Lack of Mindfulness or Just Cultural?
Growing up with a dad in the US Army, I've lived in many states here in the USA. One thing that remains consistent everywhere I've been is the lack of care when it comes to where people leave their shopping carts once they're done with them.
I never really questioned it much growing up, as it was just something that everyone did, as far as I could tell. You walk up to a rack or in front of the store where you're going to shop and grab a shopping cart, while giving a smile and nod to the customer next to you. After you finish your shopping, you go outside, walk to your car, unload the cart, prop it up haphazardly on a curb, smile and nod to the person parked next to you, who will now have to navigate around said cart to leave, and head home feeling good about yourself.
The worst part is, there is almost invariably a shopping cart rack fewer than 20 feet away in most cases. In fact, I took the above photo yesterday as I was leaving Costco and there was a rack on either side just out of shot.
The reason I added all of the extra, somewhat humorous details about smiling and nodding above is not just to be facetious. In fact, I believe, for the most part, people aren't purposefully being absent-minded, rude, or inconsiderate – at least not everyone. There are always plenty of individuals who are jerks. I think it has simply become a part of the culture here in America.
A Shock First Time Visiting England
The first time I visited the UK was back in 2007 when @afturner brought me home to meet her parents. As a proud American, the first thing I noticed about the Brits was how much more well-behaved they were in public, and the grocery store was no exception.
In America, when you're in line to check out and another register opens up, nine times out of ten, the cashier themselves will grab people from the back of the line and call them over to the new register. Meanwhile, the people who have already been waiting end up waiting longer than the newcomers. Sometimes people will even compete to get to the new register, leading to grumbling and frustration.
In contrast, in England, I saw people lined up as if they were in a kindergarten class, forming a single file as if half-expecting to be disciplined by the store manager. When a register opens, the line splits off in a logical and orderly way, with the customer who has been waiting the longest moving over first. If you try to cut in line, you'll hear a room full of gasps, some muttering, and you'll be scolded by the cashier. The Brits don't tolerate rude behavior. (Even though those peculiar posh individuals who oddly walk around wearing tweed and riding boots are the rudest folks I've ever met, but I digress.)
The biggest shock came when I went outside and saw not a single stray cart. I watched as each and every customer dutifully returned their cart and placed it in the cart rack. Not a single person left a cart in the middle of the parking lot or on a median. Even the two guys I saw who appeared to be drugged up and were shouting obscenities on the high street earlier that day returned their carts properly.
An Unexpected Cause
I didn't think much about this initially, but there is another significant difference between American grocery stores and British ones – grocery baggers! In the United States, we've always had full-time baggers in grocery stores. They bag groceries, handle shelf returns, and, most importantly for the purpose of this post, they collect carts and return them to the front of the store.
The average British person, as I've come to understand, would feel uneasy at the thought of standing still while a low-paid worker performs the task of filling their bags for them. This discomfort seems to be rooted in the historical class system in England, where servants used to handle menial jobs for the middle class.
So, the issue in the US really has deep roots that go back decades. I recall a childhood memory from the 1980s where I overheard a conversation between an elderly man and his wife that left a lasting impression on me. It was only after careful reflection that I realized how problematic it was.
If I return this cart, then some more teenage kid will be out of a job!
It does indeed sound rather silly when you say it out loud and think about the words. This brings us to the current situation. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer baggers working in grocery stores, especially with the increasing installation of self-checkout stations. When I was growing up, I rarely saw carts piling up in the parking lot like this because there were always four or five baggers, at least, running around collecting carts at all times. This was something much more common in the 1980s.
I remember my first job was at a Winn Dixie Supermarket in Kentucky. We would bag the groceries, fill the cart, and automatically start pushing the cart out for the customer. Only after they said "no thanks" would we let them go on their own. That eventually turned into "Would you like help out?" which has finally turned into "Have a nice day!" (If you even get that).
So now we have a culture that, in my opinion, developed because there were originally countless teenagers running around the parking lot collecting carts. There was the idea that we were actually keeping them employed by making a mess for them to clean up. Unfortunately, there are far fewer employees to clean up the mess, and we must reckon with the fact that it is just lazy and rude not to return your cart.
I bet that most of you, if you're American like me, have always felt at least a little guilty for not returning your cart if you are one of those who don't. So hopefully, this post serves as your wake-up call! If you were one of the people who always did, then I commend you. I'm happy to say that I've been returning all of my carts for the last 17 years, but before that... I was often an offender myself.
I would really appreciate your support!
