I’ve written several times about how annoyed I get when someone illegally parks in a handicapped parking space. It’s rude, inconsiderate, selfish, and inexcusable.
So you can imagine how I feel when I try to park in a handicapped space, only to be blocked not by a car, but by a 
shopping cart. Yeah, I get pretty pissed.
Yesterday I went to a new grocery store. There were two carts in the handicapped space! Luckily they were to the side and I drive a small car, so I was able to fit into the extra-wide space. Still, it was so wrong! And yes, there have been times when I have had to drive past the space, because I don’t have the energy or I am in too much pain to get out of my car, walk over, move the cart, get back in my car, park, then continue with my errands. This time, I was with someone, and we each took one cart on our way into the store.
Then I came back to my car, only to find a new cart that someone had left between my car and the small island of dirt and grass! What the fuck?!?
There is absolutely no excuse for this! If you are able to walk as far as that space and put the cart between my car and the grass, then you could walk a few more feet to the cart return. Yes, there was a cart return, and it was just across from my car. And if there was no return, there would still be no excuse for leaving a shopping cart there. Leave it in a non-handicapped space. Or, you know, do the decent thing and bring it back to the store!
I try to the assume the best in people. I really do. But these are the things that make me cynical. These are the things that make me wonder how someone can be so unbelievably self-centered that they either don’t realize or don’t care that they are making things so much harder for someone who probably already has to exert a whole lot more effort to go to the grocery store.
I complained to a worker and asked him to tell the store manager. He said they were aware of the problem. Obviously, there’s nothing they can do. So I say we do something! When you see someone doing this, let them know how despicable they are being. Let’s shame them mercilessly. And maybe, if they are embarrassed enough, it might occur to them that the best way to avoid being shamed and embarrassed is to, you know, be a decent human being.
Chronic Rants 
My son had to use a wheelchair this summer due to a knee injury. Wow, the world is a different place when you are with wheels. Brings out the best and worst in people, for sure.
That’s so true. I think the only way to understand it is to experience it. My short stints in a chair really opened my eyes, too, and I know there’s still a lot that I didn’t experience. I hope he was able to manage ok.
It’s even worse if you have a wheelchair accessible van. Then you need a van accessible parking spot (one with an 8 foot access aisle). There are very few of these spots and since they are typically closest to an entrance they are almost always used by a car/truck rather than a van with a ramp/lift. And when they are open they many times of a cart or part of a car parked in the access aisle. Which basically makes them unusable. And if your alone you can’t even get out to move the cart.
Good point Jack. I think I wrote about that a while back. In my old office park, someone used to constantly park on those hashed lines between the spaces and I kept reporting them. They never seemed to understand that what they were doing was worse than parking in a handicapped space because they ended up blocking use of both spaces! It really upsets me when people do that!