Sunday, December 10, 2006

Return Your Cart Here ~or~ People Irritate Me - Chapter 2



Why is it so hard for some people to return their shopping cart to the cart return?

This really pisses me off in a great, big way. First of all, it's lazy. Now, if someone's lazy, that's not really my business BUT if their laziness causes damage to my car, it becomes my business. Plus, in the general, be good to the world, be considerate of your fellow humans way, it's just rude.

A loose cart in a parking lot can roll into someone's car. Have you ever priced getting one of those dings in your door fixed? It's not cheap.

Let's look at another aspect of it. Do you think those store employees who retrieve the carts are making a lot of money? If you do, you're very much mistaken. Minimum wage is probably the norm. So, instead of these folks going to a cart return and gathering the carts and bringing them back into the store, they're forced to wander the parking lot retrieving the carts one at a time. Have you ever retrieved a line of carts from a parking lot? I have. Granted, it was many years ago but it's not an easy job. It's one cart to you. It's lots of carts, all day long, for these people.

I've heard arguments for leaving the cart. "It's their job to get them." "The cart return wasn't convenient." "I don't want to leave my kids in the car." Bullshit. The cart return is there for a reason. If you have a problem walking a few extra feet to return the cart, park next to one. Kids? You got them to the cart, didn't you? And what are you teaching them? Leave your stuff wherever you like with no regard to other people? Nice lesson.

Put the cart in the corral. Please? Even better, take it back to the store. It's a good deed and we could all use a little more exercise.

Oh, and don't leave your trash in the cart, either.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen sistah! If I'm pulling into a place, say at Costco, and the other person who's pulling out has a cart I'll let them know that I'll take their cart for them. Heck, you're going to get one at the door otherwise so why not walk it in???

Anonymous said...

I actually saw tonight, that multiple people (multiple cars) where in the spots NEXT to the cart park. WTFF?

Anonymous said...

Oh please, lets remember economics folks, if society really valued carts being in their proper place, then maybe cart allocation engineers would be a proper profession. My advice, if a parking is totally rat-fukked due to carts in the wrong place, then it's because management has their heads up their a$$. Shop somewhere else and evanetually retail managers will get the message. Screw good will, its all about the $$'s.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I, too, did that job a brazillion years ago and it sucks. My daughter and I now frequently polish what we call Cart Karma. Not only to we make sure they're in their little corral but we make sure they're all pushed together.

DH says it's OCD, I say it's common courtesy.

Lilipop! said...

I think you are looking at this the wrong way. Publix and all the other supermarkets hire kids to return the carts. If everyone was as considerate to Publix as you are then those kids would be out of a job. Maybe one kid per shift would not be necessary.