I don’t know why, but this always chaps me: Carts left within arm’s reach of the corral. Parked 100 yards away and it’s too far to walk? I get that. Or maybe you’re an old smoker and you only have so much air left in your oxygen tank? I understand. Or possibly you’re meeting your wife at home and don’t want to waste a single second because the kids are gone until tomorrow, and walking an extra 50 feet could mean the difference between another round of “naughty airport security pat-down” or the sound of teenagers whining about dinner?
I totally understand.
But this… THIS!
You’re so close! Why not go the extra mile?
So when I saw this in the parking lot yesterday, I had to work through it by taking a photo and dealing with it in my own way…
My rant is now officially over. Thank you for listening. And if this was you, let’s give another 10 percent and actually get that cart into the corral next time, huh? Because you’ll be the first one whining when your car gets dinged by a runaway cart.
Or runaway humor columnist…
Ned's Blog 
I suspect it was target practice. Regardless, the person failed.
Ha! I see what you did there!
It was actually Fred Meyer, though.
I didn’t do it, but now I wish I did.
You deserve the credit either way. Unless that was your shopping cart.
I meet laziness with laziness and whenever I see a cart in the middle of a parking space, rather than skipping a perfectly good and car-free spot, I ease my car between the lines and nudge the cart out with the bumper of my car. Wha-la! It’s a community service really. And why my front bumper looks likes it’s been in a fight with a particularly aggressive alley cat.
HaHa! It’s too bad your car isn’t small enough to fit into a corral.
I knew I should have gone with the Smart Car. š
Maybe the person who left the cart there just outside of the cart corral was out sick that day in kindergarten when they were taught the concept of coloring within the lines.
And thanks for informing me that the proper name for what I used to call “that area in the parking lot where you’re supposed to leave your empty shopping carts” is a “cart corral.” I did not know it had a name!
I suppose it’s possible they missed kindergarten the day they taught manners. Maybe their parents were busy returning a cart properly?
And if nothing else, I like to think this blog is educational. Then again, I also like to think my dog is a highly intelligent being from another planet…
I am so glad I’m not the only one that is frustrated by this. Another?? No one pushes the carts all the way INTO the corral so there are maybe 4 carts in it and a line of them clean into the parking lot… *grumble, mumble, grumble*
YES! Thank You, Shay! We should start a support group. Maybe hold it in an empty cart corral š
HA! You bring the signs and I’ll bring the wine š
Deal! The more wine we drink, the more likely we can “help” those who are corral challenged š
When the carts are all bunched up at the opening to the corral, I shove mine into the last one, line them up and push the whole nested mess inside like it belongs. *taking bow* You can thank me later! š Pay it forward.
BTW, I stole your meme, anyway, because it made me laugh. OK if I pass it along?
Anything that helps end the insanity is fine with me, Marcia!
Reblogged this on Dr. Shay West and commented:
I TOTALLY relate to this!!!!!!! I’m the person that will take the cart sitting right nest to the corral and push it inside LOL
It was probably somebody getting off work who works there, because that’s the way they stock the shelves too.
HA!
I think we shop at the same store.
No, I work with those people. >_<
…. yikes ….
I’m with Ross. And I will not go into a description of the person I know did this, we all know. Nice meme. You are meme-a-riffic!
Thanks, Maggie š I know I sound a bit like a curmudgeon, but hey ā at least I put my cart in the corral. And that’s not any kind of innuendo.
I’ve actually run into the opposite of this—a cart from a store that’s at least five miles away somehow made it onto the third floor of my apartment building. Probably took some effort to pull that off.
Fortunately, it will require hardly any effort to push it off.
I apologize if my last comment came through like eight times. It’s not that I thought my reply was that funny; it just didn’t seem to be working.
If someone had parked so that the corral was blocked (and I’ve seen that at least once), this would actually be a pretty good effort.
It was like 8:45 in the morning, so the lot was almost empty. Don’t make excuses for… wait a MINUTE! It was YOU!
HAHAHA! Busted…
I cannot comment on that, since at 8:45 in the morning I’m still unable to fully realize where I am and what I am doing.
Apparently, yesterday morning you were sleepwalking through the grocery store parking lot after buying groceries for breakfast.
It was Justine Bieber.
HAHAHA! I could totally see that. Except “Justine” would probably have gotten stuck in the cart.
We’re living in a society dominated by a “I WANT IT NOW AND I WANT IT FAST!” mentality, Ned. Personally, I blame TV – and the Kardashians.
… huh? Oh, sorry! Those words caused me to I drifted off thinking about the early days of marriage…
I hear you, buddy – except for the fast part…
HaHa! Touche’, my friend š
Bahahaha! Good one! This seems to be the week for little rants. I had one myself yesterday! TTFN, maybe see ya later alligator – in a parking lot. LOL
hahahahahaha NICE!
In honor of your rant, I refused to read the last line…I hope it didn’t have a point.
I only have a point about 95 percent of the time.
And 95 percent of the time I am the schmuck who collects the errant carts. There are days I feel like pulling up a chair and just watching to see who these lazy asses are!
Bless you for your commitment, Susan. If I’m ever out your way, we can set up chairs together and bring bullhorns!
Feck the trolly, I’m going to the supermarket to see if I can get me some of that ānaughty airport security pat-downā lol
Lol! I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure you can get one at the Greyhound bus station, too š
Here in Northern Ireland, a naughty security pat down means you actually have been naughty and you’re on your way to jail, no passing go or collecting Ā£200 or anything ffs lol
I think I’ll stick with a frisky female ATF agent.
Go to the security cameras! I’ll help hunt this guy down. I assume it is a guy. Why do I assume it is a guy? It has to be a guy. Don’t you think it is a guy?
Definitely a guy. Leaving the cart just inches away from the corral is the same thought process as dropping dirty socks in front of the hamper or shoving pizza boxes under the couch cushions. Yeah, gotta be a guy.
it’s a clear case of a spontaneous alien abduction. the cart returner made a sudden and unexpected departure.
LOL! And some day they will all be returned to us and the cart corral crisis will end.
And if it’s not spontaneous alien abduction, I’m hoping for spontaneous human combustion.
there’s just something so romantic and exciting about combustion….
You’ve obviously never eaten Mexican food with me.
lmso! (laughing my sombrero off)
I’m pretty sure he went to where all the single socks are. If he is returned to us, the socks will be too and the whole freakin’ parking lot will be lost. It may actually be preferable if he just stays where he is. I’ll move the cart.
But cart’s shadow is completely in the corral, it’s an artistic statement.
Ah yes: “Man’s desire to contribute to humanity is overshadowed by his laziness.”
Mine is people who don’t catch the door and let it slam on my face. Bad manners. š¦
Ugh! I ALWAYS look behind me when I go through a door. It’s just good manners and a sign that you’re not completely self absorbed. I rarely lose my temper. But a lack of manners is one of my few triggers. My wife and I were at the movies once, and when she came back from the rest room the guy at the end of the row wouldn’t move his legs and asked her to go around.
Trigger PULLED.
I went off on him and told him he better never tell my wife, or any other woman, to take the long way around because he was too damned lazy to move his feet ā and that I’d be more than happy to move them for him by dragging him out of the theater.
Ironically, we were there to see a comedy… š
That is pretty intense! Good for you! Somettimes people need to be called on their rudeness.
My wife was pretty surprised by my response because it was out of character for me. But I also think she kind of liked it š Haha!
Chivalry is not dead, yet… š
On the other hand, maybe the corral was full when the person parked it there and the person who collects carts to take them back to the store came along and said to himself “Fuck that, they don’t pay me enough to take an extra cart!”
Lol! I’d say that was a definite possibility if it wasn’t 8:45 in the morning, well before things get busy. Nope, just plain old laziness at work here.
This is right up there with those freaking lazy, annoying people who walk upstairs a million times & leave the crap on the stairs. It appears they don’t see it or perhaps they are going somewhere other than the top of the stairs…CRAP…it’s my family, isn’t it?
LOL! I feel your pain! Our daughter will pass by her clothes on the stairs 10 times while she goes to get her phone, grab a teen magazine she forgot to bring down, check her Kindle, etc. And she’ll run each time. But ask her to take her clothes up and BAM ā instant exhaustion!
It’s one of life’s mysteries I guess. Right up there along with emptying the dishwasher….
This chaps my hide, too. Everyone needs to follow the rules. When I put my cart back yesterday, I gave it the hard shove to push it to the end of the corral, so that it didn’t roll backwards. These people are the same ones who can’t park in the lines or take up two spaces or stop the microwave with two seconds left of cooking. Deviants.
They are also the ones who shove the smaller carts into the same row as the bigger carts. Haven’t they ever seen Sesame Street and “One of These Things Is Not Like the Other?!?”
THANK you.
drives me nuts too, seen a lot more of this type of laziness and assholery since I’ve moved up to the city, http://culchieinthecity.wordpress.com/
maybe it was one of those times where you’re like across the way and you aim up and push the buggy towards it… and then it’s like oh it didn’t go in but now I’d have to walk all the way over there and actually get it in… but it’s close enough… or maybe the whole buggy thing was full and the guy who gets them came and got them all except the one that was outside of it because that would’ve been 1 too many… or maybe the buggy was trying to sneak away and had to stop when you saw it… way to stop a buggy from reaching freedom…
I see what you’re saying. However, I prefer to save time by just jumping to the conclusion that this person was lazy š
They tired, just a little.
Yes, they definitely gave that extra little.
I couldn’t help but notice the cart in question doesn’t have that thing where you have to put in a quarter (is there a word for that thing in English?:s), which kinda makes me wonder where all the other carts went…Perhaps this person was being a good citizen by at least not taking his or her cart home?
Carts are free to use here, no quarters required. Maybe that’s why people get lazy š
Carts are free in Oregon? Really? How your society has managed not to collapse I’ll never know.
We charge for air in your car tires.
Figures…that’s free where I live. Guess it evens out;)
Even with my COPD if I took my cart this far, I would put it in the corral.
Hahaha! You need to teach classes š