There is a lot of road widening and new curbing going on in my town this summer. When roads are widened or new curbed they dig out about 1 foot of dirt over the whole area with a backhoe. During the process there are large areas of open ground left exposed at night when the workers are at home.
So over this summer I've seen this amusing fellow with a metal detector sweeping these open excavations in the evenings. This cracks me up for two reasons, one logical and one metaphorical. The logical reason is obvious.
What is this guy gonna find? I'll give you a hint, garbage. Wow, a broken shovel, oh man, a smashed walkman! Holy shit, a broken mechanical pencil!
These aren't archeological digs. When they build roads they bring in dirt and gravel and level out the ground with huge machines. There isn't gonna be long john silver's 18 century treasure chests buried 2 feet under the sidewalk. You might find a garfield coffee mug, and you can use carbon dating to discover it has been buried for the ages since 1989. Think about it.
The metaphorical comedy is better. This guy has basically abandoned any notion of earning anything through work. He isn't even buying lottery tickets to make his dreams come true. He has settled with the idea that the best way he can realize his dreams is to see if anyone else left them lying around. It's ridiculous, how lazy is this man?
Why put any actual effort into your life, just hope that your lazy ass will trip over a magic lamp or something and a genie will come out. It's awesome.