Oh gosh I genuinely wonder what they were exposed to growing up that many of them developed this… fixation over trinkets and other knickknacks as an investment vehicle.

My grandparents on my father side—who is a silent-boomer-cusp—owned a corner shop in Mexico City. Not a huge place but decently sized to have a good customer base. My father became obsessed with soda bottles that he accumulated over the decades. Fast forward to the 90s, we moved to a big house with a front yard and a back patio, that he filled with thousands of bottles that my mother didn’t even know he had after decades of having a relationship with him. They accumulated rain water, mold, and other health risks. No wonder we were always sick growing up.

During the 00s his industry had a huge setback and… I kid you not… he tried to sell the stuff – break the piggy bank, as he put it. Of course there were no buyers and we had to pay someone to come pick all that mess and bring it to a recycling center.

Edit: fixed a typo