Shopping cart etiquette

I'm annoyed again and here's why. 

Wegmans is heaven on earth and if you've read this blog, you knew that already. The lunch options exceed anything I've ever seen and each day is a new meal time adventure. It's like Disney World for lunching adults.  

You want Asian food? Check

You want Indian food? Check

You want old school subs (if you call it a hoagie please leave now)? Check

You want a crab cake sandwich? Check

You feeling me dawg? (I know, 2005 called and they want their reference back)

And it's not only the food choices that make it so off the charts awesome, but how the stations/displays are laid out to perfection. You can tell a lot of thought went into where you get a fork, or where you find the blue cheese for the wings or where you get the rice as the base for the Asian Wokery selections. 

Which brings me to today and a major violation Matt and I witnessed while scarfing down our lunch and enjoying the crowds shopping for their lunch below. 

Right in the middle of the Wegmans market, there are rows of ethnic food/salads where you can happily pile heaps of deliciousness into a container for later consumption. I may have Sesame Chicken and Lasagna and Thai spring rolls all lumped together in one container. A party like no other. 

While one mulls over their options and fills their container, there are a few simple rules to follow so everyone has the same enjoyable lunch experience. Pretty easy stuff if you ask me.

Number 1 on that list is to NOT do what you see in the photo below:               

Never, ever, under any circumstances, can you bring your cart into the buffet area. It immediately clogs up the aisle between the various food sections. It is so much fun to bounce from the "Asian Wokery" to the "Fresh Foods" section without fear of tripping over a cart. Are you that self absorbed that you don't realize what chaos you are bringing to the situation? Do you do the same thing at Home Depot while searching for caulk? Do you also slow down on a highway when searching for your exit ignoring the danger you are causing behind you? Are you that person that elbows my kids while looking for the rare Lego sets at Toys R Us?

The answers are yes, yes, yes and yes.      

**Side note - the individuals included in the photo below are not guilty of any shopping cart indiscretions. They are merely victims of a selfish act committed by a heathen I was never able to identify.

There are other rules that I will divulge in a future post, but for now, I would like to present you with the solution for handling a shopping cart properly. Simply follow the "rules of the mailman" (still the best job I ever had, albeit for one summer only). This normally applies to food shopping at holiday time, but can be applied to this situation as well.

Let me explain.

When approaching a crowded area in a supermarket, simply find an area off the beaten path (like near the smoked fish display), park your cart there, determine all that you need within the circumference of the affected area, walk cart-less to said area, pick up all of the items by hand and return to your cart.

This is the same method a mailman follows when he parks strategically on the street corner, grabs the necessary mail, walks the length of the street down one side and returns back on the other side of the street. Real simple stuff.

So next time you see a cart resting in a crowded area in the supermarket, feel free to push it away knowing how much you are benefiting the rest of us.

Thank you.


TGAL