Got Junk?
February 20th 2011 00:07
You would think that a person obsessed with cleanliness and order, would not be so obsessed with a show about filth and chaos. But you would be wrong. I don't want to look, but I have to—it's like porn for those with OCD.
There is a fine line between a hoarder and a neat-freak.
Oh they may be on different ends of the OCD spectrum, but if anyone can understand the mind of a hoarder, it would be a neat-freak.
Although I didn't realize how rampant hoarding was, I was well aware of the disorder before anyone knew what to call it. Let's just say when driving down the "cluttered" highway, you either hog the road and speed up, or you get off the nearest exit and turn in the opposite direction.
Hoarders annihilates the term "don't air your dirty laundry in public". And for that I say thank you. It shows us how excessive and addictive we as humans have become. "I don't want much, I just want more!"
I realize that those who are hoarders have an illness, always trying to fill a void that cannot be filled. One usually brought on by trauma or loss in their lives.
I applaud the show for offering help to the hoarder, by providing professional organizers and therapists. But I get frustrated watching the professionals coddle the hoarder, by telling them they will not remove one thing from the house without their permission. Allowing them to painstakingly sift through every minuscule item. The problem is they only have three days to clean out what has taken years to accumulate.
But ah ha, I have a plan. First you send the hoarder away for the three days. Now they aren't going to go willingly so you can take them away kicking and screaming or either tell them they have won a vacation or that they have been invited to the world's biggest garage sale where everything is half off.
Then you bring in the "1-800 Got Junk" brigade and fill the trucks with the contents—let's call it stuff—from the home. Next, making sure you have gotten rid of any and all firearms, you bring the hoarding homeowner back to reveal to them their sparkling clean home.
Lastly—after you have performed CPR on them—if they don't approve, you show them the trucks bursting with all of their stuff, and simply tell them that you will gladly put everything back in the house, exactly like it was.
The decision is up to them. No harm no foul. Unless their decision is to call the cops, and you get arrested for breaking and entering. Turning a possible win-win situation into a dirty little secret that you will not want to air in public.
| 20 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
