An Open Appeal to All from a Walmart Cart Pusher

Published by Yamiookami in the blog Bloggy-ookami. Views: 2642

First off, let me start by saying that I'm 90% none of my future blog entries will live up to the glory that was my first. From this point on, I'll just be talking about what's on my mind when the mood strikes me. :derpe: This entry is a plea from me regarding etiquette involving shopping carts at stores. You may think it silly to worry about, but there are people who have to clean up after you, and in the case of shopping carts, that's me. I have a number of things I'd like to speak about regarding this.

1. When you are finished with your cart, please please PLEASE put it INSIDE the nearest corral. Do not put it up on the curb. Do not leave it next to your car. DO NOT LEAVE IT BEHIND SOMEONE ELSE'S PARKED CAR. This makes it quicker and easier for the cart pushers to streamline their activities. Every cart left out of place is another several seconds (occasionally a few minutes if it's really far out of the way) we have to spend tidying up. That may not sound like much, but please consider that when one person considers doing it, tens of others are as well. This can lead to a lot of wasted time, around 45-60 minutes in a day, I estimate.

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2. If you leave your cart in the front cart area, I implore you to push it into one of the lines rather than simply leave it where it lies. the reason being that when I bring carts into the back of the cart area, I often have to spend several minutes walking up to the front and cleaning up the stray carts, then walking back before I can even do anything with the carts I just brought in. I have to do this because I don't want one of those stray carts to get bumped in the wrong direction when I'm pushing the lines up and have it accidentally bump into a customer and whatnot. That and it just looks bad.

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3. REMOVE ALL TRASH FROM THE CART BEFORE PUTTING IT UP. For the love of god, there's a trash can at EVERY corral. You would not believe the crap I've had to deal with: dirty diapers, water bottles filled with what may have been urine, giant bags of cans and bottles supposedly for recycling, bags of yard clippings, shoe boxes for those who just wanted the shoes, tons and tons of McDonald's cups and bags (cups often still being significantly full), large stacks of cardboard and plastic, sales papers, sales papers, sales papers, A PILE OF BROKEN UP CONCRETE! So please, PLEASE just throw your trash away in the nearest convenient trash can, likely at the corral your leave your cart in.

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4. When you first get your cart from the front, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT just pick up whatever trash is in there and THROW IT IN THE NEXT CART IN THE LINE. This ticks me off like you wouldn't believe. There are literally 3 or 4 trash cans within 10 steps of you. Please use one! I know it's my job to clean up all trash from the carts, and I do my best, but I can't always see when there's trash with all the carts I have to deal with. So please, do your part and throw away whatever is in the cart you grab. Usually it's just something small like a fruit bag or a UPC tag or a plastic wrapper.

I know this sounds like whining, but when I do this job everyday, eventually enough gets to be enough. I cannot impress upon you the importance of courtesy to people like us, especially in these hot days of the summer. Please try to find it in your heart to takes a few seconds out of your day to do what's proper. I know it's hot and you want to be out of the heat as quickly as possible, but please consider that if you don't do the right thing, then WE have to walk out of our way in that heat you so wish to be rid of to take care of your mess. And this heat we have to be out in all day, so please don't make it any harder for us than it needs to be. We're already constantly warding off the threat of dehydration and heat stroke. Don't pour salt on our wounds by being a jerk.

I'll be honest with you. When the heat gets particularly intense, my thoughts get very dark indeed.

So please. Please. Just do what you know you ought. That's all I ask.
Jul 7, 2012
  • B-Dog1996
    B-Dog1996 Jul 7, 2012
    Wow, we don't seem to have this problem in Britain. Everyone always puts the trolleys/shopping carts in the designated area on this side(well atleast everyone I've seen does it)

    But still, it must be pretty annoying to have to keep chasing after all the trolleys. Has your shop thought about getting something like this:
    http://www.arpgroup.com.au/retail/wp-content/uploads/Lock-on-trolley1-250x300.jpg
    You have to deposit a coin to unlock the trolley and to get your coin back, you have to lock to another trolley. That way, the shopper always has to line up their empty trolleys in the right place. It works like a charm over here.
  • 51m0nn
    51m0nn Jul 7, 2012
    Wow. I cannot imagine how annoying that must be, Although I am across the globe I can imagine how you must feel, we actually don't have that problem, most of the shopping carts literally do not leave the store and the people actually carry the bags out on their own.but still, I'll take more consideration to the people behind cleaning those places up.
  • Rarit E
    Rarit E Jul 7, 2012
    No offense, but what else would you do as a cart pusher? If i had your job, and i wouldn't have to do all the stuff you mentioned just now, i'd be bored out of my mind.

    Yeah, some people are ignorant slobs, but it can't be helped lol. That's why the cart pusher job exists. :p

    Maybe you could go see your boss and ask him to hire more people?

    And if people still don't care to put them in the right place, you get free money. :Trollestia:
  • Yamiookami
    Yamiookami Jul 7, 2012
    You speak out of complete ignorance, Rarit E. We still have a crapton of stuff to do without all the inconsiderate things customers do to add to it. You have NO IDEA how much traffic Walmart gets over here, do you? We barely have enough time to get the carts that are in the corrals, much less the ones customers leave out in the middle of nowhere that takes us minutes to get. By the time we get one half of the parking lot done, the other is overflowing already.

    Our job EXISTS, you jerk, to get the carts from the designated corrals littered throughout the parking lot. ideally, that's what our job should be doing. Instead, we have to bust our butts trying to keep up with all the people's laziness atop everything else. YOU try doing that in 35+ C heat with humidity that has you staggering and dripping sweat so bad you need to wipe your face every 3 minutes the moment you walk out of the air conditioned door into the inferno. People like you are everything I hate about this job. "Oh it's fine, I'll leave it here because I don't want to take care of it. It's his job to get it anyway."

    And as far as hiring more people goes, the store manager never employs more than 3 cart pushers at a time because he doesn't feel like spending the money, so our store is always horribly understaffed as far as cart pushers go.
  • Rarit E
    Rarit E Jul 7, 2012
    Hey, don't assault me because your job isn't fun. My job isn't fun at 35°C either. At least you have an air-conditioned area to stand in. My job isn't fun when it rains, it's not fun when it's hot, it's not fun when it's freezing. I'm a construction worker. It's my job to run (and i do mean RUN) from one side of the construction site to the other to make sure a number of people have the stuff they need to work with. I do know what it's like to wipe the sweat off my face every minute to prevent tasting the saltiness of it, or to prevent it from getting in my eyes. My skin burns with irritation from wiping off that sweat with sweaty stinky gloves. Every day, my head is cooking underneath a safety helmet. My job is a rush too, so i very much know what it must be like for you.

    The thing is, i don't live in America, we don't have walmarts here, and i sure as hoof don't know how big they are over there. Like i said, i didn't mean any offense and i'm terribly sorry if i caused any. It's ok to lose your temper every once in a while, but it won't do you any good to lose it against the wrong people...
  • B-Dog1996
    B-Dog1996 Jul 7, 2012
    @Rarit E: Walmarts are absolutely huge. It must be pretty annoying running from one side of a huge car park to the other. Still, your job doesn't look much more fun either.

    Anyway, Yami, Walmart is a huge, successful business. Surely they have enough money to buy the shopping cart locks I mentioned earlier. It's worth asking anyway. That way, people will actually be forced to look after themselves. I actually find it hard to believe that people just dump rubbish in the carts instead of using a trash can. Humanity I am dissapoint.
  • Yamiookami
    Yamiookami Jul 8, 2012
    For those of you concerned about the tiff between me and Rarit E, we talked it over and no hard feelings are had. All is forgiven, so no worries.

    And B-Dog, the cart locks would be a good idea, but would also kind of put me out of a job, no? xD But yes, the rubbish business is rubbish.
  • LyonKS555
    LyonKS555 Jul 8, 2012
    I've never realized that. You kind of scared me there a little yami but I can see how this can get to you. Must've been a bad fur day.
  • SoulEmber
    SoulEmber Jul 9, 2012
    Blech, I hate how inconsiderate and slovenly people can be. I always make sure to return shopping carts to a corral whenever I'm at a grocery store. I'm always wary of them though, because of the disgusting amount of germs they're covered in. Sounds like a tough situation, especially with your employer not wanting to hire any more employees. Reminds me a lot of healthcare.
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