Dear Shopper,

So you have selected your groceries, paid for them, brought them outside and transferred them from your cart to your car. And then…you drive away.

Does this sound like you? Do you do all of this and nothing more? If you said yes, I don't mean to offend you, but you are an incredibly lazy person. Unfortunately for me, you are not alone.

One of my regular work activities is to venture outside (in ALL types of weather, mind you) to round up the carts to return them in front of the store. At the beginning of this activity, there are precisely zero carts in the correct place. Instead, they are scattered around the vast corners of the parking lot.

This is shameful. This is embarrassing. This is not what a normal representation of 21st century life should be.

I don't mean to insult you, but I simply do not see any indication that two or three carts belong in a parking space. In fact, I have always been under the impression that a parking space was meant for cars, not carts.

Is it really too much trouble to walk the extra 20 feet to put the cart away? I don't think so!

I can't even say anything to you. If I do, you could, like a hypocrite, walk all those extra feet back inside the store and complain to my boss. So I'm stuck there helplessly, watching you leave your carts and drive away.

It's even worse when the weather is not sunny and exactly 73 degrees. How could you possibly think I like to spend my hours running around in the August heat or April showers collecting carts? If you see me doing this in such miserable weather, and you still leave your cart wherever, I have but one question for you: How do you sleep at night?

As far as excuses go, there are none. If you claim you don’t want to leave your child to return the cart, set a good example and take the kid with you. If you claim to be handicapped, well, chances are you’re parked directly in front of the store! Twenty feet becomes five!

It’s one cart. You can put it away. Don’t be lazy.

A final note: if you see me putting carts away and need a cart, for pete's sake, do not take a cart that I have already put away. That's just being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.

Signed,

Upset Cart Wrangler