy, the rooster wasn't real!

Our trip into Oregon really began at the 7-11 just north of Keizer. On the way in my sister threw out her empty water bottle, not wanting to junk up the car. As we're walking in the clerk says something about 5 cents and, assuming she is talking to the person walking away from the register, we just ignored her. As we're paying for our new bottles of water, she proceeds to berate us for not recycling the bottle and how we just threw away 5 cents. My sister, smart as she is, fires back about the store not having a recycling receptacle and gives it right back to the clerk. We walk out of there with me laughing at the ridiculousness of it all and my sister vowing never to go in that place again. Thinking this is a one-off, my sister once again tries to dispose of an empty bottle by asking a clerk at Walgreens to throw it away for her. Since we'd bought the bottle at McDonald's, the clerk informs my sister that the bottle must be returned to McD's in order to get the 5 cent refund. After a few minutes of back and forth, the clerk still doesn't get it that we could careless about the 5 cents and just want to get rid of the damn bottle! Seriously? Can we not just throw the thing away? Again, we would have recycled if there was a specific bin for it, but of course there wasn't it! This same clerk then proceeds to give me some rant about how being married is overrated and can I tell she's divorced. Um, yeah, loud and clear! Somehow we get to talking about the ban on gay marriage in CA and how chickens have more rights than people. To get out of the conversation I say just kill the chicken and how "you can get another one for a $1.79." At which point my sisters laughs and we walk out singing sic 'em on a chicken. Let them think Californians are weird, at least we know how to recycle effectively!

BTW, there is no good reason why Taco Bell should be 50% more expensive just because you are in the backwoods of Oregon!