Butt where's the Money?

Working as a maintenance worker for FGCU housing, one of the jobs I occasionally have to do is cigarette butt pick-up duty. Yeah I know sounds super exciting! But if you compare it to what I do on a daily basis, it's really the hardest thing I do. But anyhow, last Friday just happened to be one of those days. I have to travel around
with a bucket and rubber gloves and pick up all the butts that are laying around the smoker's stations that lazy ass people toss to the ground. It's not like they don't have a big metal ashtray/ garbage container to put them in, it's just that they are lazy ignorant people, who have no respect for anything. I actually thought it'd be funny to ride around in my golf cart, with my bucket of disgusting cigarette butts and look for someone who disposes of their butt on the ground. Then ride up next to them and toss the whole bucket, with some water stirred in like a stew, on them and drive off. I don't know if that would get my point across but I'm pretty sure they would be as grossed out as I am on a weekly basis.

So back to the point, as I finish up I am dumping my bucket into the trash for the second time, and I'm thinking to myself about how many cigarettes are probably in this bucket. Then that gets me thinking about how expensive cigarettes are, and about how much all those butts cost collectively. The average pack of cigarettes costs around $4.25. That’s about the same price as a value meal from pretty much any fast food restaurant you can find. How many cigarettes does the average college student smoke? I know quite a few people that go through a pack in a day, maybe two. That’s roughly $25 a week on cigarettes... that’s a lot! Most college students don't even have jobs to pay for this, which means their parents are forking out the cash. While those who do, have small nothing jobs that pay minimum wage or slightly more, which is roughly about $8 an hour. This means your average smoker works three to four hours a week just to buy cigarettes... for some people that’s a whole day's shift! then think about the cost per month... about $100. What??? who the hell wants to spend $100 a month on cigarettes... that’s ridiculous! My electric bill is about that much a month... I am an average college student who doesn't smoke and makes well over minimum wage, and after all my bills I barely have enough left over to wipe my ass. I'd like to know where the smoker's get the money.

Maybe they have crazy side jobs, like drug dealing prostitution? I wouldn't doubt it considering some of the students at FGCU. I should know, I have to enter the dorm rooms practically everyday to fix things, and 7 out of 10 dorms reek of weed. Hell, I've come across rooms where they've left scales and baggies sitting on the kitchen counter. Maybe it's a completely different illegal operation altogether. Maybe the students have figured out a way to reproduce and create fake money... like counterfeiting! That would be crazy, but not unbelievable. I've seen some pretty good fakes myself, has it been on campus? Can't say for sure...

However these students are making the extra cash needed to support their cigarette habit, I wish they'd let me know. I could use the extra money. And for those who are doing Illegal things in their dorm rooms, feel free to leave me a tip and I'll make sure no one knows about your Meth lab funded prostitution ring... just make sure the bills aren't counterfeited!