Cart Etiquette

Funny how ubiquitous shopping carriages have become.
Their original homes used to be grocery stores, but then they spread their horizons wider and emigrated to home supply stores, and then big box stores, and now to women’s department stores.

          Retailers knew a good thing when they saw one. A woman laboring under the weight of five dresses may not reach for a sixth, but give her a shopping cart and all bets are off.

          On the down side, though, who in a grocery store has not ground their teeth as two people (yes, probably women) park their carriage in the middle of aisle for a chat when all you want to do is pick up that loaf of bread and get home.

          And practically every time I go to TJMaxx or Marshals and begin cruising the rows of ladies’ clothing I hit a roadblock. Some women must think that once an item is in their cart, it’s as though they’ve paid for it, and must guard it at all costs. They push their 4 foot vehicle with them down those narrow rows, rows that barely accommodate two people, never mind a carriage, blocking off all access for anyone else.

          In Target the other day, I encountered the elusive Covert Cart Stealer. You’ve had this happen to you at least once, I’ll bet. You choose your cart, put an item or two in it, duck down an aisle, and return to find your cart gone, taken by someone too bone-lazy to walk to the front of the store and get their own.

          Except this time I caught him in the act.

          I had already filled my cart with an umbrella (somehow I’ve lost my old friend, an umbrella that carried me through 20 years of teaching), and two large and unwieldy boogie boards for incoming grandboys.  Rather than push my carriage around with me, I wandered back to the beach toys, only to return and catch a middle-aged man placing my items on a nearby display.

          “That’s my carriage you’re taking.”

          He jumped, put them back, and at least had the grace to look shame-faced as he scuttled off.