Ways to Annoy your Checker #15 – Shopping Carts Left Behind

by PkWynn on January 12, 2010

Sometimes grocery shopping is like doing an obstacle course because of loose shopping carts. People leave shopping carts wherever they please after they’re done using them and its up to us to return them back to their corral so other customers can use them. What’s even more annoying is when the customer pushes the shopping cart to the checkstand to unload their groceries and because everything is bagged, they no longer have the need for the cart. Some customers either push it out of their way, push it someplace convenient or just leave it where it is…

An older man pushes a shopping cart with 2 gallons of milk. After I was done ringing him up, he grabs the gallons of milk and leaves the cart in front of the next customer and walks by the corral of carts that’s by the door on the way out.

I shake my head…

No Cart Feelings: What a douchebag!

Me: It happens all the time.

No Cart Feelings: Who the hell he thinks he is? Expecting someone else to put it back!

She nudges the cart forward…

No Cart Feelings: What is wrong with people these days? If you use something bring it back!

Me: We can push it back.

No Cart Feelings: You shouldn’t have to do that! You guys have other important things to do but worry about carts.

Me: [Thinking she was going to push it back to the corral for me] Oh, thank you!

No Cart Feelings: People have some nerve, ya know!?

I handed her receipt and she walks around the cart…

What have you done with your shopping cart lately?

Tagged as: carts

  • http://www.phoenixism.net Phoenixism

    I also can’t stand it when people leave the cart behind your car after they’re done with it. So now YOU have to move it. What’s with these people??

  • http://minyards7.blogspot.com Alicia

    I am on of those people who push the cart to my car and leave it in the empty parking space next to me!!!!

    BUT, there are many times I will walk it back up to the front of the store. It also depends on which kids I have with me. Like, I won’t leave my little ones unsupervised to walk it way back (unless I’m close enough to see them).

    But, I totally know what you’re talking about when people just leave their carts right there.

  • http://www.vinomom.wordpress.com Vinomom

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! Can’t wait for Saturday to watch the Ravens kick some Peyton Ass!

    Anyways this whole cart thing has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. I ALWAYS return my carts either to the front of the store or to the cart kiosks in the parking lot. Why do people expect someone else will just take care of what THEY used? It’s the state of the world today, I’m tellin ya.

  • http://thetreeswillclap.wordpress.com Erika

    Haha! I feel like that is so true of people- We want to whine and moan about things, but fail to do anything to fix the problem. Lovely!

  • http://eatsleeprunwhenever.blogspot.com genesis

    ok ill admit that i leave my carts everywhere in the parking lot, but never at the check stand!

  • Jade

    I was JUST bitching about this last night at work… stray carts are probably one of my biggest pet peeves at work, though more so when I’m outside in the snow gathering them up. Not only was the parking lot scattered with them, but TWICE while I was out there, I saw people load their groceries into their cars, LEAVE the cart right where it was, drive off. Talk about a slap in the face. >.<

  • http://poyndexter.blogspot.com Diane

    I noticed on a trip to Italy that in order to get a shopping carriage you have to pay 1 euro to a vending machine. After you return it, you get a refund. There were no stray carts anywhere. Everyone tidied up after themselves very nicely. I thought it was a pretty nice system.

  • http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.blogspot.com Joanne

    Yeah so that does sound super obnoxious. I usually just hold my stuff in one of those basket things but I am definitely one of those customers who gets annoyed when there are carts continually in my path. It must be even more annoying for you to have to clean them up.

  • http://www.theinternalmakeover.com kathryn

    I always, ALWAYS push my cart either back to the “corral” in the parking lot or back in with the bunch in front of the store.

    I NEVER have a small enough to NOT need the cart to get to my car, however….

    And it bugs me to NO END when ppl just leave ‘em in the parking spaces. A real pet peeve of mine!

  • http://suzicate.wordpress.com suzicate

    Shopping carts randoming parked in the lot is one of my biggest pet peeves. I ALWAYS return the cart to the cart things(what is that thing called that houses the carts?). I hate trying to pull into a space and have to get out of my car to remove a cart or to see one without a driver headed right for me, ok with a driver headed for me might me worse!

  • http://iamadick.squarespace.com/ mepsipax

    Damn, you got punked. I hate people who do that. I even return mine to the corral.

  • http://incognitoagent.blogspot.com secret agent woman

    The vast majority of the time I take it to one of those little corrall-thingies. I absolutely hate it when someone leaves one in a parking space.

  • http://www.peanutbutterandpickles.blogspot.com Marvin

    My darling wife likes to put things back on the shelf not where she found them. I think it’s bad form.

  • http://kallaydoscope.com Kallay

    Wow… she was an ironic one, no?

  • http://www.mostlygrocery.com PkWynn

    Very ironic and the sad part is the cart corral is on the way out…

  • http://ninekindsofcrazy.wordpress.com/ Sharon

    I always always put my cart away, unless the store has no cart corrals. We have one grocery store here with no cart corrals. What ridiculously poor planning was that?

  • http://www.wickedgirlsthinkitdoyou.blogspot.com Wicked Shawn

    I drive a nice car, so I always put carts where they belong, not taking any chances on those buggers hitting my car or anyone elses. Also, I’m wicked, but not an “assclown” so I despise hateful people who treat people badly for no reason. I tend to get seriously mean to people who are being rude to my cashiers. Yes, they are mine, they adore me and I return their affection! People have left the store in stunned silence for getting an attitude with the clerk who was taking care of my checkout lane. LOL Wicked is fun!

  • Margaret Packard

    Sometimes I am cold and don’t feel like walking the cart all the way back to the store, so I just put the front wheels up over the curb at the edge of the parking lot, as I see a lot of other shoppers do. What irks me is, when I go to put the trash and recycling out at my apartment complex, I see a whole bunch of abandoned grocery carts from our nearby store. I know that some of my neighbors don’t have a car, but at least they could bring the cart back to the grocery store next time they shop, instead of accumulating them in our recycling area!

  • Djadzia

    I hate it when people do that….I hate it so much! Especially when we’re really busy and the carts are just piling up behind me as customer after customer leaves it and there isn’t time to put them back…then when there isn’t any room for anymore, you excuse yourself for a few seconds to put them away and the customer freaks out…ugh. EITHER TAKE IT WITH YOU OR PUT IT AWAY. Please.

    And in the parking lot….I don’t do bagging shifts as much anymore so I don’t have to worry about it, but I remember how annoying it was. We don’t have time to chase carts all over the parking lot, we have other jobs to do. Put it where it belongs, dangit! (Pardon my frustration.)

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