How dare you curse when I throw this at your head?!

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

Remember kids, in Miami, We...NEVER...CLOSE!





Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

[downforit2008]

I used to be a cart-pusher. I know how these guys feel and what they go through.

Even though I never had a Subway sandwich chucked at my head. After 4 years of full-time cart pushing, I can thank God for that.

But I had people intentionally try to run over me in the parking lot. I just about cracked mentally one day when I'm crossing the lot to go get some carts. This one lady stopped her car and gestured towards me to go ahead and cross in front of her. I was crossing in front of her when she DELIBERATELY hit the gas pedal and drove right at me. I heard the engine rev up and bolted out of the way. Her bumper missed me by an INCH, and then she came around to try and hit me again, but I dove for cover in one of those bushes protected by concrete islands in the parking lot, so her second attempt to hit me would have resulted in thousands of dollars in damage to her car once it would hit the concrete.
I couldn't stop shaking for hours. I went to the store manager to file a report and see if he could get any security tapes on the incident, and all the f***ing manager did was LAUGH at me and say, "Oh, gee, it seems like you owe that lady MONEY or something. Hee hee!"

From that point on, I refused to cross in front of any cars. Even if they waved at me to go ahead and cross, I stood my ground and refused to move. Hell, I had all day to spend in the parking lot. These people don't. And if the stupid managers weren't going to do anything about it, then I would do it myself and go to ANY extreme to stay alive out there in that parking lot. I got a few dirty looks from people who would gesture at me to cross when I wouldn't. Some of them might have been actually POLITE and wouldn't be wanting to try ramming me, but I never found out. All I know is that I'm STILL alive because of my decision to avoid the traffic, and these people are out there trying to play chicken with another cart-pusher, most likely.

[Monterey Jack]

I couldn't stop shaking for hours. I went to the store manager to file a report and see if he could get any security tapes on the incident, and all the f***ing manager did was LAUGH at me and say, "Oh, gee, it seems like you owe that lady MONEY or something. Hee hee!"

Some fucking managers, I dunno...how can people be so casually callous about ATTEMPTED MURDER?!

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had an SC drive straight at me after I angered her by daring to continue putting out the cones across the entrance even after she beeped her horn at me and leant out the window calling me a bitch. I jumped out the way; bitch hit a cone and then came to a stop. XD I told her to go right ahead and complain when she threatened to do so, cuz on the camera would be her attempt to murder me. My manager would also back me up if it came to that. Bitch never did complain, funnily enough.

[downforit2008]

Some fucking managers, I dunno...how can people be so casually callous about ATTEMPTED MURDER?!

My manager was a dickhead and clearly didn't give a shit about his cart-pushers. He seemed nice enough in the beginning, but we were the lowest form of evolution when it came to matters that really counted. Our cart-pushing machine would go broke, he'd say the parts were on the way, and we'd end up waiting 6 months to hear anything back on the subject. In the meantime, we'd be pushing 15-25 carts by HAND on a constant basis trying to keep the bays full and he'd yell at us for "pushing too many carts." He wrote me up for pushing 12 carts by hand because "it was more than the maximum 10 by hand the store required." Never mind the fact that I would be the only one scheduled on a busy Friday night or a Saturday rush, or covering for the lunch breaks of another cart-pusher. "No more than 10 carts by hand."

Of course, I went down to pushing 10 carts by hand, the bays were getting empty because not enough carts were going in to satisfy the customer traffic, I would be getting the occasional call for a carry-out or helping an elderly/handicapped customer with finding an electric cart, and this store manager STILL had the balls to bitch at me because "the bays aren't full and you aren't working hard enough! The parking lot is a MESS with carts everywhere!"

Yes, thank you for making that observation, asshole. And yet, you had a PROBLEM before about the parking lot looking good and carts being in the bays because you would assume that I'm breaking the rules and you won't get the goddamn cart machine fixed because it would raise hell on your $115,000 yearly bonus if you didn't cut down on your store's budget for operating costs and much-required maintenance.

What's funny is that TWO WEEKS after I quit that stupid job after nearly 5 years of cart-pushing hell in January, 2013, the remaining 3 cart-pushers on staff were unable to keep pace with the carts due to my absence and a NEW cart machine made it's way onto the parking lot. I just couldn't do that job anymore. Now I work overnight receiving at a certain popular home improvement retail store and there are no customers to deal with since I'm clocking in right before closing hours, and I haven't even met the store manager yet. Best thing is, this is my SECOND job, so I have another source of income to boost my retail salary.

[Monterey Jack]

In the meantime, we'd be pushing 15-25 carts by HAND on a constant basis trying to keep the bays full...

Good GOD. I can barely manage more than seven at a time by myself. My store has never had any of the electric cart pushers you mention.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Of course, I went down to pushing 10 carts by hand, the bays were getting empty because not enough carts were going in to satisfy the customer traffic, I would be getting the occasional call for a carry-out or helping an elderly/handicapped customer with finding an electric cart, and this store manager STILL had the balls to bitch at me because "the bays aren't full and you aren't working hard enough! The parking lot is a MESS with carts everywhere!"

Let me guess; it never occurred to him to push a few trolleys himself, right?

[Sapphire Silk]

I can't figure out how you lasted five years at that shit hole

[Jay 2K Winger]

Good GOD. I can barely manage more than seven at a time by myself. My store has never had any of the electric cart pushers you mention.

Seven's about right for the wholesale club. You got much more than that, it was impossible to steer them, since the carts would serpentine all over the place.

There was a reason why, when Hoss and I were doing carts, we'd keep two of our older carts on hand as "stabilizers." The newer carts, when stacked up for pushing, ended up with only four wheels FOR THE ENTIRE STACK on the ground. Thus the stack would serpentine around, even with someone holding the front cart in line. Putting one or two of the older carts at intervals in the stack would "ground" the stack, reduce serpentine issues, and boom.

Sometimes we had a cart pusher, sometimes we didn't. Either way, we'd shove up about thirty carts at a time together.

Of course, we also had The Ox work at the wholesale club for a while. The Ox started the practice (at our store) of chaining together a line of dog leashes, clipping one end to the back of a twenty-plus stack, then looping the leashes around his waist and DRAGGING them up to the store that way. Of course, that was before we got the newer serpentine carts.

[downforit2008]

Good GOD. I can barely manage more than seven at a time by myself. My store has never had any of the electric cart pushers you mention.

Yeah, many WM stores have them, but 75 percent of those stores seem to have cart machines that have severe malfunctioning problems and would never work. The managers would claim that it's because we would pile on more shopping carts on them then the 20-cart maximum and they would break down from constant wear and tear of having to push so many.
Bullshit, I'd say. I worked with 5 other guys at best with two working "mules", which we called the cart machines. None of those guys would ever put on more than 20 if we could help it.
The problem was that our store parking lot sloped DOWNHILL, some parts on a steep grade, and operating a cart-machine with 20 carts on them going UPHILL to the cart bays would indeed put a lot of strain on the machine. How much does 20 carts weigh? And how much more do they feel they weigh when you're pushing them uphill? Yes, exactly.
And if the cart machines weren't breaking down, their 100 percent battery power(we had a battery power gauge on the machine showing how much power they had)would be down to 20 percent within 30 minutes, instead of the usual 8-hour day it took for them to run out of power.
And even with all these problems, WE would be put at fault for anything that happened if we didn't manage to keep the bays full for a store that is highly popular and known to be the busiest in our entire county(around 1 million people). And you're already aware of the store manager already bitching at us for our clever attempts to keep the bay filled in better time.

Sometimes, on a day where the carts were backed up in the lot and with no managers breathing down our neck to micromanage us, 3 or 4 of us would team up together and BECOME a cart machine, moving in 60-70 carts at a clip. One guy would be at the front to steer the column, two men(or one very strong guy like me)at the back to push it all, and another guy would be positioned in the middle to push from there so it would seem like less carts to push for the guys at the back. We'd have the entire lot cleared in record time...barely 20 minutes in a task that would take 2 hours. The best example of teamwork I ever saw, and the best guys I ever worked with, maintaining friendships that we still continue even though all but two of us had left that store.

My best stories of being a WM cart pusher all involve working with those awesome coworkers, and we really looked out for each other. If a supervisor was whining at one of us in the suspicion that he was pushing MORE carts than the rules said we could, another one of us would be a "witness" to say, "He never pushed more than 10-20 carts. I saw him, and I was working with him." That way, the accused would get out of trouble and we could all get back to work.
This could be a new version of the movie "Band of Brothers." 4 or 5 guys all working together in a retail store department, facing off against bad customers and stupid accusations from bad management.

[downforit2008]

Let me guess; it never occurred to him to push a few trolleys himself, right?

How DARE you suggest that a highly-ranking store manager who gets over $100k a year in BONUS money alone, would ever think he should ever get his own HANDS dirty wearing a suit and a tie!!! That's what he paid 8 dollars an hour to his crews for! The same cart-pushers who were EXPECTED to be outside in every kind of weather imaginable, from lightning storms to snow blizzards!!! That way, he can sit all nice and comfy in his office without ever having to lift a finger!!!

Well, I better stop the rant or some admin is going to suggest I take my rant to "Morons in Management" because this might be going off-topic.