"Employees Hate Cleaning Up After You" — Grocery Store Worker Slams People Who Don't Put Carts Back

It’s hard out here for a grocer.

From stocking shelves to manning the cash register, these essential workers are put through the wringer daily. But Karens with complaints about the price of organic kale aren't their biggest pet peeve.

The general consensus among grocery store employees is that the worst part of the job is working the shopping cart corrals.

You can learn a lot from a person by whether or not they return their shopping cart, people say. In fact, in a viral video on TikTok, @smokeeash explained why not returning your shopping cart at the grocery store is one of the most insensitive things you can do.

PSA: Grocery store employees hate cleaning up after you — at least that’s true for this Canadian social media user. A TikTok with more than 100,000 views as of this writing, @smokeeash dragged customers who leave their carts in the parking lot all willy-nilly.

He says in the video: “How hard is it just to put it in line?”

“No, because now you're being disrespectful and you're taking up a parking lot,” he said of grocery store patrons who refuse to return shopping carts to their rightful homes.

The TikToker adds sarcastically: “You just don't care, do you? Well, it's my job, I'm working here — respect man. Have some respect.”

While his dramatized video was obviously just for kicks, other grocery store employees feel his pain and added their two cents in the comment section.

“Cart pushing is the most disrespected position in grocery stores yet the most hard to do, as simple as it may seem,” a TikTok user named Liam shared.

“Not even cap, this me every day,” another grocery store employee wrote.

“As a person who used to push carts for about two years, I can agree,” @jusarandomdude06 empathized.

Not only is not returning your cart inconsiderate to grocery store employees, but it could potentially cause damage to someone else’s property. If so, some pointed out, you could likely end up in legal trouble.

“Most of the time [people] be leaving their carts in the parking lot and if the wind is strong, it will actually move and damage someone else's car,” another Tiktoker chimed in.

A couple of TikTokers suggested remedies to the age-old grocery cart crisis. “There should be a dollar in that cart. Consider it a premium pay for the employee bringing the cart back LOL,” @harnizzy12 commented.

And his comment wasn’t too far-fetched. Some grocery stores actually do charge customers a fee if they don’t return their cart. In a TikTok posted by @myuglyapartment, viewers can see Aldi’s grocery cart return policy in place.

To use a cart at Aldi, you have to insert a quarter to rent it out. When you put it back, the cart returns your quarter. Although it seems like a simple but effective way to keep customers in line, it’s likely that the shopping cart coraller’s plight will persist.

On behalf of all of us, thank you for your service.