Thursday, April 24, 2008

Extra Work For Nothing

Why walk twice as far, to a less-than optimal destination? Inertia? To get exercise? Fear?

I watched as a woman at the grocery store, after putting her bags in the car, walked to the cart corral, which was twice as far from her car as the front of the store where more carts were lined up. I obviously couldn't read her mind, but I tried to figure out why she did that. Was it because she was already moving in that general direction, and without thinking she simply continued going that way. Was she oblivious and didn't notice the distances involved? Did she think she needed the free exercise "for her health"? Was there some person lurking in the shadows near the front of the store that she wished to avoid?

Why do people walk twice as far, and work twice as hard, to prop up government, as it would take to become free of those professional parasites. Possibly for the same reason that the woman I observed went out of her way to get to a second-best destination. But I have no clue what that reason might really be.



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3 comments:

  1. I have pushed my cart to the corral, which was farther away than the store, when it was easier to navigate my way to the corral. Even with a pedestrian crosswalk, people still sometimes zip through there. And there are always people walking to have to go around, too. Sometimes it's just more convenient to go a little farther.

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  2. That I could understand. In this case she was parked in the spot nearest the door; it was midday on a weekday and there was no traffic in the parking lot, my car was the nearest one to hers (3 or 4 spaces away and she had to go around my car to reach the corral), and there were no people around. As I say, it seemed very odd to me. But maybe I overthink things.

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  3. There's no "maybe" to it, Kent. You definitely overthink things. ;-)

    I always put my cart in the cart corral, because that's where they are supposed to go when you're finished with them. Chances are that's why she was doing it too.

    Yes, I could sometimes put it by the store, but then it might roll away and damage someone's car.

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