The Shopping Cart Theory

I've never liked the shopping cart theory.

You know the one.

The internet says the ultimate test of whether someone is a good person is whether they return their shopping cart. There's no law requiring it. No reward for doing it. No punishment for leaving it. Therefore, the theory goes, returning the cart is the purest measure of character.

The first time I heard it, I was honestly taken aback.

Not because I leave shopping carts all over the parking lot. I don't.

I'll never leave one in the middle of a parking space. I'll never leave one where it can roll into someone's car. If the parking lot is sloped, I'll even put the front wheels up on the curb so it can't move.

But I don't always return it to the cart corral.