Blocks from the White House

Went into the city today to visit these folks. Parked in my usual alley garage.

After dropping off my car I wended my way through the alley, weaving around large delivery trucks and dumpsters. Usually when there are delivery trucks delivering there are also delivery men. Today there were just two wide open trucks and no people in sight. I noticed two large (like 3-gallon-sized large) containers perched near the bumper inside one of the trucks. They were filled with whole peppercorns. One hell of a lot of peppercorns.

Later, when I returned to get my car, the delivery trucks were long gone. The row of green dumpsters perched at odd angles along one side of the alleyway remained. As I passed one of the dumpsters I glanced over. There I saw a man in the universally recognizable "man urinating" posture. I stifled an amused snicker as I walked on. Yes, you read that right. I saw a man peeing in an alley in the middle of the afternoon and I was inspired to snicker. Is something wrong with me?

I heard him call out "Sorry about that ma'am. So sorry!"

Suddenly I wondered about appropriate etiquette.
What type of response would Miss Manners endorse?

Since she wasn't there to consult, I improvised by giving a wave of acknowledgement over my shoulder as I chuckled to myself. Because it felt silly. Felt silly to have a man who felt comfortable enough to relieve himself in an alley in the middle of the afternoon feel socially responsible enough to apologize to me over it.

Human beings are fascinating creatures.

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