Current Events > The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test.

(+) Yeah! (+)

To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. The return of the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart present itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct.

A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. The shopping cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.

Lazy people and non lazy people. All it boils down to.

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Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.
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SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

While true, there is a cart rack. Put the cart in the rack.

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this is why i like the way aldi's does it. put a coin in the cart to unlock it, have to put the cart back into place to get it back. sure, it's only 25 cents, but it makes people put carts back on their own

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SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

You sound like the guy that left his cart directly behind my car at the grocery store yesterday, forcing me to return it.

Are you him?

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Y'all ever get stuck walking by the folks who do it begrudgingly and ask everyone if they need a cart


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I fully agree with the tc.
SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

Yes, and the carts should be in the corral so they can effectively collect them. By having carts scattered all over, it takes longer for them to do that task which means they can't do other stuff which means the shopping experience is being negatively affected for other people.

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SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

Even if you wanna believe that someone being paid minimum wage should need to do extra work to cover the laziness of others when there is a system in place, then consider that in between times when the carts are retrieved, errant carts can cause damage to cars or block parking spaces (in some cases, handicapped parking spaces).

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uwnim posted...

I fully agree with the tc.

Yes, and the carts should be in the corral so they can effectively collect them. By having carts scattered all over, it takes longer for them to do that task which means they can't do other stuff which means the shopping experience is being negatively affected for other people.

This. I am actually the person who collects it.
Also, sometimes people park them in. Like, the idiot before them leaves it up against the curb, and then the next idiot comes and pulls into the space up against cart, causing it to be wedged between a car and the curb.
I will try to pull them out, and I am not gentle.

Forgettable posted...

This is copypasta

Yea saw this in a tweet a month ago

https://twitter.com/ANTICHRISTJARED/status/1261071221795454978

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Crono99 posted...

In italy you have to put one euro in the slot to unlock a cart, then to retrieve your money you have to bring it back to the thing and re-lock it in.

Sounds good in theory but in practice what happens is that when you get out of the grocery there's always someone bugging you to take your cart so they can go and collect the money.

must just be an italy thing, because that's pretty much the norm here in the UK too and I've never seen anyone trying to take them for people. would never work, anyway, we're all too cheap in scotland...

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What if someone puts it back 90 percent of the time but sometimes they're angry or annoyed with the place and decide not to put it back a few times?

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NoMeLx22x posted...

What if someone puts it back 90 percent of the time but sometimes they're angry or annoyed with the place and decide not to put it back a few times?

Then take an action such as not shopping there anymore or placing a formal complaint. Dont do something that puts extra work on the minimum wage employee.

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I always return it no matter what even when it's raining.

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All it tells you is whether or not someone is willing to slightly inconvenence themselves in order to not slightly inconvienence other shoppers and the employee who collects the carts.

Along the same type of test, I think how you treat people in the service industry is a much better indicator of being a good/bad person.

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SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

Odds are that person has multiple duties in addition to retrieving the carts. Assuming that's the only thing keeping them employed is fallacious.

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I was at Lowes and literally driving beside a rolling shopping cart that was making it's way through the parking lot. It was very surreal. I was unable to get in a parking space before it slammed into some guys truck. I didn't see any damage to the truck so I rolled the shopping cart back to the store.

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KnightofShikari posted...

this is why i like the way aldi's does it. put a coin in the cart to unlock it, have to put the cart back into place to get it back. sure, it's only 25 cents, but it makes people put carts back on their own

it's aldi. not aldi's. why would you even do this.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClMUlr8yHymYgSe58DpUH7w

CartNarcs is full of people that fail this test

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Whoop whoop skili whooop cart narc

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CapnMuffin posted...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClMUlr8yHymYgSe58DpUH7w

CartNarcs is full of people that fail this test

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ElatedVenusaur posted...

This. I am actually the person who collects it.
Also, sometimes people park them in. Like, the idiot before them leaves it up against the curb, and then the next idiot comes and pulls into the space up against cart, causing it to be wedged between a car and the curb.
I will try to pull them out, and I am not gentle.

Meh whenever they did that i would just leave it till they leave unless the bays were absolutely empty

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SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

There is a cart corral to make it organized for the cart attendant to snag all of the carts. But lazy people love to take them OFF THE PARKING LOT or parked next to people's cars. That and it also isn't part of their job to clean dirty diapers and trash out of a cart because people are animals!

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Its such a low effort thing to do. Ive noticed Americans are far worse at it than Canadians. I was really surprised by the amounts of carts taking up parking spaces when I moved here

Frosted_Midna posted...

SamWincester posted...

Someone gets paid to retrieve the carts.

There is a cart corral to make it organized for the cart attendant to snag all of the carts. But lazy people love to take them OFF THE PARKING LOT or parked next to people's cars. That and it also isn't part of their job to clean dirty diapers and trash out of a cart because people are animals!

There aren't enough corrals to make it convenient for the customers.
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Last week an actual Aldi cart was left out (blocking a space). I guess someone couldnt even be arsed to return it and get their quarter back.

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I worked at a grocery store in high school and part of my job was to collect the carts. I honestly couldn't have cared less if they weren't in the stalls. It wasn't anymore difficult to walk around and collect them and it wasn't like I was going home any sooner they would just put me back on the register. Really the only time it mattered was the few busy days around the holidays; it was difficult to keep carts ready for people to grab on their way in.

That being said I do always return my cart to the cart rack but that's more out of the frustration of finding a parking spot only to have it blocked by a cart.

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The second paragraph reveals that this is a joke, but the first has a pretty good point tbh.

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When I worked as a courtesy clerk I liked gathering the scattered carts because I would move as slowly as possible and waste time

But yeah topic is still on point

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Its mid 2020.

Anyone with a functioning brain should no longer have a molecule of hope for the human race left. It should be fully expected that every human will do the wrong thing when presented with the opportunity to do the wrong or right thing. Anytime a human does the right thing is a documentable miracle in modern times.

We need no tests, virtually everyone fails every day

VVALLBOUNCE posted...

Its mid 2020.

Anyone with a functioning brain should no longer have a molecule of hope for the human race left. It should be fully expected that every human will do the wrong thing when presented with the opportunity to do the wrong or right thing. Anytime a human does the right thing is a documentable miracle in modern times.

We need no tests.

I'm half-convinced that the average human presented with an ethical dilemma in which there is no advantage or disadvantage to them personally would still opt to do the wrong thing just because it's the wrong thing.

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Crono99 posted...

In italy you have to put one euro in the slot to unlock a cart, then to retrieve your money you have to bring it back to the thing and re-lock it in.

Sounds good in theory but in practice what happens is that when you get out of the grocery there's always someone bugging you to take your cart so they can go and collect the money.

Yeah there's always a dude or two hanging around the cart corral whenever I'm in Italy at a store. Always the same kind of people too. I try to give them something when I can, life's hard for them.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovIKbxZpNY
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There is a certain part of Cart Narcs that is an interesting social experiment. Like, just the fact that someone merely suggesting that maybe you're not doing the right thing and that you should help your fellow people is enough to send people shouting profanities and chasing after people shows what kind of person they really are.

It's always interesting the people that just go "you're right haha" and take the cart back. Like they understand and get why it's wrong, so why can't everybtelse he that way?

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