I'm going to get on my soapbox this morning and complain about something. Its been bothering me for a quite a while, and I think its time I get this off my chest. It bothers me almost every day, and if I don't address it, I'm not sure how much longer I can take it.
Here it is- when I go to a retail establishment it absolutely annoys me that people don't put their carts back. You know what I'm talking about? When you go to a store, and try to pull into a parking slot and someone took their cart and left it there so you cant park there? Or my personal favorite, the "I'll put two wheels up on the curb instead of putting it away" person. I'm sure you've noticed like I have that people leave carts even one parking stall away from the cart collection area.
Its annoying. It frustrates me. Here's my take on what I think is going on.
1. A lot of people are inherently lazy. They don't want to walk an additional 10-20 feet to put back a cart. After all, they've just spent 20-30 mins walking around the store and all the way to their automobile. They couldn't possibly go another 20 feet.
2. A lot of people have a sense of entitlement. They feel as though they have paid for their goods and services and it entitles them to leave the cart for someone else to worry about. Its the job of someone else, so why should they worry about it?
3. A lot of people don't care if they inconvenience someone else. They live a very self-centered life. If someone else gets their car rammed by a runaway cart, or they block a parking spot, they don't care, because they've done what they wanted.
4. A lot of people have no sense of community. These are the same people who toss their cigarette butts everywhere. For some reason they either don't understand or don't care that eventually, someone is going to have to clean up, and they don't care that its not them.
I could go on, but this blog is supposed to be read in a few minutes, not a few hours.
Here's the point I'm making and its quite simple- put your shopping carts back. Every single time. The absolute most time it could take in any American shopping center is exactly 2.5 mins. Use that time as an opportunity to pray, or to talk to someone or to embolden your sense of civic virtue. We're all in this together folks, and if we can't get this cart thing taken care of, where will we be as a nation in 20 years?
Is there a Bible verse I can throw in with this one? How about Mark 12:33
To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Put the cart back. Better yet, think about some other area of your life, and insert the word "cart" for some other activity and see how it reads.
Blessings
matt
Ha Ha! I've had this same rant! Does that make us old men?! I believe your last reason is spot on - lack of sense of community. When communities and stores where smaller and you knew the store manager, that connection affected your behavior. I think with the advent of very large stores the sense of community is more difficult to feel. I'll go you one better. When you go into one of these stores, grab a stray cart from the parking lot and either park it into a stall or take it into the store with you. That's what my parents always did back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly understand your frustration, and for the most part agree with you, but there are always reasons that we may not see for why some one would do something that SEEMS so blatantly selfish. I always try my best to think of others and clean up after myself, but I must say that on occasion I have been the person who has tiped those front two wheels up onto the curb. My reasons are usually that I have already put my small children into the car before I realize that the ONLY cart return crate is all the way across the parking lot. I will not leave my children in the car and walk that far away just to return a cart. I'm not saying that we should make excuses, but that we should always remember that we don't know what is going on in other people's lives and try to think the best of people.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! I'm glad someone said it. I don't have very many things that get to me, but this is one of them. I've gone so far as to half way pull in to the spot next to them with the other half still sticking out behind them(blocking thier exit) and wait until they move the cart for me to pull in and let them out of their spot. It's an extra 20 seconds out of your day... That's one less commercial you have to watch when you get home:)
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