After seeing this discussion being brought up again, I was going to genuinely ask you all to explain where that comes from. I’m from Brazil and I don’t recall ever shopping at a place with a large parking lot, which I believe might be part of the issue. I was thinking how come people value this act so much and before starting to write a post here I sent a message to a friend, then it hit me: it’s absurd.
I mean it. The feeling I had reading the comments wasn’t confusion or ignorance, it was the cognitive dissonance of looking at the world I live in and what people decided marks a person as decent. This is one of the moments I really have to stop and check if I’m not actually the crazy one. I really can’t think of something smaller to care about that someone else will defend so vehemently. Really, try me, I’m already broken again.
Like, okay - I don’t think anyone’s saying returning the cart to the corral automatically makes you a good person, it’s just a green flag, right? Are you willing to do something that has no reward for compliance and no punishment for abandonment, simply because it’s the thing you’re expected to do in order to keep a system functioning?
If someone doesn’t return the cart regularly, it seems more likely that they’re inconsiderate. If they do, it seems more likely that they’re decent. But it’s one thing out of many that just happens to be publicly visible, so it becomes sort of a benchmark.
I think you effectively nailed it. It’s a small act that represents a person’s larger outlook on civilization. Are you participating in it or are you rejecting it.
It’s similar to a smoker that flicks their cigarettes in random places. Or spitting out gum on the sidewalk. Or many other small things that aren’t that important on a small scale, but if everyone does the same thing, then is sucks. But if (almost) everyone does the small thing to benefit the whole, the whole is better off for it.