Thursday, May 20, 2010

I was in HEELS


Anyone that knows me, knows that my number one, all time, biggest pet peeve of death is when people leave shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot.

ESPECIALLY when the cart corral is mere feet away. Before I proceed, a couple of little known facts about shopping carts:

1) On average, shopping carts weigh about 40 lbs.

2) Shopping carts cost anywhere from $100 to $200, plastic or metal.

3) Store managers claim a staggering $8,000 to $10,000 loss a year in shopping cart theft or damage.

4) Even if you watched someone deliberately roll a shopping cart into your car, it's nearly impossible to receive compensation for the damages.

With that said:

I went a shopping today, feeling good about the nice weather, found a lovely spot right up front, and was in and out with what I needed in no time. As I walked toward my car I noticed a rather large woman and her rather large teenage daughter sauntering to their car which was parked kiddie-corner to mine. Their cart contained one, maybe two bags of groceries--certainly making good use of the cart which can hold up to 95,000 cubit inches of goods. The daughter pulled the bags out of the cart, and the woman tucked the cart right up next to my bumper. Because if it's already TOUCHING my car, it can't possible crash into it, right?

She and her daughter had climbed themselves into their car by the time I reached the scene. I put my one bag of groceries--for which I did NOT need a cart--in my car, slammed my door, and walked THEIR cart the 20 FEET to the cart corral. Literally. All the while, the two of them sat in their car enjoying some sort of overly preserved food item that couldn't possibly wait for them to leave the parking lot, LET ALONE for them to put the cart away.

I ask you, what kind of world do we live in where we would add 40lbs to our load just so we don't have carry two bags? What kind of world do we live in where on a sunny day, with no obstacles in our path but another 20 feet, do we opt to potentially endanger someone else's property--both mine and the store's--rather than return a blasted shopping cart to its proper place? And why, in the name of all that is good and holy in this world, is it my responsibility to clean up after you? I don't care that you are tired. I don't care that you are overweight. I don't care that your knees are bad or that your back hurts or that you're really excited to eat your Little Debbie Cakesters. I don't care that your daughter's future is just as bleak as your own, forged out of the decisions you've damned yourself with. I was in heels! And somehow I dug deep down inside myself and found the courage and strength to walk twenty more feet than I was planning on, pushing 40 more pounds than I had intended to, to return a 120 dollar cart that I DIDN'T USE.

AND I had a Reese's Peanut Butter cup waiting for me in the car.

-Me

3 comments:

  1. your follower wants more....don't deny your one follower.

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  2. I agree with the entry and with the comment! I'm about to be your second follower. We want more!

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  3. I hate that as well. So much so that I used to lecture my 5th graders about it.

    ReplyDelete