Cart Narcs are out to bust shopping cart slobs
I haven’t done a pet peeves column for a couple of years, and at this point in the winter and still recovering from my first bout with COVID, I’m feeling cranky.
So I’ll get the ball rolling with three things that bug me. If you’re feeling called to unload about bad drivers, bad grammar, bad shoppers or some other form of bad behavior, send me your complaints. I’ll share them in a future column.
Here are some of mine:
Why are Facebook users so gullible?
It seems almost every time I visit, I’m receiving a shared post from someone who thinks they’re about to be charged $4.99 a month, that a new rule will allow Facebook to begin posting their photos without their permission, or that copying and pasting a block of text into a new Facebook post can “change the algorithm” that limits the number of friends’ posts that appear in your news feed.
All hoaxes. Fact-checkers have been debunking some of these going back to 2009, and I guarantee you that every time one of them is shared again, lots of annoyed people like me will post a comment pointing out that it’s not true. In fact, come to think of it, that’s probably why so many of them appear in my feed. I comment every time. Maybe I’m the real sucker.
But as someone who made debunking urban legends one of my recurring subjects back when I was a regular columnist, I can’t resist trying to set people straight.
I get that people are constantly trying to swindle us on the Internet, including Facebook. I’ve fallen for some of these. They get us to share fake posts about lost dogs. They get us to respond to quizzes that reveal information that may be useful to hackers. They send us fake friend requests.
So yeah, it’s a jungle out there. But when you share junk, you’re just making it denser.
People who don’t understand right turn on red.
I confess I tend to be a cranky driver. No, I don’t carry a sidearm or indulge in other vigilante behavior. But I am prone to waving my arms and talking to myself.
I could fill multiple columns with all the things that tick me off when I’m driving. But I’ll focus on one, because it demonstrates how ignorant people are about the basic rules of the road.
Fact: Our state allows right turns on red. They’re even encouraged, because they save gas and reduce backups.
Fact: Some intersections include right turn arrows, designed to let you know when you can turn without any threat from opposing lanes.
Fiction: If the right turn arrow isn’t green, you can’t turn on red.
Fact: People who don’t get this are annoying.
If they don’t want you to turn on red, they’ll post “No turn on red.” If there’s no sign like that, you’re free to turn, opposing traffic permitting. I’ll acknowledge that there are people out there who, for whatever reason, never will turn right on red, even if the road is clear for miles. I’m not sure what’s up with that.
More common, I suspect, are people distracted by their phones or daydreams and have no idea the way is clear to turn. The dilemma for me always is: Should I honk or just wait patiently? Depends on my mood.
But if you recognize yourself, consider this a written honk.
Shopping cart slobs.
If you’ve never seen any Cart Narcs videos on YouTube, Instagram or elsewhere, I encourage you to check some out.
They document the work of “agents” who patrol store parking lots to admonish people who randomly dump their shopping carts instead of returning them to the proper corrals. These lazy slobs are my final subject.
I’ve seen carts blocking multiple parking spaces, rolling across windy parking lots, even crashing into parked cars. It baffles me that anyone would think it’s OK just to dump their cart instead of walking them the short distance to a corral.
The Cart Narc I’ve seen in almost all the videos is a guy who calls himself Agent Sebastian, infuriatingly polite as he’s cursed and chased by angry people who haven’t returned their carts. He’ll ask them to take the cart back, and when they don’t, he decorates their car with a magnet that says “LAZYBONES ON BOARD” or some similar admonishment. Typically, at least one of them is thrown at him by the screaming lazybones, but he’ll just add another as they drive away.
They have 562,000 subscribers on YouTube and another 511,000 on Instagram, so I have to believe these videos have had an impact. I’d love to see the Cart Narcs open a Lehigh Valley branch, but in the meantime, if you’re one of those slobs, you should consider cleaning up your act.
Now … your turn. What bugs you?