"I don't want this, I'll just leave it on this shelf" (but not anymore)

[DancingBear]

I've done it. We all have. I've picked up something I thought I wanted to buy, carried it with me for a bit, and then decided against it. Instead of making the "long" walk back to where I originally found it, I sometimes just placed it on whatever shelf was close by.

Today, I read a thread or two about Wal-Mart, and about retail stores, and about those folks who have to put back what I so thoughtlessly left behind.

I don't think I'll do that anymore.

Thank you, DU, from a man who is (thankfully) not too old to learn.

[NMDemDist2]

1. my pet peeve is people too darn lazy to walk 10 feet to put the cart

away in the parking lot but instead leave it blocking parking spaces all over the place

it's just plain rude and selfish

[aquart]

9. For many people, the cart is a cane.

The cart is for leaning on and holding you up. It is for me. That extra ten feet that is nothing to you is agony to me.

If carts are blocking the parking lot, it is the fault of the STORE MANAGEMENT which has not provided for clearing the carts.

Customers have one responsibility: to SHOP.

[NMDemDist2]

30. you are not my target, I never worry about carts in the handicapped

parking areas, I am happy to return those

[aquart]

35. Well, you won't find me or my cart in the handicapped spots.

There's a huge middle ground you don't seem to be noticing.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. I always, always return my cart! Just so the employees don't have

to brave the crappy weather to round up the carts. If I park near an unattended cart, I return that as well.

[tammywammy]

23. I'm the same

I'll grab a cart in the parking lot to bring in, even if I'm going to use a handbasket. Or I'll gather up a couple and put in the cart area of the parking lot.

Also, when I park at the grocery store, I try and park close to the return cart area.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. LOL. So do I try to park close to the return cart area. I guess I am

lazy that way, however, I won't hold up traffic to wait for someone pulling out, just so I can park close to either the store or cart area! That drives me nuts when people do that! Talk about rude!

[tammywammy]

26. I don't block traffic

but then again I do my grocery shopping late in the evening 10pm, so there usually isn't a lot of people there.

Now when I'm with my grandfather, I'll circle until we get a close spot. I always offer to drop him off at the door and then I can pary in the boonies, but he feels that it would be too much trouble. So, with him, I always circle and cirle until there's a close spot to the door, because he just can't physically walk long distances.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. Oh I didn't mean to imply that you were lazy. It's so hot in Texas,

that I try to park close if I can, to either the store front or the cart area. Nice that you try to accommodate your grandfather and also nice that he doesn't want to inconvenience you!

[tammywammy]

29. I'm sorry

I didn't mean that to sound snippy. I agree I hate it when people block traffic (well, I'm jealous if it's a really really good spot).

And it is so hot here in the summer. When is it finally going to be winter...or at least 60 degrees during the day?

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. No need to apologize, I thought I had inadvertently offended you,

I did not mean too. I know, in the 80's in mid Nov.! That just ain't right! :rofl: I want some cool weather!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. On the other hand..... I'd like to get a bunch of DU'ers together, go

to Wailmart, load up about 100 carts or so.... then leave. I wonder what they would think. If this tactic was used to get them to pay overtime, have enough registers open at noon and so forth... I think some results could be achieved.... yes it would be a dirty tactic, but then, how they have been treating their employees in many cases is none too perty.

[DancingBear]

4. No - that is wrong

It hurts only those who we profess to help. Nobody else.

Please read a few of the threads here in GD on this topic for a different point of view.

As for me, I'm afraid I won't be joining in on that one.

[seabeyond]

16. so you would x's htere work load by how much? they wouldnt get

their other work done. and be expected to work their ass off because you thought it would get walmart. why dont you get it. wont get walmart. will get employee. will get manager, who is just a worker too. may get manager so much, he may lose his job. again, someone putting food on their table

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. Ok ok... I'm just going to put one thing in the cart... and I won't let

anyone else put more than one thing.... still make a statement, but do little (very little) harm. I'll tell you what, bitching about the plight of walmart employees on this board won't do a damn thing... but letting them see how people feel out in the real world... priceless.

[seabeyond]

22. get signs and picket, and spend the time standing in front of

walmart talking about low wage and no benefit. i have already seen a change in our walmart. they are hiring more people. using fewer of the self machines. i think walmart is already getting the message from what i have read. i personally dont shop there, but rarely, so my dollar isnt being spent with them. i dont go to hoby lobby either. after i was there and saw a sign about being a christian store i called the manager and went into a rant. the other day i went to joanne and bought what i could have gotten at hobby lobby. called the manager and told him he was out x dollars.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

24. I'm gonna go there and use their computers to order things from

Kmart and Target.... and anywhere else that isn't Walmart. That should do sumpin.

[seabeyond]

27. that is cute. i didnt know you could use computers, but that i like

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. I hand it back to the cashier

I'm sorry, but after hiking through WalMart I am simply physically unable to go back to where I got it from! Those little scooters are looking better and better the older I get!

[DancingBear]

8. That's understandable

Considertion for those unable to do what I am still (thankfully) able to do is part and parcel of the shopping experience. I'm sure the stores have taken this into account and have someone responsible for same.

[bonito]

17. LOL, and ouch at the same time

got a bad hip lately I don't know what I'd do, those stores are so big.

[aquart]

5. Nonsense.

Leave it on the nearest shelf. Unless it's milk, then it would be polite to put it back.Or hand it to an employee.

The job of a shopper IS TO SHOP. It is not to hang things, straighten things, or restock shelves. Every second you spend doing the job someone else is getting a salary for, YOU ARE NOT SHOPPING. SHOP.

I speak as a retailer for over twenty years. Anything that makes the shopping experience a chore is BAD. If you don't enter a store because you have a memory of being exhausted walking back and forth, that's BAD.

Other than that, stay out of Walmart and head for places where the service is gracious and all you have to do is SHOP.

We'll die without your money. Come and SHOP.

[DancingBear]

10. I didn't say I WON"T shop

All I said was I'd be a little more considerate.

Now, if you'd like me to come and put things all over your store just tell me where you are - I'll pig it out in no time. :)

[aquart]

20. We were Hyacinth in Bayside, Queens.

And we never made our customers afraid of us.

Although, after every thousand in the till, we could order someone out. But that was rare. Very, very rare.

We're gone now. Our customers begged, tried to bribe...but we had to go.

We miss them all. I love running into them.

Before the war, I was at a demonstration that started in Times Square and a cop called me over: "You! Come here!" She wanted to tell me how much she loved the ring her fiancee got from us. (We sold handmade American crafts).

Oh, and all our employees were customers who refused to leave.

[DancingBear]

21. If I could ask, when did you close?

And how close is Bayside to Astoria?

(Damn, I used to know, but that's what you get for moving south). :)

[aquart]

33. It's a pain in the butt to get from Bayside to Astoria.

Bayside is on the Port Washington line, close to the Nassau border.

Astoria is a whole other set of trains.

Hyacinth has been gone for about two years.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

6. Ooops, I do that a lot, especially with a four year old grandson

who slips stuff into the cart and I slip it out onto a shelf when he isn't looking (best way to avoid a crying jag and yet not end up with a purple wastebasket or a coconut monkey head). So educate me as to why I'm being so thoughtless. I just kind of always thought the store people got paid by the hour no matter what job they were doing, but I too am willing to learn.

[aquart]

12. You are NOT being thoughtless.

I do have some questions about employees who believe the customer should be doing their jobs for them.

Yes, it's dull to refold the same pile of sweaters twenty times a day. Or to retrieve odd objects from shelves and walk them back to their proper places. If the customers did all that for themselves, management could cut staffing.

[lildreamer316]

14. There's a balance here

you know,that adage about moderation. Of course you are not expected to put EVERYTHING back EXACTLY where you got it ALL THE TIME. Neither should you- as I said in my other post-leave a huge stack of something 10 feet from where it originated. If you have time and energy, do a little good and put it back. If you don't; no big deal. I take up with those that have 10 pairs of jeans and 15 sweaters in the dressing room--at least put it close to where you got it; know what I mean?
Those of us who have the energy and time (sounds like you are a little busy) are there to make up for those who don't. Enjoy your grandson and don't worry about this issue.

[clydefrand]

7. We're never too old to learn as long as our minds

function normally.

Now, I have a real pet peeve. I don't like to see articles of clothing or other goods left on the floor only to have them walked on, kicked, walked around or stepped over. Why have these people never been taught to pick up things even though they didn't drop them? I see this constantly. I'm always picking up clothing or other items that have fallen off the hangers or shelves. And I'm old and decrepit, but I still bend over and pick up things because I know that if these things aren't picked up or they are destroyed and can't be sold, then the prices we pay for goods will be higher. The business has to make up for loses some way and raising prices is the way to do it. So too with groceries taken from a freezer and left on an open shelf.

[niallmac]

13. I'll probably keep doing it.

because I'm a lazy bastard, not because I want to cause anyone any grief. I'll keep driving my car too, not because I like to see our country kill innocent people for oil but because I am (you guessed it.) I will never purposely cause another person harm if I can help it but I will never pretend I am above selfishness because I am not. I do what I can.
I don't shop at WalMart because where I live I have lots of alternatives.
I only drive my car on weekends because I made a determined effort to live close to work so I can bicycle my lazy ass back and forth.
I do what I can but I'm not Buddha or Jesus Christ.
Good for you for not leaving crap around the stores, really. I am just saying I will probably reluctantly begrudgingly work myself up to this additional sacrifice of my personal habits
but only because my guilt eventually overcomes my sloth.

[DancingBear]

18. Ya gotta love a guy who can overcome slothiness

Or at least try to. :thumbsup: :)

[driver8]

15. My wife does that and it drives me absolutely crazy!!

I tell her everytime, "Someone is going to have to take the time to put that back. Why don't you just do it?"

Maybe I will show her a couple of the Wal-Mart threads.

[Syncronaut Seven]

32. I prefer to chuck big packs of veal behind the cereal end cap displays!

Not really, no, really! :evilgrin:

[lildreamer316]

34. I can understand that.

I'm not a vegetarian, but veal.....yeah, go for it. Yetch.