This Might Sting A Bit

This post is entirely about inappropriate store parking lot behavior. One should note that I judge based solely on my own pet peeves. These may not bother you. In fact, you may be one of the people committing these acts. If so, this post might sting a little. Many apologies in advance for that. 

Offense #1: Putting flyers under my windshield wiper
Man oh man do I hate this one! It happened just today. I went to the grocery store in need of two little items. When I pulled into my parking spot, I noticed that all the cars surrounding mine had been "tagged" with Chinese Food Menus. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had apparently missed the flyer bandit and was in the clear. I was in the store for 5, count 'em, 5 minutes. When I returned to my car, I too was tagged. Was this guy just circling the parking lot looking for new victims to drive in so he could move in for the kill?

The thing that I hate most about these things is that I NEVER notice them until I am already in the car all buckled up and ready to go. Then I have to get out of my car and remove the stupid thing. My temptation is to just turn on my wipers as I am driving at full speed so that the flyer will live up to its name. But I can't do that because my pet peeve for littering is just a bit stronger than the one for these flyers. So, alas, I get out of my car and put the flyer in my car with me until I can get home and trash it. GRRRRR.

Offense #2: Reckless Shopping Cart Abandonment
This is probably my biggest pet peeve. (I only listed the flyer thingy first because it JUST HAPPENED and was fresh on my nerves.) I am constantly amazed by people who empty their shopping carts and then leave them willy nilly in the parking lot without taking them to the cart return. I know it isn't fun to take the shopping cart back, I do. I hate doing it myself, but it is my responsibility. If I leave my cart out there, one of three things could happen: 1) Nothing 2) It takes up another parking space and keeps the next customer from getting a good spot 3) It rolls away and smashes into another person's car causing damage. I am choosing to believe that these abandoners are betting on #1, but that still doesn't excuse the behavior in my book.

Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted many times to leave the cart beside my car and take off. Especially when it is raining. Or when the cart return is WAAAAAAAY over there and I have two screaming kids in the car. But in the end, I know that I chose my own parking spot. It's not like I parked right next to the cart return and then the employees moved it while I was shopping. I knew when I arrived that I would have this little trek to make so I have no one to blame but myself.

Just the other day, I was aghast as I witnessed this offense to the extreme degree. There was a beautiful, shiny SUV parked right in front of my stylin' mini-van. The lady who owned said SUV was just finishing up the unloading of the cart. She was parked beside the cart return. The cart return, my friends, was RIGHT BESIDE her driver's door. Yet, she crammed the cart into the space between her passenger door and the car to her right. Lady--you had to walk to the cart return to get in your car! Couldn't you just bring the cart along for the ride? Shesh!

These people are either major hypocrites or their houses are a jumble of a mess. Think about it. What parent doesn't tell their child to put things back where they belong? Maybe the children don't get told it all the time, but at some point, the child has picked up an item that they should have left alone, or they have strewn their toys all about the dining room or something. The natural response is to tell the child to put things back where they belong. What message does this communicate to them when they see mom and/or dad refusing to put their cart back where it belongs?

Can you tell that this is my biggest pet peeve?

I will say that I have abandoned a cart once. ONCE. It was outside of the Bed Bath and Beyond at our local Ghetto-Mall. I got out to the car only to realize that they don't have cart returns in that parking lot. So I would have had to leave my children in the car while I traipsed back into the mall to return the cart. Not going to happen my friends. So that time, I reluctantly pushed the cart to the very front of the parking lot to get it as close to the store as possible and walked back to my van, head hung in shame. And since that day, I just do whatever it takes to not take the cart out to my van. I will say though that I look quite dashing with multiple bags hanging off of both arms while pushing a stroller as my toddler hangs on to my back pocket.  But I digress.

Offense #3: Almost returning your cart
I know, I know, but humor me here. There seems to be an epidemic of people who are only half hearted in their attempts to return their carts. On multiple occasions I have tried to return my cart only to find a smattering of carts all piled up around the entrance to the cart return. The cart return itself? Empty. But the 5 feet radius in front of the cart return looks like a 20-cart pile up jumble of craziness. I don't want to have to untangle your mess just so I can return my cart.

Okay, venting session complete. I am now off to enjoy some freshly baked brownies and possibly order some Chinese food. If only I knew of a great place in my area.  Snark, snark, snark.