July 12, 2021
#16: Can shopping carts reveal the type of person you are?
With each visit to the grocery store, we are provided with an opportunity to hold a mirror to ourselves and take a peek at who we really are. At the conclusion of each food-fueling visit, we are presented with a choice: Do we bring the shopping cart back, or do we leave it parked behind another person’s vehicle?
I began thinking about this choice after a shopping experience at my local Costco. At this trip’s conclusion, my wife and I were wheeling our cart from the store’s mouth back to our resting car halfway through the parking lot. As we traversed the warm pavement, a family arrived at their car’s destination just ahead. The mother of this family of four immediately cursed at the cart placed directly behind their vehicle, and she angerly gripped it and wheeled it into the empty spot next to her.
“I hate people who do that!” she exclaimed to either her children or to the cart’s long-gone leaver.
As we reached our car, I commented to my wife that I agreed with the mother and understood her frustration.
After unloading our haul, I took our empty cart on its pilgrimage back to the front of the store. On this journey, I passed by the now vacant spot of the family of four. However, what I observed shocked me. The cart belonging to the mother now sat right behind the car next to her. I kept scratching my head thinking how could this mother identify the frustration in another leaving a cart behind her car, but then then choose to do the exact same thing?
I eventually got back to my car, explained what I just saw to my wife, and carried on with our day.
Reader, you may have observed something similar, or you may have even had to make this choice today. What I am left wondering is this: Can shopping carts reveal the type of person you are?
When faced with this choice, I have found (in my, admittedly, anecdotal research) there are three possible people:
Cart Returner: these are people who when finished with their shopping cart, return their four-wheeled friend either to the front of the store or at a conveniently placed cart return kiosk in the middle of the parking lot.
Cart Leaver: this person empties their shopping cart, moves it out of the way of their own car, and finally, parks it behind the car adjacent to them or the open spot next to them. This, inevitably, puts their neighbor’s car at risk of getting bumped or forcing a new customer pulling into an empty spot to stop short upon entering, get out of the car, and move the cart to the side.
Island Leaver: these people understand the rudeness and disregard of the Cart Leaver, but instead of bringing it back, parks the cart half on the sidewalk/island and the other half on lot’s pavement. While this person is considerate of their immediate neighbors, it does not factor in how leaving the cart in that position could lead to a potential traffic build up and/or chaos for the store’s resident cart wrangler.
In my Costco experience, the mother I observed clearly fits into the Cart Leaver role. She was even able to articulate how frustrating it is to be on the receiving end of a cart leaver, but when faced with the same choice, she embodied the tenants of the role. However, I am hesitant to denigrate this mother and write her off as a horrible person. I don’t think where a person leaves their shopping cart can truly reveal that. (I think this is true of a lot of situational behaviors like this.)
There are always unknown factors at play. Maybe this mother was being driven mad by her children on a hot summer day. Maybe she received some horrible news right before this Costco trip. Maybe she had an emergency text message come in where she had to leave immediately. I’ll honestly never know, and I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
However, for those moments where the choice to return or leave is solely up to me, I’ll always make the choice to return. And, if I’m feeling particularly good that day, I’ll even bring a cart leaver’s remains back.
I hope you do to.
Thanks for reading.