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One of the Carts

Janet Kuypers
8/24/12

While working here
I’ve cleaned rotten fruit
out of shopping carts
stacked together
at the front of the store
for new customers to use.
And just the other day
I saw something
in one of the carts,
so I went over to pick it up
and throw it away.
When I got to the cart
I saw it was a folded
Used diaper in the cart,
so I had to pick up
a stranger’s used diaper
and throw it away.
Just today I walked by carts
and saw a folded used diaper
sitting on top
of one of the carts,
and after I passed it,
I thought,
some customer
is going to have to
deal with that diaper
if I don’t throw it away,
so I picked it up
and threw it out, and
like the other diaper
I had to deal with,
after throwing the used
diaper in the trash,
I grabbed a wet
sanitary cloth
to scour my fingers
and hands and arms.

People actually leave
their feces like this
for someone else
to clean up.

Just recently, two carts
were stuck together...
You know how these carts
have straps like seatbelts
to hold babies in place?
Well, while these carts
were stacked together
at the front of the store,
someone apparently decided
to tie straps
from two different cats
together into a secure
knot. So someone
wanted a cart, and I
stood there, trying
to untangle this knot...
and they asked me,
“Why do people do that?”
And like reflex, I said,
“People are mean,” while
I tried to make everything
right again.

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