I worked at a grocery store in college and I had to collect carts. I loved the people who left them all over the parking lot. It was a great way to take 45 minutes by collecting all the random carts. It was way better than bagging groceries or dealing with the bottle and can return.
Cart duty was my favorite part of being a bag boy. I tried to get management to let me do it more but they refused and insisted everyone had to have an equal share of the load. So dumb, almost everyone else hated it.
I return my cart most of the time but occasionally I do not and I give zero fucks about doing so. FYI
Well like I said I do return it to the front of the store (Publix) or to the cart return area (Costco) most of the time, probably 9/10 I return it. Actually 100% of the time I return it at Costco because the cart return areas are right there... there is zero excuse not to just walk 50 feet and return it. 1/10 of the time at Publix and near the far end of the parking lot I’m in too much of a hurry and I leave the cart near my car like a complete piece of shit. Good job all of you who aren’t complete pieces of shit (or you’re just filthy liars).
First job was as a bag boy when I was 15. Would do cart duty in 90 degree Alabama sun/humidity and then go straight to the milk cooler to cool off
I was lucky enough to witness my oldest nephew cuss for the first time. He was about 4 and dropped one of the many toys he was holding and said “damnit” in a sweet voice before struggling to pick it up because his hands were full. I laughed so hard. My brother and sister-in-law didn’t care because they knew he picked it up from them and he used it properly.
I'll intentionally park at the far end of the Aldi parking lot and collect carts to return for the quarters as I head toward the front entrance. It's like they're paying you to walk into their store!
And then also reward yourself with a little sweet biscuit every time your unreturned trolley dents someone’s car when it’s windy out because you just helped the economy and a body shop earn 1,000 quid bc their shop’s “standard” is to just take the entire panel off and replace it with a completely new one instead of just fixing the dent or painting over the scratch.
I’ve been telling people for years that the most reliable sources of scientific data we have is logged in one panel comics.
I live in the desert. It is above 110 degrees most of the summer. I’ll be damned if I’ll leave my refrigerated and frozen purchases in my hot-ass car for even one extra minute just to push that empty cart to some collection point to prove what a good citizen I am.
From my one summer as a bag boy/cart pusher, most of my fellow cart pushers did not like pushing carts
Is there one cart return in a gigantic parking lot? Generally never been an issue at any grocery store I've been to, there's usually a return very close by. I also was a bagger and cart (buggy) fetcher in high school and didn't mind taking my sweet time getting them all. As an adult though I hate that shit since I've had a stray cart ding my car.
I’d rather be on cart duty than bagging duty. Being basically stationary on my feet for extended periods of time was killer on my feet, plus I didn’t like dealing with dumbass customers face to face.
Instead you’re cool with making someone else who gets paid minimum wage walk around in that heat to collect the carts that you and others like you leave scattered across the lot instead of in the cart returns. It’s not about proving what a good citizen you are, it’s about not making someone else’s job unnecessarily more difficult, especially in the desert.
To me, that “well, they get paid to do it” response is an example of the lack a respect our society has for jobs it deems unworthy of it. I’m not looking for a pat on the back, but if I see a cart that was left in the lot between me and the cart return I grab it too. If I see the employee out there collecting carts, I bring mine to him/her instead of making them come collect it. Just seems right to me for such a small effort.