Chewing Gum Litter Bugs!

Please Leave Your Chewing Gum On The Bedpost!

Those of you at a certain age will no doubt remember the song, “Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?” It was a single released in 1959 and sung by Lonnie Donegan. It is an irritating song but not as irritating as the thousands of people who prefer to leave their chewing gum at the doorways of stores and restaurants and public buildings!

Those dark spots you see on the concrete at the entrances to buildings are of course the remnants of some inconsiderate bloke discarding his or her’s chewing gum on the sidewalk. Heck, today we were walking into a restaurant and there must have been over a hundred chewing gum remnants at the entrance way! Sure is appetizing isn’t it!

Now we are told by the chewing gum producers and merchants that chewing gum is good for our teeth, our gums and our breath. And of course as the commercial states it is a good way to “double our pleasure and double our fun”. Yeah right, how does one doubling their fun and then leaving a wad of gum at an entranceway translate into my having fun especially when I inadvertently step into the gum! Just the other day I unknowingly stepped into some gum and only realized it when it appeared on the floor mat of our car. The cleanup process became a sticky mess.

So who are these chewing gum litter bugs who are defacing doorways and leaving gum in inconspicuous places so that we can step in it? Maybe the same people who placed gum under school desks when they were growing up.

Don’t you remember seeing gobs of gum under your school desk left by some classmate? And how about all the gum left under restaurant tables! Not that I have recently looked under tables but instinctively I know it is there.

Is there any relief from these chewing gum cretins? How about restaurants, stores and buildings having a special receptacle at the doorway for chewing gum? There are containers for cigarette butts. And for the chewing gum people maybe the sign should read: “Discard your chewing gum in this container. This area is monitored with cameras and if we see you dropping it on the ground you will not be allowed entrance!” Will that be the cure? Probably not. But here is my other thought. Dog owners always carry an excrement bag with them for Farfel. How about all you gum chewers carrying your own disposal bag? Or better yet, leave it on your bedpost overnight!

Bill Kalmar