Verbal skills

[Luis50]

I wish I had them. In the the Walmart parking lot yesterday, instead of walking an extra 25 yards to a cart coral, I left the cart on one of those landscaped islands you find in many parking lots...not in traffic or a parking space or asphalt to be blown by the wind into someones vehicle. A grassy island for an employee to gather later.

As i'm walking back to my car a guy about 50 feet away yells "there's a cart coral right there, lazy a$$ people" as he's walking away from me. I ignored him and continued to my car, got in, took a deep breath, thanked Jesus and drove home. Was I wrong in leaving the cart where I did? Maybe. Should he have addressed me as he did? IMO, no.

I'm a very non confrontational, easy going guy so walking away is easy however, let's say he was yelling this as he walked towards me? I asked myself this because practicing verbal skills to de-escalate situations isn't something I do.

I admire people that can have a heated debate without getting worked up and still get their point across. I need to practice those skills. How to deal with difficult people and such.

Don't get me wrong, I did the right thing by ignoring him. This being my first adverse experience since I started carrying, I learned that carrying weapons and taking formal training didn't turn me into someone that i'm not.

I'm rambling but thanks for listening.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[lordofwyr]

Did exactly the same thing and had the same response from a woman. I just decided to ignore it too.

Uhm, the cart returns are for the courtesy and convenience of the store employees speeding up their gathering of carts, and I do appreciate it. However, they seem to be randomly placed and make no sense in some cases. As soon as Walmart and other stores star placing motorcycle spaces up front, I will worry about that more, because I was a cart pusher at Target in Houston in the 70's, and we had no cart return slots,

Oh, and I got a great laugh the other day when in the slot reserved for "Green Vehicles" there was a green Hummer 2 parked there. Now THAT took some brass ones !

[GeorgiaDawg]

Glad you ignored the comment. Not a fan, though, of leaving the carts in random places due to laziness

[Harryball]

Sometimes people have a need to police others. You did the right thing by ignoring him and going on with you life.

[mprp]

Don't sweat it. I'd rather have your attitude than his. You did the right thing by just keeping on. One of these days Mr. Cart Police is going to get his lip popped by someone like him. Good job by not letting that be you.

[Rock and Glock]

I would have told him to shove it up his cart corral, and move it himself.

Actually, you did good. I usually use the corrals myself, just for the exercise.

[Brad426]

Glad you ignored the comment. Not a fan, though, of leaving the carts in random places due to laziness

+1. The corrals are there so the carts aren't in the way of cars or roll into the side of your car.

[mlr1m]

How would you feel if the people who pick up your trash were to leave your container in random locations up and down your street instead of in the proper place? How bout if your mail carrier just left your mail at the first house on your block so you could walk down in the rain,snow or heat to pick it up?
Just saying.

Michael

[RevolvingMag]

"Your mother" is always an acceptable response.

Glad you managed to ignore the guy. But, as said before- why not just put the cart where it belongs? It won't hurt anyone to walk a little further and put it in the corral. It just takes a little more time. Unless you're (1) having a baby (and it's about to fall on the pavement), (2) disabled, (3) bleeding out from your femoral artery, there's not a whole lot of reason not to.

[Brad426]

I admit, if I were bleeding from my femoral artery I would be way less concerned about where I put the cart at Wal-Mart.

[chiefs-special-guy]

i suppose you should have put the cart in a return area. but what he did is about 10000% worse. you did the right thing to ignore him. i always say nothing when i have an encounter of this sort. when you carry, you have an added responsibility to be meek. it is annoying but that is the case i believe. take care.

[joker1]

While you put the cart in a reasonably safe place, a cart corral would have been a better place. I curse the bastitches that leave them wherever they feel like it, but I do so to myself. No need to start something over a shopping cart. He was outta line for commenting but you did great by ignoring him.

You certainly could have done a lot worse.

I wish they would collect a fifty-cent deposit on carts, sure you may have to beat off some enterprising little punk but carts would get put back where they are supposed to go.

[RevolvingMag]

I admit, if I were bleeding from my femoral artery I would be way less concerned about where I put the cart at Wal-Mart.

Of course, I couldn't be found at a Wal-Mart... Avoid that place like... well, I just refuse to go there.

[Luis50]

How would you feel if the people who pick up your trash were to leave your container in random locations up and down your street instead of in the proper place? How bout if your mail carrier just left your mail at the first house on your block so you could walk down in the rain,snow or heat to pick it up?
Just saying.

Michael

I get it. I just think his response was too much.

My post was more about looking for more civil ways to deal with these types of verbal rants from strangers without escalating. Sure, avoidance is always best but what if that isn't possible at the time? I think some people are gifted debaters/arguers and can get their way just by using the right words and tone.

If that is a learned skill, I want it.

[lordofwyr]

Personally, I love Wal-Mart. I can remember the days in the 60's and 70's where you had to go to ten different stores to get the stuff you needed. Now it is all in one place, which is a God send. Think about it, if you had to drive to the grocery store for groceries, then to the pharmacy, then to the gas station, then to the shoe store, then to the sewing store....ad infinitum.....

As to lazy...well, I would address that comment...but I am lazy and tired of typi.........