I like to call myself a "problem remover" but what that really means is that I fight tiny little battles on a daily basis against stupid behavior of other people. I pick up other people's trash and if I see someone drop trash I confront them. If a car is not paying attention to me as a biker or pedestrian I yell at them. If I get a telemarketer call, I will play the "how long can I keep you on the line game". I ask questions about their product, start asking for upgraded options, make like I'm interested and then end it with: "Well, my wife makes all the business decisions and she's not home, so bye!"

Nikki calls this being an "asshole". I point out that if we allow other people to behave badly without consequence, the whole world will go to hell! And then Nikki found this article in the New York Times about other people in the world that are problem removers. It's brilliant.

There's a guy in there who takes his junkmail, sticks it back in the pre-paid envelope, and sends it back to the originator. The originator has to PAY for the junkmail twice - coming and going. It may not be a big thing, but imagine if everyone in the world were to do this? Junk mail would die. Brilliant.