I was shocked to find this thread. Mainly because I am exactly of this mindset and emotions. Every place I go I lose jobs and often it is due to what I am told as "not fitting in" or they make up some crap about performance even when I am busting my hump and working harder than my co-workers. ALWAYS (I try to explain to my family or friends and they shrug it off, cause I am "crazy" to them) I will be in conversations that are just so mundane each day. Not be left out I will try to participate and often I am told I am "over thinking" a subject or "you don't know **** ,man" in response to valid topic discussion.

Your example of the landfill is an exact topic that came up about 8 years ago. I was with 3 guys I worked with and thy were going on and on about all the new **** they were going to buy with their bonus checks. I was then asked what about you, big plans for that cash?" I said "I need to get my car fixed up." Right away these guys go into a tizzy about how I need a new car, your car is a piece of ****, etc. I said "you know my dad had a huge mechanic shop just for oilfield equipment, trucks and heavy work equipment and that a few times we would go to these scrap metal places that were enormous. One day I asked the guy there how long humanity has recycled these things and he gave a brief explanation and I said "at least now we reclaim this stuff and not bury it." Then he started talking to me about the vast mountains of trash surrounding any major US city. The toxic juices they produce that seep into water and the gases they create as items breakdown and go through chemical changes. It was enlightening.

Before I could finish one co-worker says "what the **** does have to with your car". So I said "I would rather keep it running and preserve what I have than create more garbage in the world". I was then treated as fool and the talk reverted back to the normal "Hey did you see that UFC fight? Oh man I f'd this chick last weekend after being sooo drunk" wooo hooo blah blah blah.