Tweet
Today is Black Friday. My wife and daughter are off shopping right now and they can have it. But today got me thinking about something that has been studied as a psychological phenomenon. The Shopping Cart Theory. Basically, are you a person who returns a cart to a collection, or are you content to just abandon it anywhere around the lot, and what might that say about you as a person.
The Shopping Cart Theory
To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task, and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore, the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart. No one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. A person who is unable to do this is no better than anyone who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. The shopping cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
Basically the old adage; The person you are when nobody is watching, is the person you really are. When only your own soul is watching, so to speak.
Now I would probably give a pass to someone who is handicapped or infirmed in some way, or even someone trying to corral small kids while loading up their vehicle. But I'm a guy who always returns or walks a stray cart back into the store, even if I'm going in for handful of items. If I park near someone who is loading up their vehicle I might wait and ask if I can use their cart when they are done and they are usually happy for the offer. I almost always pick up strays because I hate the dings on my vehicles that the strays can cause. It is hard for me to not view the person who doesn't do the simple task of returning a cart to where it belongs as being lazy, selfish, inconsiderate and feel fine causing others to pick up after them. A lot of times when my wife and I go shop I might wait with the vehicle at certain places and just listen to the radio and it gives me time to observe this. I think you can tell a lot by this simple societal observation.
The Shopping Cart Theory
To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task, and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore, the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart. No one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. A person who is unable to do this is no better than anyone who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. The shopping cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
Basically the old adage; The person you are when nobody is watching, is the person you really are. When only your own soul is watching, so to speak.
Now I would probably give a pass to someone who is handicapped or infirmed in some way, or even someone trying to corral small kids while loading up their vehicle. But I'm a guy who always returns or walks a stray cart back into the store, even if I'm going in for handful of items. If I park near someone who is loading up their vehicle I might wait and ask if I can use their cart when they are done and they are usually happy for the offer. I almost always pick up strays because I hate the dings on my vehicles that the strays can cause. It is hard for me to not view the person who doesn't do the simple task of returning a cart to where it belongs as being lazy, selfish, inconsiderate and feel fine causing others to pick up after them. A lot of times when my wife and I go shop I might wait with the vehicle at certain places and just listen to the radio and it gives me time to observe this. I think you can tell a lot by this simple societal observation.
Comment