― Harold Kushner
I was so happy yesterday when my mother shared that she had joined the returning grocery carts movement. But something about the carts had been troubling me: What if we were thinking that returning carts was kindness only to find out that we were taking a task away from the employees who bag groceries and retrieve carts? I wanted to make sure that we were really being kind and not jeopardizing anybody's job.
Before
enlisting anyone else, I figured I should get to the bottom of this cart
conundrum. So today, when I encountered
a grocery store employee collecting carts, I asked him if we were taking work
away from him. No, he assured me, it's a
help. Not entirely convinced, I decided
to get the management perspective. I
went to see the store manager, who initially gave me an incredulous look as I prattled
on about the kindness project, our returning carts and the blog. Once he determined that I was not completely
insane, or that he could spare a couple of minutes talking with a loon, the
manager said that returning carts really helps him. I also learned a couple of interesting things
about the carts. They cost about $150
each, which I never would have guessed. And
the store manager told me that missing carts were actually a big problem,
especially when he first took over the store 10 years ago. He said that he would send out a van to
collect the carts that people were walking away from the store. While we are not tackling that issue, he said
that he appreciated our efforts because parking is a challenge for his store,
made worse by the carts in the empty spaces, and he has to keep reminding his employees
about collecting the carts, which they especially dislike doing in the heat. I felt much better knowing that this brand of
kindness is truly that.
Now, I just
need to find out about those parking meters ...
(Someone told me that it was illegal to put money in expired meters.)
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