Buggy Douchebag

[Sapphire Silk]

I am sorry, but what does the "ADA" have to do with the motorized cart?

Nothing. The ADA only requires reasonable accommodation and reasonable access. It is not reasonable to assume that the ADA requires a store provide a working motorized cart to every disabled person who comes in. It only requires they be generally available. Dead batteries and broken carts are OK as long as the store makes reasonable efforts to repair or recharge them.

I used to hear the same complaint about the supersized wheelchairs in the ER. One of our morbidly obese frequent flyers would flip her shit if one wasn't available to her. It didn't matter if they were in use by someone else. It didn't matter if they were frequent targets of theft. If one wasn't immediately provided to HER, she would have a shit fit in the waiting room until one turned up.

And someones one never turned up

I'm a very mobile person who will ride the abandoned carts back to the store. I can't tell you how many people yell at me for doing that. I'm trying to do a good thing and people yell at me because I should be walking and leaving the motorized cart in the parking lot for someone else to use.

I do this as well; in fact I did it on the day in question after EE gave Mr. Douche the evil eye.

No one's ever yelled at me for it, though. But they're not supposed to leave the store in the first place.

[Slave to the Phone]

Uh, that isn't how it works, you cretins...the carts have to be CHARGED UP, and you can't exactly plug them in in the middle of the lot. And they can't be rained on, or left out in the extreme cold. If a disabled customer wants one, we can easily drive one out to them if need be.

And this is why I drive them back into the store. I don't need one, but I know that people do need them and I also know that they need to be charged on a regular basis.

I do this as well; in fact I did it on the day in question after EE gave Mr. Douche the evil eye.

No one's ever yelled at me for it, though. But they're not supposed to leave the store in the first place.

Sam's club. People there are insane. I once made the mistake of wearing my work shirt there and got screamed at because I didn't know where something was. At least I was able to scream back "I DON'T FLIPPING WORK HERE, CAN'T YOU USE YOUR EYES?!?!"

I'm really not a shouty person, really. I've only shouted at people twice in 3 years and the other time was because the music was so loud that I needed to raise my voice so they could hear me.

[registerrodeo]

I have unfortunately met the EW handicapped who screech ADA at every chance. The best was the lady who tried to sue our store because she had a wider than normal wheelchair (she was very large) and she had trouble fitting it down certain areas of our store (boutique, upscale store) and she loudly demanded we widen our aisles for her. She actually called an attorney, and sat out in front of our store protesting us as 'handicapped prejudiced" We told her the first time that an employee would assist her in each aisle by getting the products she needed (not long aisles, she could sit at the end and see the products), but we were incompliant because she couldn't get down each aisle. The attorney came in, found out we had offered assistance to her (by her own admission) and told her we were compliant. BTW, every time she pulled this, she never told us what she wanted to buy, she just bitched, Found out from other stores/restaurants that she pulled the same crap in their businesses. Never tried to buy anything, just screamed ADA.

[XCashier]

Nothing. The ADA only requires reasonable accommodation and reasonable access. It is not reasonable to assume that the ADA requires a store provide a working motorized cart to every disabled person who comes in. It only requires they be generally available.

Do they have to be motorized? Our store provides a non-motorized wheelchair with an attached basket. It's parked near the front of the store and nobody has ever used it that I've seen (except to sit in to wait for a ride).

Someone did once demand a motorized cart. I told her we didn't have one and offered her the wheelchair. She gave me the CBF as if I were offering her a dead rat and walked away.

[Seshat]

I'm not any sort of legal expert, but I would not expect that providing carts or wheelchairs of any sort to be required as 'reasonable accomodation' for a SHOP! A hospital, sure. That I can see. People become unexpectedly disabled and go to hospitals. But I perceive basic mobility as MY problem, not the problem of a random store owner.

Now, accessibility ramps are reasonable accomodation for a store. One-off cost, and usually a cheap one at that. Aisles wide enough for a standard adult wheelchair plus the arm movements to make it go? Yes, also reasonable. Though in cramped quarters - some of the teeny stores - a reasonable accomodation would be to have a staff member assist the customer instead of having the wider aisles.


But maybe it's just me, and maybe I'm just 'too nice', but I perceive store-owned mobility carts as being a nice gesture, a kindness. Going above and beyond.

It annoys me when people take that sort of thing for granted.



Edit to answer the question about powered vs unpowered mobility scooters, carts, wheelchairs etc.

Some disabled people have a total lack of a particular ability: the most common mental image people have of folks in wheelchairs is that their legs just completely don't work, but their upper bodies are fine. For such people, they just hyperdevelop their arm muscles, and they don't need a powered chair any more (or any less!) than an able-bodied person needs power assist to walk.

Others are like me. More general-body disability, or debility rather than a total lack of ability, or in some other way the body just doesn't work right. I can walk. After ten minutes I'm in agony, though, and that was at the peak of my condition after physiotherapy. Five minutes of trying to push my own wheelchair is also agony, in peak condition. There are lots of us who for whatever reason are unsuited to personally moving manual wheelchairs.

Even with this fact, I still consider my mobility to be an issue between me, my medical professionals, and my 'health insurance' (in my case, the federal government). It's not the problem of some random shop owner, so it's not 'reasonable' to expect the shop to provide powered wheelchairs.

[notalwaysright]

Do they have to be motorized? Our store provides a non-motorized wheelchair with an attached basket. It's parked near the front of the store and nobody has ever used it that I've seen (except to sit in to wait for a ride).

I agree with Seshat, that motorized carts are probably not legally required. I don't know about your store since it's newer than my crap-hole, but I think we 100% fail on reasonable access. Our aisle are always FULL of displays which make the aisle almost too narrow for a regular shopping cart much less an unwieldy motorized cart! And since these displays are mostly made of cardboard, they are light enough that people just shove them around, further blocking the walkway.

We actually have both a regular wheelchair and a motorized cart. The regular one has definitely been used. Once it was a lady recovering from some surgery shopping with her husband. Partway through she realizes she's overextending herself, and was really happy we had the wheelchair, and her husband pushed her in it.

[XCashier]

I don't know about your store since it's newer than my crap-hole, but I think we 100% fail on reasonable access.

We used to have very good accessibility, but not as much anymore, partly due to the same reasons as your store (too much merchandise and displays and not enough space) and partly due to the fact that the fabric shelves are wheeled and tend to get shoved out of alignment. We do have automatic doors, bathrooms with handicapped stalls and mini-ramps going up the front sidewalk, so it's still better than the old store.

Once it was a lady recovering from some surgery shopping with her husband. Partway through she realizes she's overextending herself, and was really happy we had the wheelchair, and her husband pushed her in it.

That's sweet. I'm glad you were able to help her, and she was gracious enough to accept the non-powered wheelchair.

[Teskeria]

I drive the motorized cart out to my car, put my groceries in the car and drive it back inside (unless an employee happens by and insists on taking it in for me - I thank them on those occasions). Then I hobble back out to my car with my cane, beating any snail that cares to race.
When someone comments I should just leave it there, i give them a shocked look and say "MY mother raised me properly. Only an inconsiderate jerk leaves the cart in the lot."

[Sapphire Silk]

Sam's club. People there are insane. I once made the mistake of wearing my work shirt there and got screamed at because I didn't know where something was. At least I was able to scream back "I DON'T FLIPPING WORK HERE, CAN'T YOU USE YOUR EYES?!?!"

Ugh. I ran into this today. I was at Costco, and a woman came up to me and asked, "Do you work here?"

I was wearing a red and brown paisley blouse with a brown vest, and black pants. She saw my name tag from work and assumed it must mean I worked there . . . as if people never hit the store after leaving the job

Do they have to be motorized? Our store provides a non-motorized wheelchair with an attached basket. It's parked near the front of the store and nobody has ever used it that I've seen (except to sit in to wait for a ride).

Someone did once demand a motorized cart. I told her we didn't have one and offered her the wheelchair. She gave me the CBF as if I were offering her a dead rat and walked away.

Yeah, actually Seshat is probably right in that providing the carts is unlikely to be mandatory. If a store does provide something, and it's broken, it's not an ADA violation though. Again: reasonable accommodation.

[wolfie]

I had a similar experience. I was at a local mall to eat at the food court, and on my way back to where I was parked I stopped in at the Rona (building supply chain - they have a small store, mainly tools and garden stuff, at this mall) to check out the price on batteries. As I approached the door, someone asked me how much various potted plants were. After all, anyone wearing a safety vest MUST be an employee - you NEVER see an off-duty truck driver wearing one.

[Sapphire Silk]

Addendum:

Went to the Foode de Leone today after work to pick up a few things.

Some doofus was riding about in the store on a scooter; clearly joyriding and didn't need the scooter (when the battery started to die, using their legs to push the cart along was a big clue). Doofus rides the scooter out of the store to their car along with another person, also using a scooter (couldn't tell if they needed it or not but they did not park in handicapped parking or have a handicapped tag). Battery dies at that point. I'm staring at doofus as I walk by. Doofus starts yelling "it's stuck, it won't go!"

As if that makes being a jerk OK

Doofus takes off and leave the cart with a nearly dead battery in the parking lot. I couldn't get it to move, so I let a manager know so he could come get it.

I'm writing an LTE to the newspaper. Someone needs to speak up

[Monterey Jack]

I saw another abandoned Mart Cart in the parking lot at work yesterday (I wasn't working, I was just picking up my paycheck), and, of course, it's snowing. I drove it in, even though I wasn't working, because fuck people who just leave them. And the guy who was doing carriages at the time didn't do squat.

[emax4]

I wouldn't hesitate to call them out and ask, "Why didnt you just bring your own?" just to see their reaction.

[Seshat]

As a disabled person whose own scooter is currently unusable (needs a new battery - and those things are EXPENSIVE);

THANK YOU to those of you who are taking the time and care to either return scooters to their store; or to notify staff of where in the parking lot abandoned ones are.

I know you don't get thanked, and probably get random WTF comments, but I appreciate it.

[Dreamstalker]

We only have one cart and it's not in the best of repair. The battery will die if it's not plugged in all the time. I can't count how many times I've had to drag it back inside; ASM once started yelling about how I "can't do that". How do you suggest we get it inside then? (I was close to suggesting the pallet jack, but ours can't go on rough surfaces)

I've witnessed some epic hissyfits (good-natured trash-talking they both know what the deal is) when one disabled customer comes in while another is using the cart. That's only crossed into suckiness once when DC1 finished shopping and was just sitting in the cart jabbering on his phone (DC2 can't stand on hard floors for longer than a few minutes).