Dunedin ‘old witch’ shop owner curses lazy student litterers

Students walk in and out of the Campus Wonderful Store yesterday. Photo / ODT

A self-described “old witch” is warning Dunedin students she will call their parents if they keep littering outside her store.

The owner of the Campus Wonderful Store in Union St East recently put up a sign to warn the “little s....” who fail to throw their pie wrappers and energy drink cans into the bin conveniently located only a few metres from the shop.

The sign reminds them they are on camera, and their mothers will receive a phone call if she catches them.

The warning is signed off as being from “the old witch in the dairy”.

The woman, who declined to be named, said the sign was “a bit of banter”, and students had been a lot tidier since it had gone up in Re-O Week.

“I do it all in jest and good fun because I do love the students but, yeah, I give them a hard time,” she said.

She had owned the the store for about 30 years and said students had always been filthy, which she put down to laziness.

“I’m often out there yelling at them and telling them not to feed any of the birds any chips, because the seagulls swarm around there as well.”

She put up the sign because she and her staff were sick of cleaning up after students.

The constant litter made her question whether young people were as committed to climate change and the environment as they made out.

“What a load of crap, they’re the dirtiest little b****** around.

“Let’s start locally.

“I may even give out a little prize every now and again if I saw a student putting their rubbish in the bin.

“I might give them a wee pie or a pottle of chips,” she said.