Every team member and sales associate for a retail/big box franchise is familiar with this scene: a customer pulls up to their check lane with a loaded cart and terrible attitude. All merchandise is scanned, bagged, and placed back inside.
The customer pays, a receipt is printed and snatched away in unprovoked frustration. The team member expects the guest to wheel their goods into a waiting car.
Instead, two hands reach for the bags to carry them out, abandoning the cart altogether. A now irritated cashier has to move it out the way of an incoming guest. Bonus points if the customer takes it past the exit, then leaves the useless thing right next to the doors.
Why is it such a commitment to put the cart back where you found it?
The Shopping Cart Theory states that you can determine a person’s character by what they do with their cart after shopping. I’m inclined to agree with the entire concept based on my experiences in retail.
I’ll offer an extension to that: if you don’t take your cart back, you have one glaring issue with commitment.
Hear me out.
When I hear commitment, I think of relationships and long-term goals. I think of mapping out plans to reach those goals. I think of what being in a committed relationship means. What these thoughts have in common is how often the little things can distract us from our commitment to succeed with both.
We’re taught, from childhood, to put our toys back where we got them. It’s one of our earliest examples. Since kids are monsters, the toys stay where they landed until someone steps on them. Now, we’re in trouble.
You realize, later on, putting the toys away made your parents’ lives easier to manage. It was one, less unnecessary chore to deal with, in a life full of them.
The problem is there is no responsibility as guests in returning the cart. No one is making you put it back. It’s not your job.
Here’s the thing, though: The incentive is knowing that it’s only right to return the cart. The way it’s only right to put away your toys.
This small act can lead to a successful night for the company. It can brighten the day of a beleaguered retail worker. The list goes on.
Life is a long list of commitments. I understand we’ll always fall short. I’ve left a couple behind, myself. When we commit to holding ourselves accountable for our missteps, success becomes easier to reach.
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