One of my pet peeves is when women (I only see women do this) unload their groceries from a shopping cart and leave the cart in the middle of the parking lot instead of wheeling it back to the cart coral. I asked a woman once why she did that. She said, They have people who come around to take it away. I said, But what about the cart blocking a parking spot? She just walked away.
Today, I did my groceries, and pushing my cart back to the cart coral, I saw a women empty her bags into her SUV, got into it and left the cart. She didn't put the cart back even though she was right across from the cart coral. It would have taken her, what, five steps. Now, the cart was left almost right behind her SUV so that when she backed up, she would hit it. I had a moral dilemma right there in that parking lot pushing my cart and watching this woman not push hers five steps into the coral. Do I tell her or don't I?
I hesitated too long. She backed into her cart. But the thing is, her SUV was such a monster that it didn't matter. She hadn't notice, despite the fact that her SUV had knocked the cart away. And to tell the truth, I was a little surprised and disappointed there was no damage on her car or awareness on her part. But not as surprised as I was when an older, distinguished looking man, maybe in his sixties, who had just returned his cart, strode up to the woman's cart, and called after her, "Hey, you forgot something."
The woman didn't hear that either, so well ensconced was she in her dome of SUV with the windows closed. The man shouted, "Bitch." Then he pushed her cart back into the coral.
I looked at the man, he looked at me. The silence between us was pregnant - me marvelling at what he just did, he wondering if I was offended by him calling her a bitch. Then he decided he didn't care; he had done the right thing. I decided as much as I admired what he did, I actually don't condone name calling like that. So we looked away and each went our own way.
Still, a part of me thinks, this man and I, we could have got people to clean up their act and ruled the parking lot.
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4 comments:
I totally agree, and I have 4 kids under six years old now pregnant with my 5th. I STILL bring my carts to a safe place- either cart return or to the sidewalk where the store is.
Once I was waiting for a parking spot and after the driver pulled out of the spot and I started pulling in, the owner of the car for the space across from mine had just emptied her cart and was literally in the process of pushing the cart INTO my spot as I pulled in. Now this was a handicapped spot, and I needed it because my 5 yr old was in half a body cast at the time from a broken femur.
I rolled down my window and said, "Excuse me... Yes, hi, I dont know if you noticed I was pulling into this spot- could you please put your cart elsewhere?"
She turned around looked at me and kept on walking.
At this point I felt the temper meter starting to boil over and I put my car in park mid-parkingspace, got out of my car and said loudly, "Here why dont I do it FOR you even though I have 4 kidsin the car and one of them is in half a body cast- thank you for your consideration..." and I moved it as she got into her car with her husband (she was maybe 50 yrs old).
I pulled in, they were still there watching me, and I got 3 of my kids out of one side of the car, a few into the cart, and proceeded to the other side.
She actually had the GALL to yell our her window "Where's your four kids in a cast, eh?!"
I just smiled at her and yelled, "Have a nice day, Lady" as I carried out my daughter, complete with cast, from the other side of the car and put her in the cart best I could. They finally drove off, hopefully embarassed.
By this time we had quite the audience and I had a few people come up to me and say, "WOW, that was the most adult thing I have ever seen anyone in your situation do... Good job..."
But still pisses me off thinking about mean people like that.
Good job indeed, especially modelling for your kids how to be civil and considerate. When people do thoughtless things, it's hard to wish them well and say pleasant things to them even if you don't mean what you say.
Boy, both of these incidents make me boil over - and I'm in Yemen. Even here, where there are no shopping carts, I have yet to witness unsocial behaviour like these two incidents demonstrate. I think it's good for people to come down on others who act this way, if simply to demonstrate that this is anti-social - against society - behaviour. Too often we depend on the police or other legal authorities to help us distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. We as citizens of whatever society, have to step up to the plate every once in a while. Knowing when best to do so is always a tricky affair.
Hats off to both of you (inclduing the old gentleman).
Urrr...thanks. Only, I didn't do anything. I didn't tell the woman she was going to back into cart, I didn't talk to the older man. No, way a minute - I got mad!
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