I've seen a couple of the Cart Narc videos on reddit. I'm not sure what to think.
Yes, putting your cart back in the right place is the decent thing to do. But needlessly antagonizing people who don't, and then putting these videos up for everyone to see and mock just seems strange to me.
As I've gotten older, I've realized that it's just not worth it to worry about this type of stuff (unless the lot is filled to the brim).
* Yes, it's the "right" thing to put your cart back. It's often 10 seconds. That being said, there are cases where I have my daughters in the car on a hot day and don't want to take any risk with stepping away. Find a safe, stable place for that cart to ride out the heat and ensure my human companions don't have any risk.
* The cart person is going to round the parking lot no matter what. Even more, there's a good chance it's a high schooler who doesn't give two craps whether they're grabbing carts from the parking lot or stocking shelves. They're getting paid near minimum wage to do a minimum effort job.
This comment squarely hits at the heart of cartnarc
Yes, the cart person is going to get the cart either way. You could choose to make their lives a little bit easier by putting in 10 seconds of effort, or you could belittle them, their effort and their pay.
As the saying goes, the true test of someone’s character is how they treat their inferiors.
I recall reading a comment by an ex cart person where they described how the best part of their day was fetching the carts from all over the lot because they got to be outside. So for some, they’d prefer you didn’t put your cart back.
Yep, I bagged groceries at Albertsons in high school. Gathering carts was absolutely my favorite part of the job. Got to be outside, largely by yourself, getting exercise, and greeting random people. There was also a strong sense of satisfaction when you cleared the entire lot. It was awesome. Literally every single other bagger there felt the same way.
To this day, for this reason, I have no problem leaving my cart in the lot. You know what sucked though? Bagging groceries. Endlessly. Or putting back things people abandon/don’t buy.
If you really want to do someone at the grocery store a favor, bag your own groceries and put things back that you don’t want to buy.
The cart nonsense isn't the only measure of "bad"/good in society. Time to grow up now, but I hope you feel the endorphins from your righteous behavior toward a stranger on the internet. Bet you taught em a lesson.
because...that's where the people who are paid to round up the carts put them? I'm not saying people shouldn't put their carts back but if we are really looking for "vigilantes" looking to round up evil, please have them go to gun shops and prevent people from buying guns. That would help a lot more.
Maybe I'm coming off as belittling the cart person, but that's not my intent nor my feeling.
I've been a burger flipper. It was a fine job for that time in my life, but my attitude towards that job is wildly different than my professional job. At the end of the day, the minimum wage job was a shift. I was paid to show up and put the effort into my shift. I largely didn't care if that was working the line, cleaning, moving stock, or yanking trash.
Further, other comments reflect my understanding of most people grabbing carts. It's something they tend to enjoy doing.
If there's trash, like at a fast food restaurant, I throw it all away. Fancier restaurants don't let customers bring their dishes back to the kitchen. Though in the college dorms I always brought my dishes to the dirty dish conveyor belt thingy they had, instead of leaving my plates and tray at the table like a slob.
Ask the majority of Americans who paulg is, most won't know. Ask the majority of Americans who Kurt Angle is, some will know, but many won't.
The article showed how rank-and-file employees of these grocery stores generally approve of the Cart Narc. That's going to be picked up by management: "This guy is coming by for a day and cleaning up my parking lot for free? Fine, I have enough shit to deal with inside the store already."
I stumbled on his channel by chance and profoundly dislike the guy (albeit I'm seemingly in a minority). It seems clear to me that he wants to bully people first and that the cart thing is just a convenient justification for doing so. He is also disingenuous about his motives. When questioned about the camera, he invariably claims that it is there only for his protection, whereas it's primarily there for YouTube views and revenue. Finally, misplaced carts are not that big of a deal and simply a cost of doing business for supermarkets.
> Finally, misplaced carts are not that big of a deal
They address this a bit in the article, the hypothesis being that such a simple thing is a litmus test for whether someone is a shitty person in other aspects of life.
Given that there are literally cameras everywhere now (including all the Tesla's in the parking lot, with their cams), that's kind of an odd thing to be upset about at this point.
There’s a big difference between recording to some hard drive and deleting it after 30 days with no one seeing it and deliberately showing someone in an embarrassing situation and showing it to millions of people.
I remember back in the 80s/90s Candid Camera and Cops used to get people to sign a waiver, and those that didn’t had their faces pixelated out.
If all he wants is to be the cart narc and scold people he could do it without the camera.
I think the best way to address little things like this is with the sort of social judo that Aldi does. It'd be great if this wasn't needed, but here we are.
I personally like the Aldi system, and it's only a quarter, but I recognize that it puts a penalty on those who have to exert a lot of effort to shop on their own, and it would be good to reduce the effort at least a little.
In the past, when stores did not have self-checkout and there were 0.5 or more baggers per cashier, it would be easy to have a bagger assist in loading your purchases into the car (and then returning the cart for you). Minimally-staffed locations like Aldi make than an effectively-impossible ask.
I find the entertainment value for me in his most popular videos are the sheer unhinged overreaction of people about a fridge magnet. It's fascinating and perplexes me.
Faced with the same situation I'd simply drive away and gladly keep the sticker as a souvenir.
People love their moralizing about inconsequential issues.
I spent a summer retrieving carts at a big box store long ago. I really didn’t care and kind of liked fetching stray carts. It was easier and kind of like a little break. If there was less work to do I had less of a job or they made me go something else.
Shaming people for entertainment is pretty toxic regardless.
Thing is, if "carts back in the right place" is what society wants, you could hire a guy a lot more cheaply than this to just put 'em back, all day long. Society apparently puts a higher value on watching videos of people being angry.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 123 ms ] threadYes, putting your cart back in the right place is the decent thing to do. But needlessly antagonizing people who don't, and then putting these videos up for everyone to see and mock just seems strange to me.
I'm sure the YouTube revenue is worth it though.
* Yes, it's the "right" thing to put your cart back. It's often 10 seconds. That being said, there are cases where I have my daughters in the car on a hot day and don't want to take any risk with stepping away. Find a safe, stable place for that cart to ride out the heat and ensure my human companions don't have any risk.
* The cart person is going to round the parking lot no matter what. Even more, there's a good chance it's a high schooler who doesn't give two craps whether they're grabbing carts from the parking lot or stocking shelves. They're getting paid near minimum wage to do a minimum effort job.
Yes, the cart person is going to get the cart either way. You could choose to make their lives a little bit easier by putting in 10 seconds of effort, or you could belittle them, their effort and their pay.
As the saying goes, the true test of someone’s character is how they treat their inferiors.
You failed the test
To this day, for this reason, I have no problem leaving my cart in the lot. You know what sucked though? Bagging groceries. Endlessly. Or putting back things people abandon/don’t buy.
If you really want to do someone at the grocery store a favor, bag your own groceries and put things back that you don’t want to buy.
But don’t take away my carts.
Bad dads use their kids as props to excuse their bad behavior
I've been a burger flipper. It was a fine job for that time in my life, but my attitude towards that job is wildly different than my professional job. At the end of the day, the minimum wage job was a shift. I was paid to show up and put the effort into my shift. I largely didn't care if that was working the line, cleaning, moving stock, or yanking trash.
Further, other comments reflect my understanding of most people grabbing carts. It's something they tend to enjoy doing.
Do you piss all over the toilet seat because the janitor is coming around no matter what? It's the same basic idea
Having worked exactly this job at the local mall in high school, I can assure you that grabbing carts was preferred to stocking shelves.
Also, there is no way you hang out in private property recording / harassing / defacing peoples cars without the police getting involved A LOT.
Also the people refer to him as "Cart Narc" as if he is famous, come on.
The article showed how rank-and-file employees of these grocery stores generally approve of the Cart Narc. That's going to be picked up by management: "This guy is coming by for a day and cleaning up my parking lot for free? Fine, I have enough shit to deal with inside the store already."
Now said manager is gonna get a bunch of bitchy people complaining about this guy.
They address this a bit in the article, the hypothesis being that such a simple thing is a litmus test for whether someone is a shitty person in other aspects of life.
Given that there are literally cameras everywhere now (including all the Tesla's in the parking lot, with their cams), that's kind of an odd thing to be upset about at this point.
I remember back in the 80s/90s Candid Camera and Cops used to get people to sign a waiver, and those that didn’t had their faces pixelated out.
If all he wants is to be the cart narc and scold people he could do it without the camera.
This is only required where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, which there certainly is not in a grocery store parking lot.
Getting angry over this and even discussing it on the internet requires more energy than simply returning the cart.
Returning the cart is good for everyone. Additionally it's a simple contract - if you don't want to return the cart don't take it in the first place.
In the past, when stores did not have self-checkout and there were 0.5 or more baggers per cashier, it would be easy to have a bagger assist in loading your purchases into the car (and then returning the cart for you). Minimally-staffed locations like Aldi make than an effectively-impossible ask.
Faced with the same situation I'd simply drive away and gladly keep the sticker as a souvenir.
I spent a summer retrieving carts at a big box store long ago. I really didn’t care and kind of liked fetching stray carts. It was easier and kind of like a little break. If there was less work to do I had less of a job or they made me go something else.
Shaming people for entertainment is pretty toxic regardless.