Electric Shopping Carts

My last couple posts have been kind of negative so I'd like to get back to some positive. All in all, even with everything I've gone through, I really do like to look for the positive in situations (most of the time anyway). There is no point in focusing on the negative if you can't change it. When you focus on the positive, even if it's really small or minor, it makes even really difficult situations a little bit easier. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it makes everything better but it can make things a little brighter.

At some grocery stores, usually somewhere close to their customer service desk, they may have one or two electric shopping carts. If you have seen them before, I'm guessing there's a chance you thought,"oh it'd be fun to ride around on that". Well guess who gets to use them?! I've had a chance to use one twice now. It makes going grocery shopping kind of fun.

The first electric cart I used was really big. Ridiculously big actually. It was really long with a large basket on the front which made it a bit difficult to maneuver. It was fairly entertaining though, taking wide turns to get down an isle or "pulling over" to let other shoppers get by. While using it I started to worry a little bit about the elderly using the cart. Not to generalize but if an older customer was to use it and perhaps their ability to operate the cart wasn't as good, I could just picture them running into end displays and other shelves. Not good. One older customer who saw me using the cart even commented that I was doing much better than she would. After shopping for a while the cart started to slow down, I think it was running out of power. I was a little worried it was going to die and I'd be stranded. Well not stranded because I had my crutches with me but it would be terrible if someone who couldn't get up and walk was using it and it died.

My second experience with an electric cart was yesterday. It was at a different grocery store and therefore with a different cart. A more reasonably sized cart. It was really easy to get around and pretty fun. It also had a power meter so I knew I still had plenty of power to get around. There would be no surprises and it wasn't going to just stop working. I do get some looks from other shoppers when using it. I don't blame them though. At first they just see a young lady having a good time driving around in an electric cart. I'm guessing they're probably thinking, with some judgement, "why is she using that?" After staring for a bit (which they tend to do), they hopefully notice my crutches. And then for those that are paying attention, they may notice how short my hair is. A length that is very unlikely I'd cut it to. Put two and two together and I believe they accept my use of the cart.

I haven't hit anything or anyone yet but I will keep you posted.