Current Events > The Shopping Cart Theory

(+) Yeah! (+)

speaking as someone who just finished a shift in retail as a cart pusher, people in general are idiots. I can understand if you have a handicap and can't move properly, but even with small kids, you have the option of buckling them into their safety seats and spending less than 10 seconds pushing your empty shopping cart into a cart corral. What's worse is that even people who bring the carts into the corral don't do it properly. They will push it in there with no semblence of how it needs to be pushed in. Big carts with Big carts, Small carts with Small carts. It's not rocket science.

Gamerguymass posted...

I want to know how many times this guy has gotten sued for harrassment slander.

Slander? How is it slander? He actually has video of people doing the thing he's accusing them of.

Gamerguymass posted...

Eventually he is going to be arrested for trespassing

Nope. Not unless a building owner asks him not to come back and he does so anyway. And even then I'm not sure it's trespassing unless they first file something with the local police department saying they asked him not to return to the premises. And EVEN THEN I'm not sure a manager can make such a request because typically they don't actually own the building (like a drug store in a strip mall is just renting space) so they actually have no control over the parking lot to begin with.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Slander? How is it slander? He actually has video of people doing the thing he's accusing them of.

Nope. Not unless a building owner asks him not to come back and he does so anyway. And even then I'm not sure it's trespassing unless they first file something with the local police department saying they asked him not to return to the premises. And EVEN THEN I'm not sure a manager can make such a request because typically they don't actually own the building (like a drug store in a strip mall is just renting space) so they actually have no control over the parking lot to begin with.

Then someone will eventually just beat the shit out of him and that will put an end to all of it. People generally don't like being followed around in a parking lot being harassed by someone with a camera. Who knew?

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If you ever worked in retail I feel you know better than to just leave it out there but who knows

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Ivany2008 posted...

speaking as someone who just finished a shift in retail as a cart pusher, people in general are idiots. I can understand if you have a handicap and can't move properly, but even with small kids, you have the option of buckling them into their safety seats and spending less than 10 seconds pushing your empty shopping cart into a cart corral. What's worse is that even people who bring the carts into the corral don't do it properly. They will push it in there with no semblence of how it needs to be pushed in. Big carts with Big carts, Small carts with Small carts. It's not rocket science.

My store only has one cart size and people can't even get THAT right. Of course, we used to have two different kinds of carriage(roughly the same size) that didn't play nice together(old silver aluminum ones and grey plastic ones) and most people never even realized they were different, so, yeah. They had different bumpers and everything...
Also people ask if we have smaller carts and get really annoyed to learn we only have standard-sized shopping carts. We have two sizes of basket: a standard hand-basket, and a larger wheeled basket(that is also carriable).

GallisOTK posted...

Agreed. It takes like 15 seconds of bare minimum effort to return the cart, but it helps make the cart retriever person's job easier and helps keep the lot safer.

This

I cannot help but wonder whether there is a correlation between relative property values in an area and rates of shopping cart returns at local grocery stores.

But with that said, I had no idea cart narcs were a thing before now.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAA3PD0mCHo

People who leaves carts in spaces should be beaten

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What about clearing your table after a meal at a fast food restaurant?
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what about guys like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0KNCzb88Q

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St0rmFury posted...

What about clearing your table after a meal at a fast food restaurant?

I feel like that's the same principle. You get nothing for doing it, but it's easy and objectively the correct thing to do.

thebatz posted...

what about guys like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0KNCzb88Q

deeeeeecent

St0rmFury posted...

What about clearing your table after a meal at a fast food restaurant?

Oh I always clean it. It's the decent thing to do, IMO.

Especially after working in a fast food restaurant and having to pick up the absolute filth people leave behind. Disgusting.
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BakonBitz posted...

Especially after working in a fast food restaurant and having to pick up the absolute filth people leave behind. Disgusting.

...any surprise diapers?

Questionmarktarius posted...

...any surprise diapers?

i like to believe there is a special place in hell for people that discard them in grocery store parking lots

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TheMikh posted...

i like to believe there is a special place in hell for people that discard them in grocery store parking lots

Hell is when the next car runs over it, and leaves a dotted trail of shit for a quarter mile or so.

I always return my cart, but I feel like this theory is a bit too primitive than to be anything more than a tool to help internet nerds to feel superior to the masses.

The theorys premise is where it falls apart: that all of society agrees that returning the cart is the correct thing to do. But if you pay attention to abandoned carts, you notice not chaos, but several different patterns of reasoning.

Some jerks leave them in the middle of the parking space or in the road.

Some prop them up on to the curb.

Some find some unofficial nook to place the cart, outside the designated return area, where it will remain stationary and unlikely to roll off. And in those unofficial areas you will often see multiple carts neatly compacted together, which is evidence that multiple people independently agreed to maintain order in this unofficial area

And whats more, even in returned carts, you can find abandoned trash. Half-drank lattes, fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, childrens toys. So is the person good for passing the Cart Theory test? Or are they bad for littering?

And in places with more than one type of cart, the designated cart area can become a chaotic, disorganized mess. To the point that leaving the cart outside that area would do the employees a greater service than trying to cram it in. (Speaking from personal experience on this one >_>)

In summation, the Shopping Cart Theory is cute. It has some potential as an indicator when part of a larger data set, but its not useful as an independent diagnostic tool for social development.

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markconigliaro posted...

I've been on a cart narc kick recently and watching all their videos. Some people just get violent when confronted:

https://youtu.be/JovIKbxZpNY

And I always return my cart, no exceptions.

Usually I find this kind of stuff funny but once he put the magnet on his truck to get more of a reaction out of him, that wasn't cool.

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I always return the cart. Mostly because I feel bad for the kids that have to corral them in 115 degree weather.
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Gamerguymass posted...

Then someone will eventually just beat the shit out of him and that will put an end to all of it. People generally don't like being followed around in a parking lot being harassed by someone with a camera. Who knew?

There was a guy who threatened to shoot him who actually ended up shooting somebody on a subway. Hasn't stopped the highly trained Car Narcs. Whether you love or hate the approach he definitely has balls of steel.
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AlisLandale posted...

Some prop them up on to the curb.

These motherfuckers.....they need to die in a fire. I worked at a place where someone literally propped it up by a stop sign

Bubbles was a smart guy though. He went over, grabbed the carts that were broken and would fix them and resell them back to the stores for a reasonable price. I think he might have even got a job fixing carts during the run of the show at some point.

voldothegr8 posted...

There was a guy who threatened to shoot him who actually ended up shooting somebody on a subway. Hasn't stopped the highly trained Car Narcs. Whether you love or hate the approach he definitely has balls of steel.

I dunno. From what I saw of this cart narcs channel this dude looks like he goes after overweight and or older people. Like he targets people who can't chase him down if they're pissed off from his antics.

I dont have a truck.

I collect carts from time to time at my supermarket. We put carts in front of the store, people who put them there are great. There are shelters for carts scattered around the parking lot where carts can go, people who put them there are also good, but we have to take them out of there and put them in front of the store. No problem. People who leave them scattered along the parking lot, especially in dangerous places where cars need to pass, those people are shit.

But the worst ones are people who steal the carts from the parking lot (there are signs as laws on the building saying not to steal) and take the carts home with them, those are the worst pieces of shit. One time at my old location (our supermarket renovated locations last year), there was an apartment complex across the street that kept stealing our carts and we had to use a van to pick them all up. In front of houses, all over their parking lots, even on the sidewalks. Fuck them.
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I always return mine

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I think the best ones are the coin carts. People actually bother to put them back just to get their coins back. Wish we had that at my store.

Tag

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I park really far away from stores and always return my cart for extra steps

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Oh really I thought they were everywhere so people didn't steal them as much
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markconigliaro posted...

I've been on a cart narc kick recently and watching all their videos.

I watched a few of those videos.

The problem I have with what this guy is doing is that the videos posted to the channel are non-instructional--most of the encounters featured are ones where he attempts to get people who leave their cart loose to return it to a cart corral, to "do the right thing", but fails. He then proceeds to goad those people, who are neither prepared nor interested in resolving the situation by re-engaging with him or by returning their cart, into re-engaging.

[ Shopping carts are expensive. Vehicle repairs from shopping cart collisions are expensive. People who leave carts loose are inconsiderate. All of these things are true. However, what he's doing is communicating the right message the wrong way. He could be charged with creating a public nuisance for his troubles, too. ]
.

If he's serious about doing something constructive, not just capturing more "stunt" videos to upload to his channel, maybe he should try to partner with a commercial property management team for the mall stores, or municipalities, in order to develop and deliver an official, focused, public information campaign on shopping cart return safety.

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I could of sworn this was a topic a couple weeks back. I don't see the point in returning carts. Someone else gets paid to gather them.
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I just assume people who don't put them back are inconsiderate, and that it likely shows in a bunch of other behaviors.

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SamWincester posted...

I could of sworn this was a topic a couple weeks back. I don't see the point in returning carts. Someone else gets paid to gather them.

Like I told the other inconsiderate poster, you'd be singing a different tune if your car got dinged by a loose cart being blowed by the wind.
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If it's on the way to returning it, I'll even grab another cart to take back. I never understood why people can't return it. It's f'n easy

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Bad_Mojo posted...

If it's on the way to returning it, I'll even grab another cart to take back. I never understood why people can't return it. It's f'n easy

Lazybones
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There's so many little things people do or don't, its insane how many of those can define how a person is when you think about it

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I usually do it, but I've not done it on occasion. I'll try to remember to be courteous due to CE's strong moral example here.
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Cookie Bag posted...

There's so many little things people do or don't, its insane how many of those can define how a person is when you think about it

Hell, people seem very confused when I'm all, "Thanks, have a great day," to the cashier when I leave.

If I see a garbage can knocked over on the street while I'm walking I'll pick it up

We now have these crosswalks in the middle of some of the non-busy streets. You press the button and it just starts flashing, allowing you to walk. This isn't like a normal one at a red light. Anyways, I won't push it unless there are no cars or a car is far enough a way that I'll be out of their way before they get there. Most people just walk up, press it, and walk in front of 4 cars.

Speaking of which, if someone is about to pull out into the street from their driveway or something, I'll check the street to see if they have a clear path, and if they do, I'll let them go first so they don't get stuck waiting for cars. If there is a bunch of cars coming, then I'll walk since they have to wait anyways.

I let people get in front of me in line if I'm buying a bunch of food and they only have a couple things.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu1ZMW0EzMo

Who's worse here?

A lazy, careless woman leaving a cart in the middle of the parking lot or an annoying guy managing to get a clearly special needs man to angrily chase him?

ToastyOne posted...

Who's worse here?

A lazy, careless woman leaving a cart in the middle of the parking lot or an annoying guy managing to get a clearly special needs man to angrily chase him?

She should have put it back, not lied, explained her son's condition to him first, and her "surprisingly he's white" line makes me think she's probably racist.

Or she could have ignored him and just driven away.

I feel like the reason both the videos posted have people escalating the situation and getting others involved is because they know how wrong they are but they're too embarrassed, selfish, and stubborn to just admit it. And on top of that they still care what others think about them in some capacity. So they want others to tell them they are "right". Some annoying ass asks you to put your cart back, say "Can you get that for me, thanks?" And drive away. If you're the type that doesn't want to return your buggy that is.
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It's not a terrible theory imo.

But it's not something you do with others enough. How you treat the waiter is a more common goto.
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