It's just common decency and being nice for others. Like not pissing all over the toilet seat. Or if you do, cleaning up after yourself. (I view) Leaving things for the next person to deal with is lazy and just creates a mess for others to clean up.
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Like, okay - I don't think anyone's saying returning the cart to the corral automatically makes you a good person, it's just a green flag, right? Are you willing to do something that has no reward for compliance and no punishment for abandonment, simply because it's the thing you're expected to do in order to keep a system functioning?
If someone doesn't return the cart regularly, it seems more likely that they're inconsiderate. If they do, it seems more likely that they're decent. But it's one thing out of many that just happens to be publicly visible, so it becomes sort of a benchmark.
I think you effectively nailed it. It's a small act that represents a person's larger outlook on civilization. Are you participating in it or are you rejecting it.
It's similar to a smoker that flicks their cigarettes in random places. Or spitting out gum on the sidewalk. Or many other small things that aren't that important on a small scale, but if everyone does the same thing, then is sucks. But if (almost) everyone does the small thing to benefit the whole, the whole is better off for it.
Putting a shopping cart back where it belongs when you're done with it is like putting trash where it belongs when you're done with it. Doing otherwise leaves things cluttered.
It's simple. If you put away a shopping cart (doesn't matter if back inside, a cart corral, or wherever it's designated), you did a tiny thing that will help someone else you've never met. I very selfless act. It takes minimal effort and makes someone else's life better.
If you don't put one away and leave it somewhere, it means you either don't care, or didn't even bother to think about the person who has to walk around, grab the cart, and put it away for you. You couldn't bother to go out of your way for 10 seconds to help someone else.
This one act can say a lot about a person. Do they think of other people? Do they think of how their actions affect other people? If they are so unwilling to spend 10 seconds to help someone, would they go out of their way to help others that require more effort or time?
It really irks me when there's a good spot at the grocery or hardware store and someone leaves a cart halfway on a curb in the spot. They take the time to put two wheels up but can't wheel it 10 feet to the corral? It's been snowing a lot here lately and sometimes they freeze in place too, so they're harder to get out. I get heated because it really is so inconsiderate.
It's less about the act itself and more about the principle of not making things unnecessarily worse for everyone else.
I’m from Brazil and I don’t recall ever shopping at a place with a large parking lot, which I believe might be part of the issue.
And yet you probably saw at least a few of those:
- leaving the bloody cart in the way while shopping, forcing others to either push it or go around it
- taking more time than necessary at the cashier for the dumbest reasons, while there's a huge queue behind
- piling up near the bus door, alongside same-minded muppets, making embark slower for everyone than a simple queue
- throwing rubbish on the ground because the bin is 5m thus too far
- walking their dog and lets it shit everywhere, and can't be arsed to pick it up with a poopbag
- driving to a bakery 50m home to buy cigs, even if they're able-bodied, generating unnecessary pollution (and they won't even get faster this way!)
- etc.
I've seen all of those here in Curitiba. (Except the bus thing, that's Campinas.) They all violate the same principle.
I think the reason for my rant got lost in the rant, but all your examples will help. Nobody cares about any of the issues you mentioned the same way. They are, for the most part, small things that one wouldn't consider nice, but that don't deserve that much attention. I expect to hear that it's too bad that people do those things. I would never expect people to overanalyze the situation and seriously judge others by that.
Let me change the perspective a little. If a good friend does any of the things listed above, it might bother me. If a stranger does it, I won't judge them personally, because it's not enough, I can only judge the situation.
A lot of small things, make big things.
A lot of people doing small things, make a community/country the way it is.
You can talk to strangers, tell them what makes your community better... then judge them by their reaction.
If you don't return them for virtue, return them for fear.
I will report you to the cart narcs.
Man, I return my cart religiously, but I loathe that guy. Talk about self-appointed cop mentality.
He's not changing anyone's mind or behavior, he's not actually making anyone's job easier (I know, I used to corral carts at Safeway), he's just decided to "annoy the annoying", and thinks it makes him anything but also annoying. Not to mention he's not doing this as some kind of unseen act of moral fulfillment, he's literally doing it to make money. Karens are bad, whether you think they're pestering the right person or not.
He's not even a narc, because narcs report to someone with authority. He's just taking it on himself.
/rant
Reported.
(also a rant, on a related but separate topic) holy FUCK along the same lines, i really hate it when people lurk in the parking lot waiting for someone to leave so they can park there! like wow, yeah, impede the flow of traffic and pressure the person leaving to hurry so YOU can have that space
i hate it so much, it makes navigating an already-packed grocery store even worse. the ppl at costco are SO bad about this 💀💀💀 just go park further away, you already have a minute long walk to the store, another minute won't kill you!!!
this is my personal bar for whether someone is a good person or not :)
(exception for anyone who legitimately needs the closer parking spots but cannot get the disability parking spots for whatever reason. but they are a TINY minority of people)
A few years ago, I got stuck behind this bullshit during the height of covid. Single travel direction, so no way out. Dude in front of me stopped because he saw a family starting to unload what must have been a $300 trip. Just sat there while they filled the car and then returned the cart, so at least they did that. About five minutes in, I laid on the horn enough that security came by to tell me that I was, in fact, the asshole.
oh my fucking god i'm so pissed on your behalf, that's such bullshit!!!
Returning the cart, or at least moving it out of the road, means I don't have to get out of my car and ~~lob the cart at your car as you drive off~~ move the cart out of the way to park my car. Decency has nothing to do with what you do for yourself - it's all about what you do for others.
Personally I don't really care where the cart is as long as it's out of the way and not a problem for the store's staff to access it.
In the UK you need to use a £1 coin to unlock the trolley from the rack, which stays jammed in the trolley. When you lock it back in, the coin is dispensed. Dunno why other countries haven't figured this one out yet.
I live in the States and I’ve seen exactly one store with that system. It’s kind of weirder than zero stores, come to think of it. We’re aware of that system and most are actively choosing the less functional one instead.
Yeah Aldi, a German grocery chain. My wife has her Aldi quarter and that's all it's used for.
Always want your Aldi quarter on hand. I kept mine in the centre console.
In Spain, most stores with a parking lot use the same system. Many people carry a plastic "coin sized token" to avoid the problem of random people "stealing" your cart with the coin in it... but usually they still return the cart to get their token back.
The token is probably more expensive than the coin itself in this economy 😂
Well, it depends. They let you use any coin of 0.50€, 1€ or 2€... Temu has 8-packs of metal tokens for 3€, AliExpress has 10-packs for 1€, but many businesses have seized the opportunity to gift branded plastic or metal tokens, including some car dealerships... even the shops themselves! At this point, I have more tokens than I'll ever have a chance to use 😁
Because that just means a bunch of people not able to buy groceries, because they don't have that specific denomination of cash.
I find notes to be a pain in the ass to use, let alone coins.
People here just carry a "trolley pound" in their car these days. Sometimes you can even get commemorative disks the size of a pound