Cartman

I actually went WITH Bill to the grocery store this evening. It's an uncommon occurrence because I generally hate going shopping, but I was determined to try to enjoy it. We just had a couple of things to pick up and I really wanted to buy some ice cream. I can't trust Bill to bring home decent ice cream. He will usually opt for frozen yogurt or "half the fat ice cream". What good is that?  I figure, if you're going to eat ice cream, go BIG.

We weren't in a particular hurry, and kind of ambled in through the entrance. As I walked over to the stacked grocery carts, I heard a loud voice behind me. An old man with a seriously crabby face, shot a cart in my general direction and yelled (yes, yelled) "HERE, TAKE THIS ONE".  His tone did not imply that he wanted to do us a favor. He had obviously followed us in and was angry.  I thought Bill was going to take the guy down. But, instead, Bill looked at me and said: "Don't touch that cart!  Nobody orders ME around in the grocery store". I don't know why, but I thought that line was particularly funny.

We took another cart.

I had forgotten that they sold flowers in the grocery store. So I hemmed and hawed over the selection. That was nice. By the time I had picked out a few posies, Bill had half the list done. I told him I had to get something in the frozen aisle. He left me to my own devices. At least, I think he left me. I was so entranced with the vast array of real ice cream that I think I may have zoned out for a while. It was hard for me to choose. But, the cart was still there behind me and Bill was only a few feet away. He did not make a comment on my fat laden choice.

As I wandered the aisles, in a slight daze, I wondered why the crabby old guy was so insistent about the cart. The only thing I could think of was that he saw two able-bodied people, walking aimlessly past a number of parking lot carts - carts that had not yet been picked up by the grocery store retrieval team. He was angry at our laziness, perhaps? 

I didn't feel guilty about this at all. I was not lazy - far from it. I remember my dad telling me years ago (one of his many small bits of wisdom, HA!): "never take a cart back from the parking lot - you are depriving someone of his/her job."

I looked for that old guy in the grocery store but I never saw him again. Maybe he was coming onto his shift as the cart retrieval guy.