Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Shopping Cart MADNESS!!!

One thing that drives me CRAZY is when I see shopping carts just sitting (or rolling by themselves!) out in a parking lot. Sometimes, the place where you’re suppose to return them gets full and people are too lazy to take them back up to the store. And even worse- sometimes, people just leave them right by a car and don’t even bother to push them to one of the cart holders. Meanies. I’ve always wanted to catch someone in that sick little act of leaving the cart out where it then becomes someone else’s job to deal with it.

And I finally got my chance! The other day, while my husband ran into Sports Authority, I waited in the car. I watched as a mother and her somewhere around 20 year old daughter unloaded their Linens and Things shopping cart. They had my full attention because their cart was so full that I wondered how they were going to fit all this stuff into the trunk of their little Mercedes. Once they opened the trunk,it was clear this had been a full day of shopping. I was thinking to myself, “Is this girl getting her first apartment?” She had everthing from a toaster to a mop. They crammed as much stuff in the trunk as they could fit. Then they put the rest in the back seat. Then the mom pushed the cart into the parking space between our car and another one. I was pretty appalled. I wanted to say something. But they quickly got in their car and started up the engine.

Just then, a gust of wind (God?!) blew and their abandoned cart began rolling toward the "other" car. HONK!!!! I figured hearing a loud honking horn would call their attention to the chaos they had created. But it didn’t. I jumped out of my car and ran up to their window, pushing the cart right up to their door. They looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Did you realize the cart you left there was just about to blow into that car!!!” They rolled down their window, but just starred. So I continued, “Can you put this where it belongs so it doesn’t hurt any cars?” The daughter looked so put off, glanced over to her mom and said, “I told you to put it up”, (that's cool, blame it on the mom!) then she sighed a big “I’m annoyed by you, lady” sigh at me and pushed the cart all the way up to the store.

I got back into our car. I realized my heart was racing. I was really riled up by this whole exchange. I never consciously decided to jump out and reprimand these ladies. It just happened.

The daughter returned less than a minute later, got in her Mercedes and drove off, probably bad-mouthing me as she pulled off. That’s cool. She can blame me, the whistle blower. Maybe to her I’m just some lame lady pointing a crooked little finger at her but I think she just might have been annoyed enough to push the cart back without anyone having to ask her next time.

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