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Comment by SkyPuncher | Hacker News Reader

As I've gotten older, I've realized that it's just not worth it to worry about this type of stuff (unless the lot is filled to the brim).

* Yes, it's the "right" thing to put your cart back. It's often 10 seconds. That being said, there are cases where I have my daughters in the car on a hot day and don't want to take any risk with stepping away. Find a safe, stable place for that cart to ride out the heat and ensure my human companions don't have any risk.

* The cart person is going to round the parking lot no matter what. Even more, there's a good chance it's a high schooler who doesn't give two craps whether they're grabbing carts from the parking lot or stocking shelves. They're getting paid near minimum wage to do a minimum effort job.

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This comment squarely hits at the heart of cartnarc

Yes, the cart person is going to get the cart either way. You could choose to make their lives a little bit easier by putting in 10 seconds of effort, or you could belittle them, their effort and their pay.

As the saying goes, the true test of someone’s character is how they treat their inferiors.

You failed the test

I recall reading a comment by an ex cart person where they described how the best part of their day was fetching the carts from all over the lot because they got to be outside. So for some, they’d prefer you didn’t put your cart back.

Yep, I bagged groceries at Albertsons in high school. Gathering carts was absolutely my favorite part of the job. Got to be outside, largely by yourself, getting exercise, and greeting random people. There was also a strong sense of satisfaction when you cleared the entire lot. It was awesome. Literally every single other bagger there felt the same way.

To this day, for this reason, I have no problem leaving my cart in the lot. You know what sucked though? Bagging groceries. Endlessly. Or putting back things people abandon/don’t buy.

If you really want to do someone at the grocery store a favor, bag your own groceries and put things back that you don’t want to buy.

But don’t take away my carts.

Who's more inferior: The teenager grocery store employee or the daughter in the hot car?

Rad dads let their kids ride the cart back to the corral

Bad dads use their kids as props to excuse their bad behavior

The cart nonsense isn't the only measure of "bad"/good in society. Time to grow up now, but I hope you feel the endorphins from your righteous behavior toward a stranger on the internet. Bet you taught em a lesson.

When my kids were little I just made a point of parking next to a cart corral.

When I worked grocery/retail, getting the carts was my favorite way to get away...

They're paid to go throughout the parking lot and round up carts, so that the customers don't have to. What's wrong with that ?

They're paid insultingly low wages. Not using them as a servant is the nice thing to do.

How do you know they don’t like it? Could be the favorite thing of somebodies day!

When I worked as a bagger it was the best part of my job.

Why do we have cart return areas at all?

because...that's where the people who are paid to round up the carts put them? I'm not saying people shouldn't put their carts back but if we are really looking for "vigilantes" looking to round up evil, please have them go to gun shops and prevent people from buying guns. That would help a lot more.

Maybe I'm coming off as belittling the cart person, but that's not my intent nor my feeling.

I've been a burger flipper. It was a fine job for that time in my life, but my attitude towards that job is wildly different than my professional job. At the end of the day, the minimum wage job was a shift. I was paid to show up and put the effort into my shift. I largely didn't care if that was working the line, cleaning, moving stock, or yanking trash.

Further, other comments reflect my understanding of most people grabbing carts. It's something they tend to enjoy doing.

> doesn't give two craps whether they're grabbing carts from the parking lot or stocking shelves

Having worked exactly this job at the local mall in high school, I can assure you that grabbing carts was preferred to stocking shelves.

>The cart person is going to round the parking lot no matter what.

Do you piss all over the toilet seat because the janitor is coming around no matter what? It's the same basic idea

Do you bus your own table at a restaurant?

If there's trash, like at a fast food restaurant, I throw it all away. Fancier restaurants don't let customers bring their dishes back to the kitchen. Though in the college dorms I always brought my dishes to the dirty dish conveyor belt thingy they had, instead of leaving my plates and tray at the table like a slob.

Yeah, you’re supposed to use the conveyor belt. These are not the same thing.

And you're supposed to use the cart return, as the signs posted above each and every one tell you to do.

I don't want my cart to get scratched from a cart that could roll into it

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