In my country, Indonesia in the early 2000s, the women in the village had a routine schedule of "cleaning" the unused items that had been collected and had piled up in the corner of the house. How to clean it? Do you throw it in the trash or into the river? Not. Burned in the yard? That's not the answer. The unused items were handed over to the robbers.
The robbers usually passed around the village once a week. Using an onthel bicycle with a bamboo basket filled with wreckage on the right and crackers on the left, the robber made sounds that were a sign of his presence. Mothers know very well what day they have to prepare their used goods. It takes many forms, from broken plastic basins, last year's Eid syrup bottles, to shoes that have holes in the thumbs that are the target of robbers.
From these used goods, the women will not get money, but crackers. There are no scales, no measurements, or certain measurements to judge these used items. Both the robbers and the village mothers could understand each other until they reached an agreement, how many crackers would be friends for lunch with the child and her husband.
No one feels wronged. Even if there are those who feel annoyed, they must be grumpy when dealing with women who are cheerful and insist on asking for more crackers. But no problem. For him, the most important thing is that the mothers want to be his customers. It is unique, at the beginning of the second millennium at that time, perhaps that was the only economic transaction that still used the barter system in the midst of a modern civilization.
Approaching the second decade of 2000, no more such robbers were seen. I don't know what caused it. Maybe the mothers and their families are no longer fond of eating crackers from bartering junk. It is also possible that the robbers have found other, more decent jobs. Or maybe the mothers no longer have used things that can be exchanged.
If you look further, it is not only the robbers who have disappeared from the village. The closeness of the mothers while waiting for the robbers to come also disappeared. The equal view of rubbers, scavengers and other professions related to waste has also begun to change. Work that is actually noble is considered despicable, lowly work. Even though their job is so noble, sorting and cleaning up the waste resulting from the laziness of the community in processing it.
The level of public trust has begun to change. Self-existence and standards of belief are only measured using two things: social media and material (money). Look at the time when a janitor suddenly became famous for his picture sleeping in a garbage truck went viral. Netizens don't care about the reality behind the virality of the photo. About the reason why the cleaning worker could fall asleep, to what interests might surround the spreader of the viral photo. One thing is for sure, the janitor has managed to "entertain" netizens.
And how peaceful it is when there is no mutual suspicion between the robbers and the village mothers who bargain with each other to reach an agreement. The measure they use is not money, but just crackers. Two things that have an exchange rate that are very far apart. However, neither party felt cheated, because mothers were allowed to taste the crackers directly. Meanwhile, robbers have the right to receive used goods which are commensurate with this.
Moreover, robbers, scavengers, cleaning workers and other waste-related professions have helped the government a lot. At least there are parties who are willing to struggle with garbage for a bite of rice. If they were not there, surely the various variants of waste would mix into one, making it difficult to process them again. Given the awareness of sorting and processing waste in the community is still very minimal.
The collectors with their crackers have made a big contribution in sorting and processing used goods (garbage). The robber is also a figure who can prove that the measure of happiness is not money. He proved that even the simplicity of the crackers overcame the arrogance of money. Until the digital era was born and muzzled everything, including robbers with their crackers.
In your area or in your country, are there still robbers who exchange used goods for crackers?
Wow, a very interesting story. Meanwhile, which kind of robbers be this that are interested in trash