NEW PERSPECTIVES ON OLD HABITS

Shopping Cart Philosophy

Are you ready for the challenge?

Photo by on

I was shopping in an American supermarket, and suddenly realized that I had taken someone else’s trolley (I suppose I should call it a grocery cart). How had I not noticed the two recyclable milk bottles from a local farm sitting right under my nose?

I looked around and then retraced my footsteps, scanning the store for someone who was also scanning the store. Alas, I was unable to find my own cart, nor identify anyone looking for theirs. It had apparently been quite a while since I had “stolen” the cart, as more than half of the things in it were actually mine.

Rather than remove the unwanted items (and put them where?) I impulsively decided that I would just buy everything, regardless of whether or not it was something I would normally use.

I returned the bottles, but felt strangely guilty taking the deposit money for them so I refused it.

Waiting in the line to pay, I perused the cart in front of me. Cheese cubes. Name-brand sandwich bags. Brussels sprouts. Plastic ice cube trays. Grape jelly. Roast beef slices. Not items that were completely alien to me, but things that I would not usually buy. There were also several items that I would normally buy, and that is…