I’m with y’all there. On top of dealing with customers, it was pretty gross work: dumping the sticky bins when the bottle return was full; Mopping up messes; Emptying trash and throwing it in the compactor. Weather permitting, carts were definitely the easiest.

Going for stray carts at the outer edges = quiet walk without any customers or managers.

First of all, thank you for replying. There’s probably many on the subject who would down vote a counter point without even reading, let alone replying.

it opens up the “well since he put the cart wherever he wanted I can do the same” mindset

This seems to make multiple incorrect assumptions:

1. there’s not already multiple carts that could inspire that mindset. There’s usually many out of place for much longer. This cart was literally there for less than 15 seconds.
2. people are biased towards replicating negative behavior. As I said, I grabbed the cart on my way in, but that won’t inspiring order the way leaving it inspires chaos?
3. most people are unable to differentiate between where a cart is easy to grab and where it’s just going to linger or get in the way. I know I’m not the only one grabbing carts on my way in. It doesn’t take years of cart collecting to notice.

I feel depressed when I see assumptions that seem to view people as really dumb and requiring hard-line, no-exceptions rules. It gets uncomfortably close to an authoritarian worldview. I wrote my previous reply because, while I believe people should put their carts back, and model that behavior myself, I also believe things are rarely black and white and it’s valuable to interrogate when that might be.

Edit: add opening thanks

Okay, at the risk of down votes, I’ll take the bait.

My first job was more than 3 years of collecting carts. In that time it’s easy to see patterns like where carts often end up. Some are left out in the open, near a slope where the slightest breeze will animate it. Others pushed up on the sidewalk to the side of the store where there’s not much traffic and they just pile up. And others still will be left along a common walking path, not blocking the path, secure but not stuck.

Those last ones often take care of themselves because so many people walk along that path, it’s trivial to grab it on your way in, and it’s faster than pulling a cart backwards out of the entryway where they’re stored.

Years later, I’m picking up something for my nephew’s birthday party. I park the car. There’s a cart in the position mentioned above: on my way, not blocking anyone, secure but easy to grab. So I grab it, walk inside, do my shopping, come out, unload it. Nearest return is back inside the store, or I can put it back where I found it securely, along the way, but out of the way. I choose the latter. Before I even get in my car someone has grabbed the cart on their way in.

I fail to see the problem. However, the person who grabbed the cart was talking loudly to her grandchild so I could hear, “his legs must be broken since he can’t put the cart back” 😤

TL;DR In a post about returning your carts, a job which I had for over 3 years, the most obnoxious person I encountered was not someone who put their cart in the wrong place, but a passive-aggressive, self-righteous, loudmouth who was so narrow minded they couldn’t see there are spots carts can be left that save both parties time and create no additional work, even as she benefitted.

From my research, Patreon takes a smaller cut than YouTube Premium. Comparing YouTube Premium to its own ad model is a “Worst Negates the Bad” fallacy. From what I gathered (not easy to find and has changed over time) YT takes 30% from the former and 45% from latter. Seems insanely high. More than taxes. May be why so many creators need sponsors and hawk merch.

YouTube never supporting 3rd party apps seems like a negative.

Lots of suitable alternatives to youtube: read a book, listen to music, go for a walk, hang with friends, play games, etc, but to your point, sounds like a monopoly. Their search was once great, then ubiquitous, now terrible. YouTube Premium is just in the “entice users and creators” phase of its inevitable enshittification.

Don’t mean to dump on something you like, just disagree with the reasoning. If you’re not fine with Premium and hate giving money to google, sounds like you’ll eventually seek out alternatives when they go into profit maximization mode. Hopefully enough resources will have been invested in viable alternatives by that time.

[edit: break wall of text]

downvotes? I’m guessing you may have offended some folks by badmouthing their favorite toy.