Tuesday, August 04, 2009
parking lot ripoff
A funny thing happened in at the grocery store the other day: I got ripped off. Not, however, by the usual price gouging that we're accustomed to (you know, the loss leaders to get you in, and then you buy the rest of the stuff at inflated prices), but by a middle-aged women in the parking lot.
We all know the shopping-cart etiquette, put in quarter, or loonie in this case, and get your cart. If someone is returning one, you give them the money instead of making them dock it and you having to undock it.
(BTW, slightly off-topic, but in terms of shopping carts, and in terms of glimpsed vignettes that tell whole stories, I remember seeing what appeared to be a father and teenaged-son standing in front of a docked shopping cart trying to figure where to put their money to undock it. They never did figure it out and walked away without one. My guess is that the woman of the house was away - or just fed up with shopping - and the guys were out shopping and having to figure out shopping carts, or not, for the first time).
So I gave my loonie to the nice middle-aged woman who was just about to dock her cart, and went shopping. Upon returning from shopping and attempting to dock, I realized there was no loonie in the cart (which happens sometimes with damaged carts).
She ripped me off! She knew full well the cart didn't have any money in it, and still took mine. She must have got it from somewhere other than the docking station. I couldn't believe it, the nerve. Of course maybe somebody ripped her off too.
We all know the shopping-cart etiquette, put in quarter, or loonie in this case, and get your cart. If someone is returning one, you give them the money instead of making them dock it and you having to undock it.
(BTW, slightly off-topic, but in terms of shopping carts, and in terms of glimpsed vignettes that tell whole stories, I remember seeing what appeared to be a father and teenaged-son standing in front of a docked shopping cart trying to figure where to put their money to undock it. They never did figure it out and walked away without one. My guess is that the woman of the house was away - or just fed up with shopping - and the guys were out shopping and having to figure out shopping carts, or not, for the first time).
So I gave my loonie to the nice middle-aged woman who was just about to dock her cart, and went shopping. Upon returning from shopping and attempting to dock, I realized there was no loonie in the cart (which happens sometimes with damaged carts).
She ripped me off! She knew full well the cart didn't have any money in it, and still took mine. She must have got it from somewhere other than the docking station. I couldn't believe it, the nerve. Of course maybe somebody ripped her off too.
