"Not bad for money" old people
Why love picking up "babies" from the trash
Expert: Children should accompany their parents more, some may be a sign of illness
After 9 o'clock in the evening, Grandma Jiang closed the door softly, holding a white snakeskin bag and preparing to walk downstairs. She heard a noise from the trash can at the corner of the residential building, and she trot.
"The voice is quite loud. I know how many treasures there are for sale. I won't be able to pick it up when my daughter comes back."
Granny Jiang lives with her daughter, and she rents out her slightly dilapidated house. The rent is 1,000 yuan a month, plus a monthly pension of 3200 yuan. She said that she "is not bad in fact."
But like some elderly people, she loves to pick up "babies" from the trash, and Granny Jiang can't change it.
The old man is not short of money, he wants to find something to do
"I know how many people lost things in one night. I got up earlier than the mother-in-law over there. I can't afford to go earlier. The car was towed away early in the morning." 72-year-old Aunt Liu worked in a public institution before retiring. My son died of cancer two years ago, and his son is the deputy general manager of an investment company.
Unlike Granny Jiang, she often runs to the trash can in the community at four or five in the morning.
Aunt Liu said frankly that when she first went to the trash can to pick up things, she was afraid that others would be embarrassed, so she went out at night. I didn’t expect to meet people at night, so I just picked it up early in the morning. People wake up.
"You often take express delivery. You can sell these boxes, as well as bottles and cans. How difficult it was for us at that time, young people should save some."
The front doors of the three neighbors’ houses are clean and clean, and in front of Grandma Tang’s house, there are always some packaging bags that contain empty plastic bottles, rusty iron locks and water pipes. Scrap.
When the reporter walked near Grandma Tang’s house, he happened to see a guy putting three courier boxes in front of her house. “Everyone knows that she loves picking up things and there is something to sell, so we took the initiative to deliver them.”
“It’s pretty boring to be alone in the house. I want to find something to do. After I come back, I will wash my hands.” Grandma Tang pointed to the disinfectant placed in her room and told reporters that she was 80 years old this year and worked as a director of a state-owned enterprise. retirement.
When passing by a shop in front of a residential building, she saw the clerk throwing large cardboard boxes into the trash can. Sometimes, several large boxes could not fit in the trash can. She felt it was a pity that she picked it up at home.
The reporter saw at Grandma Tang’s house that bundles of paper shells filled nearly half of the living room, and three rice bags in the corner contained plastic bottles and cans.
"The price of paper seems to be going up recently. Fortunately, I waited two or three months and didn't sell it. I didn't go to my granddaughter's house during the Chinese New Year last year. After these are sold, I can give her more red envelopes this year." Grandma Tang covered her mouth. Said with a smile.
"The selling price in our community is lower, which is quite unaffordable. If a few cents are a few cents, you will spend less money on grocery shopping." The 80-year-old Grandpa Quan, a former university professor, sold the things he found. He always walks to the three nearby junkyards to ask about prices.
The headache for community workers is that Grandpa Quan sometimes hoards some waste products and does not sell them, and the family becomes a garbage den.
"Going out and picking up something is like walking and exercising. It's better than staying at home."
Children can't persuade them, don't know what to do
"I told her many times that the things I picked up were unhygienic. She promised not to pick them up and started picking them again after a while." Talking about her mother's habit of picking up things and going home, Ms. Zhao, the daughter of Granny Jiang sighed.
Ms. Zhao remembered that once she accidentally kicked an old locked suitcase under her mother’s bed. She thought she had bought it herself. After opening it, she discovered that it contained more than half of a smashed can. A few were put in before they could step on it.
Worried that too much mother felt sad, so she had to open one eye and close one eye.
Ms. Zhao said guiltily that her mother often waited until she was asleep. Once when she returned home after working overtime at 11 o'clock, her mother fell asleep alone on the sofa, and she hadn't drank a cup of tea on the table.
"Work is busy, maybe it's because I spend less time with her. Now I don't go out very much during small holidays, so I can spend more time with her."
"My mother is getting older. She always goes out to pick up waste products. It is probably a little empty. She has been persuaded to persuade many times." Grandma Tang’s son recalled, probably after his father passed away, his mother started to pick things at home often. Because he couldn't persuade him, he didn't know what to do.
"At the time, some neighbors thought that I was not filial and didn't give my mother money, and they even told me about me."
The residential building where Grandma Tang lives is backed by a bustling commercial street.
A staff member of a clothing store on the street told reporters that colleagues knew that Grandma Tang often came to pick up cartons, so she told her to throw cartons in the afternoon when the shift was over. When the time came, when the elderly came to pick them up, everyone would pretend not to See her.
"We will unpack the cartons in advance and open them here. When there are too many boxes, we will leave a few plastic ties."
"Many people living in the building are elderly people, and the paper shells are burning terribly." The deputy director of the community where Tang is located said bluntly, because she and the grid staff would visit the elderly's house from time to time because they were worried about the fire. There are too many waste paper boxes in the old man's house. Everyone will push a cart in a day or two to coax her to push the things away and sell them.
"Sometimes when I met her looking through the trash can at night, I was afraid she would be embarrassed, so I didn't say hello to her."
Parents of experts need to accompany, some are signs of illness
Zhou Yunqing, a professor in the Department of Sociology of Wuhan University, believes that some elderly people have experienced a relatively hard life and have developed the habit of diligence and frugality to manage the house. Diligence and frugality are valuable qualities. The living habits of the elderly should be respected and understood, and they should not be blamed too much. .
People are members of society. After retirement, the elderly have reduced their contact with society, and they will feel marginalized by society. Social activities should increase contact and communication with others.
The community can play the role of sinking party members, volunteers, grid members and other personnel, and regularly visit the elderly living alone in empty nests to let them feel the care from the society.
“Loneliness is a bigger problem for the elderly. The phenomenon of old people living alone like picking up things is more obvious.” said Li Xianfu, director of Wuhan Sino-German Psychological Research Institute. Some elderly people like to pick up trash, which is actually conducive to the reuse of waste products. From this perspective, this behavior is beneficial to society and can guide them to be volunteers for garbage sorting.
Elderly people need to have spiritual sustenance and self-identification, by picking up waste products in exchange for money and things to supplement the family, this makes them feel that they have realized their self-worth from the heart, and they will become addicted over time.
"Children should consider the inner needs and feelings of their parents, and spend more time with their parents to reduce their inner loneliness."
Xiao Jinsong, chief physician of the Department of Neurology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, told reporters that unlike the old people who like to dig through the trash bins in the community, some old people will hoard the trash at home and not sell it. Such old people may suffer from hoarding.
"Hoarding addiction" is a mental disorder. Some elderly people with "hoarding addiction" may be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.
Xiao Jinsong suggested that if the elderly at home often go out to pick up trash, especially if there is hoarding, it is best for children to take the elderly to the hospital for psychological evaluation.
For elderly friends with such habits, Professor Li Wei, medical director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital, reminded that bacteria and viruses can easily breed in trash cans and garbage dumps.
During the epidemic prevention and control period, masks and other protective items are used in large quantities. Avoid picking up waste needles, medicine bottles, masks and other wastes. If you come into contact with waste products, you must wash your hands repeatedly when you return home. If you do not pay attention to hygiene, you will increase the risk of infection. .
Reporter Xu Jinbo