An open letter to Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. Wal Mart Shopper

Dear Wal Mart Shopper,

It was really cold to have to be out shopping so early at Wal Mart this morning wasn't it. It is gotten to where I really hate to have to go out to Wal Mart. But I, like you, braved the cold (sans make-up) and to Wal Mart we went. Weren't we lucky to find such a close parking space!! Row 7 and I was lucky enough to be in space #1! That made it easier for a nice run in and out. Did you see how bad I looked? Yeah well I have felt rotten for the last three days. I was throwing up Friday but how could you have know that? I did not even make it to Sunday School today. I was only running in for necessities or I would not have even left my house this morning. I still do not feel 100% but that is alright...nothing to worry your little head about!! Maybe you saw me and thought *Oh My, she is a bit chunky and I bet her cholesterol is a bit high! Here, let me help her out with exercise!!*. That is the only reason that I can figure out as to why you left your shopping cart parked smack dab behind my car. Yes, behind my car that was parked just a mere 4 spaces away from the cart corral. Did it break free from you as you were trying to wrangle the darned thing into its corral as the theme from Born Free played in the background? You did not even have the courtesy to park it in between cars or at the front of cars, no not you! You left it behind a car just so that someone would have to go out of their way to move it. I did move it. I parked it in its proper place and it went quiet nicely...I think it is very domesticated so I really do doubt my own Born Free scenario. You also did not know that not placing a shopping cart in its correct place is my number one pet peeve. Did you happen to see the young mother in the store shopping? The one with a toddler and new born in her basket? It would have been awkward, at the least, for her to have to have wrangled your cart with her little ones out in the cold. Did you see the man shopping in the wheelchair? What if he had to go to the trouble of holstering your buggy? If there is such a thing as karma, you will come back as a herder of the silver buffalo and get to wear that nifty orange vest.

Plan and simple....Your action was rude. I deem you now be called and forever known as the *Shopping Cart Pig*! If I had my way, you would have sprouted a snout when you were irresponsible and then we would all be able to recognize you! Yes, you hacked me off. But then, your evil ways helped me to develop my own plan!! I may not be able to ever stop you but I will be able to raise up a new geneneration of kinder gentler shoppers that follow proper parking lot etiquette! Shopping Cart Pig...meet your new arch enemy.....The Princess of the Parking LOT!

Can I actually do anything at all to you? Nope. So you shall not be my focus. I have decided to reward people that I catch in the act of actually going out of their way to park their carts in the proper places and displaying proper parking lot etiquette! I have made up 10 of the following rewards. And I will make even more tomorrow!! You never know where I will strike!! Is $2.00 a lot of money? Nope, but I swear, it will make an impression and, from then on, that person will always be aware of how their actions impacted someone else for the better!!

BEHOLD!!

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Comments

  1. You rock Princess of the Paking Lot! I hate parking lot pigs, especially the ones that let their shopping carts bang into my car. I love your idea of rewarding good behavior.

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  2. Ahhhh, good parenting. Praise the good behavior ;)

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  3. People can be so thoughtless and rude. I usually try to put my buggy up, but sometimes I don't. But I will do a better job from now on, because I don't want to suddenly sprout a pig snout (You might really be the Princess of Everything and then some).

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  4. Anonymous4:50 AM

    This is the GREATEST!! I always, always park my buggy in the corral....uhmm, ALMOST always! Except the other day, early in the morning, at Wal-Mart! ;)

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  5. As listmaker said, YOU ROCK!!! I want to shop in your town. Not at Wally World, mind you, but anywhere else!

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  6. Anonymous9:05 AM

    This is great Mindy. I want to shop where you shop. Hubby is scrupulous about taking the trolley back where it belongs, but in Finland it got such a problem that the bigger supermarkets (which I avoid if I can - and go once every second month if I must) you pay a deposit 1€ to use a trolley and you get it back when you park it in the right place. It works wonders AND there are fewer scratches on cars now too :)

    our local shop doesn't use this but most people wheel the trolley back - or use a basket as they only pick up a few items.

    In Finland you have to PAY for each carrier or paper bag - so most people arrive with their own bags - I like that too -but I loved the packers in the US - do you still have them? Mind you I always wanted one to come home with me to help UNPACK as that's a horrid chore too!

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  7. This is way too cool! I can't wait to hear what happens.

    Unfortunately, Revmom, thanks to Wal-Mart, there are not many other places left in town to shop.

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  8. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, eh? Good job!

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  9. re only Wal-mart left, that is the problem with these large stores. :( I still shop in a mid-sized store which sells only food and cleaning stuff and toiletries. Their prices are good. I can get in and out fast and I've got to know the older women who work there permanently (they also have young part time assistants like on Sat mornings) Their food is fresh and good too whichis imporant, also they have a few fair trade items bananas and coffee,and some organic stuff - though not as much as I'd like

    AND when I asked them to stock a new brand of rye bread rolls called fitness they did and then told me they sold so well that they'd sold out fast!!! :)

    But I do go to the bigger store once a month or once in six weeks. As rarely as possible for those things that you cannot get - like oven gloves, (ours burnt! don't ask!)

    why am I telling you guys all this? Oh yeah avoiding Swedish revision.

    bye!

    I tend to shop when no-one else does IF I can time it that way. I'm not good in crowds.

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  10. Anonymous4:16 PM

    Translation note: I'm as Southern as grits and we call 'em buggies not shopping carts.
    I always put my buggy in the corral and usually pick up a stray and claim it for mine while in the parking lot. The mind set of the selfish lout that leaves a buggy wandering on its own in the parking lot totally escaped me. Until I went shopping in Homestead, Florida. In both the Walmart shopping center and miles away in a large strip mall anchored by a Publix grocery there were no buggy corrals. At all. Anywhere. We searched. Many of the buggies where just left between vechiles and some had wheels partially parked in landscaped islands. (That's where I left mine at Walmart but I took the buggy back inside at Publix.)

    So other than being lazy, folks could be leaving their buggies loose because they aren't use to putting them up. Now, the bigger question is why don't the stores provide corrals for the buggies?

    And Princess, you are such a sweetie to want to reward folks that make an effort to do the right thing - but it's sad that you see that as the exception and not the norm.

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  11. Hahahahhahaa. "Did it break free from you as you were trying to wrangle the darned thing into its corral as the theme from Born Free played in the background? " That made me laugh really hard.

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  12. I'm past this phase now, but I never resolved the great dilemma: do you put the toddlers in the car out of the cold rain while you unload the cart and sprint as fast as you can to the cart dock and back risking them being kidnapped or accidentally starting the car and driving to Mexico OR do you leave them in the little cart seat in the cold rain while you unload the groceries, walk with them in the cold rain to the cart dock and carry them, again through the cold rain, back to the car OR to you go for the gold medal good parent award and strap them safely in their warm car seats while you unload the unstrap them and take them with you to the cart dock in the cold rain so you know they are 100% safe the whole time?? I won't tell you what I usually did because if you choose options 1 or 2 chances are some kind soul in the parking lot will tell you you have made the wrong choice. . .

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  13. Actually PCT, I think that is an acceptable reason to not holster your buggy. But most moms that I see doing that have the courtsey to move the buggy to the front of the car so that it is not in someones way or someone does not back over it.

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  14. erm with kids (toddlers)

    here we unload them in the car first. then the shopping. then lock the car -take the trolley back - get the deposit - and unlock the car. drive off and go home.

    it's NOT that hard

    and nowadys in europe bigger markets have family friendly zones - with good lighting, wider spaces, and right next to the trolley park with the special trolleys for babies.

    mind you it was a real battle for that to happen. Deposits for trolleys work, but are very unpopular because lets face it's so easy just to dump the trolley when its' wet, cold, you're in a hurry etc. sigh

    I like Mindy's idea of rewarding good behaviour :)

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  15. I'm just jealous that PCT gets to shop some place where there is cold rain.

    ... dry ... so, dry ...

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  16. hey Princess of the Parking lot

    Just picture this

    cold today but not snowing PTL
    shop car park like a skating rink
    used the trolley back like a zimmer frame

    then the dilemma I'd parked as near as I could to the door - brilliant -only the retutn trolley park is over the over side of the car park

    felt your eyes on me
    so I took it all the way there
    and was pushed by the icy wind all the way back to the car with no mishaps

    then I noticed something strange
    there was only ONE other car in the park

    seems that word's got around that you are monitering us -and everyone else decided to stay put and eat beans on toast or something :)

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