If you ever want proof of “The American Laziness Epidemic,” one South Carolina man says to just check your local Walmart parking lot. Specifically, it’s what shoppers choose to do with their shopping carts once they’ve walked back to their car with their groceries and other purchases. It’s what the internet says is a “test for the most basic of decency.” Does the person return their cart to a corral or just leave it, knowing no one would know it was them?
Well, the South Carolina man couldn’t take it anymore when he saw how many carts were just sitting around the parking lot of his local Walmart, claiming it’s the perfect display of how lazy Americans are. “It makes me furious to see the amount of lazy and inconsiderate people throughout the USA,” the man growls in his post on r/mildlyinfuriating. “I truly believe if you leave the cart in the middle of the parking lot, you’re just as bad as a litter-bug.”
OP does admit that his anger stems from dealing with stray shopping carts during his past work experiences at grocery stores. Though thousands of Redditors agree that he is completely right: people are getting way too lazy with how they handle carts after shopping. “It’s always the ‘it’s someone else’s job to put the carts away’ type of people,” remarks a commenter. Another person suggests it’s likely due to people giving in to peer pressure, seeing so many other shoppers doing it.
Several Redditors go out on a limb, claiming it’s not laziness at all, but “stupidity, selfishness, and sociopathy.” They explain, saying, “It’s the fact that they no longer need the cart, so therefore they no longer apply any emotional attachment to anything unless it specifically benefits them. So they just dump it and make it someone else’s problem.” While such a perspective is a bit extreme, refusing to complete such a simple and thoughtful task like returning a cart could say a thing or two about your character.
A top-upvoted commenter suggests that the shopping cart problem can be easily solved by requiring people to insert a coin into the cart’s handle to unchain from others. And while many agree, some still think that it’s just a band-aid on the bigger issue with people being generally inconsiderate to each other.
