No Excuse: The Most Annoying Thing Michigan Shoppers Do

For many people, this may never apply to you, but for those special few, please pay attention to my West Michigan Shopping PSA.

Recently I had to pick up some medicine and some groceries at Meijer.

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I drove up and down several rows before finally finding a parking spot. Just my luck, it was completely on the opposite side of the store entrance.

Hey, a few extra steps never hurt anyone, so I parked and we started walking toward the entrance.

After passing a few cars, I noticed an empty shopping cart blocking a parking spot.

I thought to myself, "How lazy do you have to be to not return a shopping cart?"

As we got closer to the store, I noticed a number of empty shopping carts around a car.

Let's zoom in to truly appreciate how many empty carts were left by inconsiderate people.

I counted four, which made me wonder, "How exactly did this happen?" Did one large family park their giant van here and end up filling four shopping carts?

Or were these carts left behind by four individuals who were either too busy or too lazy to return them to a cart corral?

A few seconds after I took these pictures, a gentleman nearby got out of his car and started walking over toward the shopping carts. To my surprise, he collected three of the four and began returning them to a nearby cart corral.

After putting the carts in their place, the gentleman headed toward the store.

As we continued toward the entrance, this is what I saw at the next cart corral: it was almost as bad as not returning your shopping cart at all. Sure, you made some effort to go from where your car was parked to the cart corral, and it would appear you had great intentions of doing the right thing, but something happened just before you crossed the finish line, and you left your cart near the cart corral instead of in it.

As you can see from the picture above, I was so close to the entrance that I thought surely this laziness would come to an end. But just a few cars past the cart corral, I saw this.

How can you not return a mini cart? I'm not sure, but it has to weigh less than a regular cart. Plus, you probably had fewer groceries, so what's your excuse for not returning it to the cart corral just 10 feet away?

When I made it to the entrance, I looked to my left and guess what I saw?

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If you guessed another shopping cart, you're correct!

I tried to figure this one out in my head. Did someone have a car pull up for them, and after loading their groceries just say, "Wow, that's a long walk; I'll leave this sitting here"?

After we ran in and picked up the prescription, I noticed more shopping carts near the handicapped parking spots. I can almost understand a shopping cart being left there, but then I think of my 80-year-old grandma who can still muster up the energy to return her cart where it belongs. Once again, I find myself wondering, "How can someone be so lazy?"

If you need to use a handicap spot or know someone who does, you should also understand the importance of keeping those spots clear and leaving space around them for people in wheelchairs.

I had to laugh when I looked to my right and saw a classic cart on the curb. This person knows they shouldn't block the parking spot but is still too lazy to return it; instead, they put it on the grassy hill area.

My simple West Michigan PSA is this: when you go grocery shopping or anywhere that requires a cart, please don’t be a lazy, selfish CART-HOLE—return your cart inside the store or at one of the many cart corrals located outside.

Thank you for listening to my West Michigan PSA!