Author's Note

I'm going to expect seeing Oscar the Grouch references in the comment section, so please go ham.

Oscar, The Garbage Man from Seattle

Oscar, The Garbage Man from Seattle

Oscar and his co-workers had just finished their rounds cleaning out the remaining trash when his phone rang out, normally the man would let it go to voicemail, but when he looked at the Caller ID he immediately knew who it was as he picked it up stammering, "H-Hello?"

The Proprietor of The Seattle Divisions Waste Management Northwest and Oscar's Boss, Alexander Hendrickson, spoke over the phone, "Oscar T. Chandler, we need to talk." Those last four words immediately made his heart skip a beat as he muttered under his breath "Aww, shit..."

After the call ended, Oscar informed his co-workers of his phone call as he asked the driver to stop back at his house.

When he was dropped off back home, Oscar grabbed a quick snackbar from inside and shoved it into his pocket before heading out to the garage. Upon opening the garage door, he spotted a stray raccoon trying to rummage through a tipped over metal bin as he shouted in anger, "Go on ya mangy rodent, SCRAM!"

The raccoon hissed before running off as the man groaned in agitation, "Damn Raccoons, why the hell do those nasty creatures still exist? Burn 'em all to hell for what I care." As Oscar walked over towards the garbage can and pulled it back up, he spotted a free coupon for 'all you can drink beer' at a bar he's never heard of before and pondered.

"The Midnight Hour, who left this here?" He said before stuffing it in his pants pocket and shrugged, "Aww whatever, It's not expired or anything so I guess I'll take it."

After regaining his bearings he made his way over to his vehicle, a 1993 Dodge Viper and opened the door. As he sat down onto the drivers seat, he put his car keys into the ignition before setting his left hand into the 10 position as his right hand was laid onto the gear shift.

Releasing it from park into the drive position, he drove off towards his next destination wondering what his boss wanted.

~2~

Upon arrival to the Waste Management Building, he received a call from his boss hitting 'accept' as Alexander spoke, "Are you here yet? I'm not going to wait all night, ya know."

Oscar grumbled under his breath, "Yeah, yeah, I'm almost there. At the front entrance actually, shouldn't take too much longer."

"Well you better hurry up," Alexander said raising his voice. "I'm not exactly thrilled at bringing you in here..."

Just as Oscar was about to reply, the familiar sound of a call ending was enough to draw his attention as he exited his car pondering his thoughts, ’What the hell was that all about?'

As Oscar made his way through the front entrance one of the people working at the front desk, Samantha, called out to him in concern, "Oscar? What are you doing here this late at night? Shouldn't you be at home in bed?"

Walking over to her, Oscar responded before continuing somberly, "Alex kinda asked me to come in for whatever reason, it doesn't sound rather pleasant from his tone over the phone."

Samantha was confused, "What could you have possibly done to warrant such a reaction, you're like one of our best employees we have working here!"

He interjected, "I wouldn't say I'm that good Sam, I just get what needs to be done with as few mistakes as possible. Even I'm prone to error every now and then."

"Well for whatever reason I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, just go and do your best. You've got this!" Samantha said with a goofy grin, holding her thumbs up as he laughed.

"Okay then, I'll just give it my all and hope for-" was all Oscar could manage out before his phone started vibrating as he sighed, "I'll just be going now."

~2~

Upon entering his bosses' office, Alexander spoke up as the younger man shuddered, "Oscar, do you know why I called you in here?"

"Uhh, to give me a promotion for all the hard work I've been doing?" He said with a toothy grin as his boss sighed.

"No Mr. Chandler," Alexander then held out a photo of a slightly younger Oscar smoking a blunt while leaning on a pole as his co-workers heaved trash in the foreground, "Tell me who you see here in this photo, Mr. Chandler. Anything I should know about?"

"Uhh, a guy smoking cannabis behind a bunch of garbage men?"

Alexander pinched his nose in frustration, "Yes but just whom is the individual smoking right here, hmm? Would you so happen to know, Oscar Chandler? "

Oscar sighed, "Sir, I'm sorry that was just the one time I-"

Alexander raised his voice, "Just the one time huh? Then how do you explain all these?"

One by one Alexander held up several different photos of Oscar repeating the same action ranging from four years ago to now each with plenty of clear evidence lined against him.

"Wha-huh? I don't- how the- what?!" He was utterly flabbergasted, "Wh-who even took these?"

Alexander replied condescendingly, "One of your co-workers had decided to take a photo of you everytime you flubbed up, so when I saw the damning evidence I was surprised at just how low you'd gone."

Oscar growled, "Randall! Damn that bastard to hell I'll-"

Alexander responded firmly, "I think I've made my judgement very clear by now Mr. Chandler, I won't tolerate this behavior in my workplace." Alexander then held out a bottle of Pepsi and sipped it before making his final statement, "Oh and one final thing, YOU'RE FIRED!"