“Cart wrangler…”

 Shared by Breanne Smedley

During my summer, winter, and spring breaks in college, I worked at Costco.

It was an awesome gig. They had a program for college students that allowed them to come back on their breaks, work to earn some money during the most busy times of the year, then go off on your way.

I worked in various roles:

Front end assistant: Where I learned how to fit things in boxes like a Tetris game. I still credit my ability to pack the trunk of a car to my Costco days.

Go-back person: Running through the warehouse, returning things that people left in their carts, then “changed their mind” when they got to the checkout line (I.e. didn’t want to put it back, but also didn’t want to just leave it laying around in a random spot)

Door person: Checking for membership cards and marking squiggly lines down people’s receipts.

And my favorite…

Cart wrangler.

Costco does everything big, including their carts.

When I was on cart duty, my job was to collect carts from the stalls, line them up together, strap a rope to the front, and push them back to the front of the warehouse.

It was a booty burner!

I turned it into a game. How many carts can I push at once? How many loads can I bring in, in under 2 hours?

There was always an element to this game that would make it more challenging.

Carts left outside the stalls.

It was inevitable that every shift, multiple carts would pile up in places outside of the stall with the nice “Please return your carts here” sign.

Carts with their front wheels propped up on the curb, halfway in a parking spot so that it became unusable.

Carts left on the walkways so that people pushing their groceries out had to push their cart off the curb and into the parking lot to get around.

Carts left mere feet from the actual stall.

Then, there are the shoppers that get out of their car, walk past all these abandoned carts, and grab one from the pile right outside the warehouse doors.

As if the cart they grabbed from the door was better than the one they walked past on the curb.

I didn’t get it.

It’s not that hard.

Unload your groceries. Look for the stall. Walk your cart to the stall.

I still don’t get it.

Even with a baby thrown in the mix, I still manage to make sure my cart finds its way to where it’s supposed to be.

And not in the way of other cars or people.

Still, every time I go shopping, there are lone carts. Propped up on curbs, blocking walkways.

I just shake my head. 
I think of all my fellow cart wranglers. 
And take the cart off the curb and walk it into the store.

Maybe you could do the same?

#PassionatelyServing

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