Now here’s a sucker for hollow promises

Guess this about sums it up. Roger Rozler of San Dimas saw a truck with this wording on the side: “Caution: Vehicle May be Transporting Political Promises.”

It was a septic tank pumper truck.

Squirrels like their privacy, too: “Exactly who are they protecting -- squatters, wildlife or . . . ?” asked Joe Sykora of Woodland Hills about a do-not-disturb sign on a vacant lot (see photo).

Thanks for the warning: With the real estate market cooling off, reader Jim Swavely of Northridge wonders if it may be a while before a house with some unsightly features will be sold (see accompanying).

Not sure about this car’s quality, either: Manuel Montez of Canoga Park spotted an ad for a Mercedes that needed some bodywork to be performed by workers with pickaxes (see accompanying).

Well, it was the first week of school: A Long Beach camera bug snapped a marquee that deserved a flunking grade (see photo).

Spell-check offense: Sherry Gjerde saw a crime log item in a San Gabriel Valley newspaper involving a case of “wreckless” driving. Actually, I wish Southern California had more cases like that.

What next, a panhandlers union? “Don’t know if it’s a put-on or not, but I have the feeling it’s not just from the poor spelling,” wrote David Steensland of Culver City, who noticed this posting on craigslist.org.

“Seeking highly motivated indaviduals to pan handle in various terratories of Los Angeles. You will be working w/the public. Dress and hours are flexable. At the end of each day you must exchange coins at the ‘Coin Star’ for bills.

“You get to keep 30% of days earnings and deposit 70% remainder (in cash) w/our company. You must be good at math & know how to use a calculator. Interested parties send letter of introduction, resume and any applicable certificate, or scolastic documentation via Craigs List. Serious inquaries only.”

Panhandlers (cont.): If I were a professional beggar, one question I would ask is: Why join the above firm? Why not work alone and keep 100% of the dough? Or does the company have a great health plan?

Name game: Randy Dorado of La Puente points out that the director of the state Department of Water Resources is Lester Snow.

Snow job? In Riverside County, Wayne Coombs chanced upon a shopping center called the Moreno Beach Plaza. “A quick scan of the terrain showed no evidence of an ocean nearby,” Coombs said.

miscelLAny: As a Long Beach resident, I was proud at first to read in the Press-Telegram that my hometown has stood in for other locales in such television shows as “Joan of Arcadia” and “CSI: Miami” and is slated to appear in a new one, “Life on Mars.”

But then I thought: Mars? Who would want their neighborhood portrayed as something that belonged on that desolate planet? God, I hope the film scouts don’t notice that my front yard has become pretty dusty and barren.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.