The Shopping Cart Test, Broken Windows, and The Spanish Flu

[@nanothrill7171]

i take a certain level of pride in making a store person's day slightly easier, i don't judge people for finding it inconvenient or impossible though.

[@shiranai_7]

"store person"

[@technopoptart]

@@shiranai_7 covers a LOT of bases to say it that way

[@radicalpasta7040]

Just a few minutes in but I have a few thoughts. People act how they are incentivized to act by their society. We currently live in a capitalist society. Capitalism incentivizes people to be individualistic and selfish. If we didn't live in a late-stage neoliberal capitalist h*llscape, then there would be more people who did small nice things like putting shopping cart back. Societies which are more community-focused incentivize altruism and selflessness. Also, more people do selfless things (even in our current society) than some people realize. One of the works that made me into a libertarian socialist is the essay by David Graeber "Are you and Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You". That short essay was one of the leftist works which made me have a more positive view of humanity.

[@aspidoscelis]

"Societies which are more community-focused incentivize altruism and selflessness." Reminder that fascism is community-focused. :-) There's good & bad shit on both sides.

[@gabrielgray2345]

@@aspidoscelis That seems disingenous. You know what they meant. I would also disagree that they are community minded... they are power-minded

[@aspidoscelis]

@@gabrielgray2345 Prioritizing individualism has disadvantages. Prioritizing community has disadvantages. It isn't as simple as "individualism bad community good". Prioritizing "my people" over other people is built into valuing community. That's usually good if you're one of "my people", usually bad if you aren't. How that's expressed goes all the way from friendly rivalries between sports teams to genocide. Sometimes it's benign, sometimes it isn't.

[@aspidoscelis]

@@gabrielgray2345 (And, yes, I do know what they meant. And I disagree. That's, like, a thing people do. :-) )

[@gabrielgray2345]

@aspidoscelis And yet you are still wrong. Yes there can be disadvantages... but you seem to willfully ignore and misunderstand fascism and how it works, vs actual community minded and mutual aid based ideology. I'm not gonna explain that to you... you need to read up more on fascism and how it works. It's actual goals and how it gains power, vs movements like civil rights. This is a very typical tactic of the right, to call many things fascism that aren't and to falsely equivocate it with things the left do. It's not neccesarily "individualism bad"... it's more like "individualism doesn't work," because it doesn't. We are a social species and literally started out as a community minded species. We are literally doing the exact opposite of what our evolution intended rn.

[@martianpudding9522]

I think the shopping cart issue is also largely cultural. In my country up until covid basically all shopping carts required you to insert a coin that you'd only get back on returning it, and that pretty effectively motivated everyone to return the carts. During covid though several supermarkets made it mandatory to use a cart to enforce social distancing and limit the number of customers and they taped over the coin slots and just made the carts freely available. It's been several years and I still rarely see any unreturned carts. I think it really matters wether returning the carts is the norm and wether you know that there's an employee around who is paid to gather them etc. I would feel super uncomfortable leaving a cart in the parking lot because I would be the only one doing that.

[@slimaque727]

Hmmm, I'm from Poland. Here the shopping park problem doesn't even exist. It never occured to me to leave a shopping cart somewhere in the parking lot. In many places you need a coin to get a cart, it gets returned to you when you return it so this is definitely a factor. I feel like the monstrous size of american parking lots is a huge factor

[@oiytd5wugho]

Auchan and some other huge supermarkets have coinless carts but people rarely leave them in the parking lot ime (by huge I mean, like "hypermarket" sized, with an isle dedicated to nothing but cheese and all that - so an average american walmart ig)

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

@@slimaque727 our parking lot size is def a factor

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Yeah the size of the lots and the height and pedestrian-murdering capacity of the average American car are huge factors!

[@joannakobierska6739]

I largely agree with your argument here, but I had no idea that returning shopping cars was this huge moral problem for americans until recently and it broke my brain.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

It really isn't, people are just too chronically online.

[@Reed5016]

22:43 No. But there was a time when I was 14 that I was playing too much Fortnite (for about 5 hours). I went to Target, and while I dissociated in the parking lot, I thought to myself “holy sh*t, those players don’t have a gamer tag. They’re not my teammates. I have to sneak attack them before they sh**t me.” And then, I realized this isn’t Fortnite, but the real world. Lmao.

[@ladygrey4113]

So frankly, as someone who has wrangled kids. You kinda either have to restrain the kid either way to put away groceries to car. It really isn’t that much more effort to put the cart away while kid is secure in car or lift kid from the cart after it’s in the coral area.

[@quontumphysics6589]

I always return my cart to the closest corral. Sometimes, if I'm feeling particularly motivated, I'll even straighten out the mess of carts already in the corral. On some level, I'd say I agree with the general premise of the shopping cart "theory." I think that, if you are able, you *should* return your cart neatly. I don't think that it takes much effort. I do, however, recognize that there are edge cases in which people can't/don't feel comfortable returning a cart. In my view, that makes it not your choice - there's some external factor preventing you from doing the task. I think the ideal situation for a person who cannot return their own cart would be to ask for assistance from someone else. Of course, that would require living in a world where we can trust strangers and feel comfortable to ask for aid when needed. I would absolutely feel fine helping someone return their cart if they had some extenuating circumstances, but I get why they wouldn't want to/couldn't reach out. Perhaps I can just do my best to keep an eye out next time I'm shopping for anyone who I can give a hand. BTW: I despise the argument that I've heard that it's fine to leave carts strewn about "because it's the worker's job to gather them." No it's not! It's their job to get them from the corrals! I think making less work for the (probable) teenager who's gathering carts is my biggest motivator for returning them.

[@razoras]

A philosopher friend of a friend, after leaving his cart just sitting, justified it with the response "I'm creating work."

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Eh, I think that's a cop-out, the real issue is a bit more complicated than that. But it's good to hear what's in the mind of a never-returner.

[@clementineshetheyfae8312]

The main reason I put my shopping cart back is because I don’t want to inconvenience workers that’s it. I’m realizing how much I wish I thought about it more and how it inconveniences other people too or can roll and hit someone’s car but I guess I never thought about it any deeper since I already came to the conclusion of putting the cart away which eliminates those problems

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

1:27 death is a little extreme ngl I typically walk the cart all the way back to the store cuz when I have one is normally when they’re about to close anyway

[@artosbear]

I can't tell if your avatar is slurping rainbow noodles or throwing up rainbow vomit And I'm here for it

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

@@artosbear I think when I drew it it was supposed to look like that emoji/sticker meme of a character throwing up a rainbow yes lol

[@martianpudding9522]

I don't think I would count picking up dog poo as one of these kinds of tasks. I've never had a dog but one of the reasons is that picking up poop even with a bag seems like a horrible experience to me so I respect people who do do it every day

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

I guess I'm just so used to it now lol

[@jn1211]

I always pick up my dogs poop even though it definitely grosses me out, lol. In my view, I have a dog so I have an obligation to pick up after him. But every once in a while, I accidentally drop the bag and I don’t realize until it’s too late. Between my cane and the leash and especially during winter thanks to gloves, it’s just so hard to keep track of, I tried tying it to the leash for a while, but that presents its own set of complications , and of course I just lost a bag of brown gold yesterday morning thanks to all this snow and I’m still feeling like such a piece of shit because I couldn’t find it when I went out for the next walk 😂

[@Janokins]

Thinking about broken windows, it is something I brought up when my council asked me about what could be improved in my neighbourhood. But I never thought about policing when I mentioned it, I just thought people are more likely to treat their environment nicer if it's in a good state - the solution in my mind was not to punish litterers, but to clean up the litter, then people will be less inclined to litter in the first place. Thankfully I think the council interpreted my comments correctly as they're bringing refuse collection back under municipal control.

[@my_granny]

Incredible how many people in this comment section have either not watched or not understood the video.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Every time lol

[@Deceitful_Jester]

I love this video. I had thoughts initially but then the sleep meds kicked in a little bit and all previous thought is lost to me, naught but faint, distant echoes on the winding, ever-flowing breeze of time, but yeah. Good video.

[@artosbear]

Stop getting hit by cars please

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

I'm trying but these cars thirst for blood

[@valdin98]

I miss being in the stage of my life where I hung out with smart people and had long conversations like this. Being a parent is cool, don't get me wrong. But entire days go by with no discourse above the second grade level.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Oof, that sucks. Several of my friends have toddlers right now and they can't hang out too long because the toddler can't hang that long. It sucks. Parenting is literally the hardest form of labor.

[@technopoptart]

so i have shopped at several aldi stores and it has been my experience that something like 40-50% of the time there is one or sometimes two trollys that are returned to their corral but not re-locked and at least as often there will be someone on their way back to the corral to return their cart and will often refuse to take the coin so it is not too difficult to get a "free" cart simply because there is an expectation that it is good to give people an option if they forget to bring a coin

[@milfoiler]

Okay so this doesn't invalidate any of the points about returning shopping carts, but I live in a place that gets hella windy at times and loose shopping carts can absolutely be a source of harm and danger depending on what (or who) they hit. They can really get going if the wind is pushing downhill, like fast enough to break someone's bone or smash a taillight. For the record, I don't care what other people do with their carts, most of the stores around me have employees who round up loose carts and prevent it from being an issue. I have the ability and I'm the type of person to feel guilty for inconveniencing people I've never seen or met, so I always put my cart in the corral, but I always thought it was because I'm kind of a neurotic person and putting the cart away helps me cope with that, not that I'm a good person or whatever. Calling people animals and degenerates for not putting away a cart, even if it poses a potential harm to others, is like one step away from either fascism, eugenics, or both.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

OH yeah it's super fascist rhetoric, not surprising from a 4chan post. I didn't think about super windy places, yeah I guess carts can get going in the wind.

[@TacticalGamingFool]

For me working grocery was a mind numbing hell scape so anytime I had a chance to walk around the parking lot was like a little break. Ive never really felt inconvenienced by carts as a shopper either

[@daniellundberg2875]

You can't just come out and say "dark Kermit" the day after I watched part two of the saga about that weird Joker-kin person from tumblr.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@daniellundberg2875 oh yeah the Croaker? The Kermit Joker?

[@daniellundberg2875]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash Yes, that's the one Just saw the second video Strange Aeons made

[@MxMxffin]

I usually just steal the shopping carts to perform shopping cart races with my friends once we're drunk enough.

[@TacticalGamingFool]

Bubbles is that you?

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

i look at this from the worker point of view. When people make retail workers' days just a little better, it means the world and makes everything seem much less hopeless and alone

[@smileyp4535]

My rule of thumb for "good/bad" people is, "If you looked at your life and took everything you know about yourself and looked from the perspective of an outside, as if you were someone else, would you call yourself a good person" Like if you were someone else would you say that other person is good? Treat others the way you want to be treated *but treat yourself the same way*

[@Twilightsonata-w7p]

The idea of police is like preaching abstinence and banning sex ed. Telling people no is only gonna go so far. Giving people solutions and aid will go much much farther.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Absolutely!

[@cybreviolet]

one fun fact about the wheels on shopping carts locking up when you try to take them is that all of the electronics and locking mechanism live within the one wheel on the cart so it has to be pretty simple to handle being rattled around all the time and so you aren't constantly needing to change the batteries most of the time, there is just a single wire buried underground around the perimeter of the parking lot that's buzzing at a specific frequency and when the wheel "hears" that signal, it locks up. the unlocking device similarly emits a second frequency that tells the wheel to unlock (and usually you have to manually retract the lock by hand) another fun fact, those lock and unlock frequencies are known for many shopping cart wheel brands and playing the same tone on your phone speaker placed next to the wheel of the cart can sometimes activate the electronics inside (there are complicated physics reasons for this but basically the wheel lock's electronics can't tell the difference between the phone speaker moving back and forth and the buzz of the underground electrical wire) anyway, more information should be freely available online and don't commit any crimes with this knowledge

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

I have noticed a significant increase in potential crime in neighborhoods with more trash and less structural maintenance. It is not always the case that a dumpy area has more crime and danger. But when there is more crime and danger, you need to be mindful and aware, or bad things can happen much more frequently than in a well manicured upper middle class neighborhood. Also, police responce to crime is very location dependent. Visiting inlaws in Washington DC I noticed a huge disparity in law enforcement between my sister in-laws apartment building where I witnessed one guy who was stabbed multiple times and on another occasion a man whose face got wrecked pleading for help in the hallway. Waiting for the nessisary convoy of police crusers escorting an ambulance to the seen to get the guy out. When the convoy departed there was no sense of security in the neighborhood. Yet if I am walking around the Smithsonian museum, I feal relatively safe and assured that people will behave within a certain standard. There is not blood on the carpet, no crack dealer standing outside the building, and there is not much trash on the lawn at the mall.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Yeah, it's the social theory. People are more likely to break rules if they see that other people are breaking the rules. It's well-studied!

[@colonelweird]

This reminds me of one of my pet peeves about the way people talk these days. Have you noticed how discussions of moral behavior are always framed in terms of "making choices"? If you want to succeed, you need to make the choices that lead to success. We want to teach children to make the right choices. When people fuck up their lives, we want to find ways to let them make the choices that lead to recovery. People who need abortions must have "the right to choose." And so on. Once you see it, it's everywhere. It's as if people have an unspoken devotion to the concept of choice, and they makes gestures of obedience to it each time they make a choice. And life is all about choosing! It's as if life is a supermarket, and we're all choosing whether to buy Corn Flakes or Fruit Loops, all day every day. I really truly hate it. I think our domination by "choice" is one reason we can't think in terms of systemic solutions any more. A hundred years ago, it was at least still possible to use a wider ranger of ethical language than most people are able to use today. Obviously that still led to some horrifying results, but it's not as if we're morally any better today. And in this particular way, I think we're morally worse today. If they had discovered that burning fossil fuels was destroying the planet in the 1910s, I bet they would have done something about it. But today, that's practically impossible. This is surely linked to the growth of neoliberalism, which also makes revolution literally unthinkable. The only people who have the right to make radical change in society today are the people who run Amazon or Google. The rest of us only have the right to ... "make choices." It makes me wonder if the people who refuse to return their shopping carts are trying to express their inner sense of rebellion in some petty way. It's pointless, but I understand.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Right? As if everyone has the exact same choices.

[@ehhwhatevericantthinkofago8903]

The shopping cart thing is a brainworm for me too. I tried to put back extra ones after I put back mine. Especially if they're like right next to where I park and hogging up a space. Back when I was trying to pull myself out of this really toxic negative headspace I was in. I would tell myself that at least I put back the shopping cart. Me being trans doesn't make me a bad person despite all the shit I've heard. That at least I put back the shopping cart and try to do more to help others. I know that when the opportunity is easy for me I try to actively be a good person. It was something that I used to ground myself as being someone who is considerate of others. I think when the thought experiment is used like that it's actually pretty good.

[@MykaSilence]

Thanks! Now I will have the urge to tell "Just fix the windows!" at cops.

[@andr0oS]

"You might have to individually yell at a politician" Convenient, I was going to do that anyway.

[@lolly9804]

Funnily enough a lot of my current friends are so used to my cutesy demeanor, that they worry for my safety while I'm walking around the poor parts of town. Though I'm 6'8, wide shouldered and happen to be AMAB. Never been robbed or physically assaulted in public. I recall one time walking home with a guy I fancied. Conversation, while we walked, got to the topic of safety, and how he has to avoid certant routes, because of the risks he is susceptible to, being a short skinny white guy. As for me, most gang types just say, "sup cuz", and leave it at that.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Yeah it's different from person to person, and some people have that scary dog privilege without even needing a dog.

[@Sharrakor6]

"I dont want to use my ADHD as an excuse, but mostly I dont want to be accused of using my ADHD as an excuse" omg seen❤ (might be a bit paraphrased)

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

They should invent a pill that makes me not have ADHD. Why isn't anyone on this?

[@Sharrakor6]

​@@Trash-Garbage-Trash from what I've read treatment with ADHD meds early enough can effectively remove the need for them later in life, but I have never heard of a treatment that does that for an adult.

[@loose_marble]

You're my new fave channel!! Such insightful and fun videos on unique topics

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Thank you!

[@kereymckenna4611]

Also for D&D how or if somebody returns a cart is a perfect illustration of character alignment. Return cart as intended? Lawfull good. Return shopping cart to different stores? Chaotic good. Return the cart BUT in a way for somebody else to retrive it? Lawful evil.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Stealing it and then using it to rescue kittens and puppies.

[@matthewmershon4792]

I've been watching your videos a lot recently, i can't believe you only have 9.5k followers! Excited to see that number get big!

[@gracedreifuerst]

I think the key to the shopping cart theory is that the premise says there is no cost but there is a cost therefore the theory doesn’t hold up. If there was a truly zero cost net beneficial task that anyone could do, that would be an amazing morality test. However, reality isn’t so clean

[@gracedreifuerst]

But also if you’re able bodied with no kids and you’re not in a rush and you just decide to leave the cart in the middle of the parking lot, you’re a POS.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Yeah I get into it a bit deeper than that later on

[@gabrielauld2896]

I have ADHD and forget poop bags occasionally while walking my partners dog and it sucks dude

[@jn1211]

I had to chuckle about the police hyper focus on getting home safe point you made, because that sort of reasoning will ALWAYS remind me of the former cop who shot his finger off because he was so focused on imagining danger situations in his own home that he tripped and fell in just the right way so as to permanently disfigure himself. After a very lazy half assed Google and 30 second viewing, I believe it’s from “Caleb downing” “I shot my own finger off”. It’s a great look into the mindset of those who feel the need to be armed at all times because of their intense fear of everyone and everything.

[@MossImp]

I have always found these 'holier than thou' competitions to be cringe. I have always returned my cart or I leave it in store if I can carry my bags. At the same time I have also helped others that I noticed we're getting overwhelmed. Kids, disability, age, etc. I agree with the convenience argument. I think that the US oversized parking lots also play a role in why these things don't get returned. The majority of Aldi's that I have been to have very small simple parking lots. Not that I have never seen someone 'tip' the employees and leave their cart in the parking lot. I genuinely think that just having more simple parking lots that aren't basically stadiums would be beneficial in more ways then one. I'm from AK and I remember a few times wherever the snow removers would leave all of the snow in the cart dock. Or the cart's wheels would freeze and get stuck in the slush. A lot of people left their carts, and so did the employees till things thawed out. I would love to see Twitter, as an example, go after everyone in my home state. Unconditionally hating people for mild acts of inconvenience is stupid.

[@carlgodlewski6447]

I'm loving you so much right now. But I think monsters would take offense to that remark😂😂

[@carlgodlewski6447]

You are who you are when no one is looking

[@josephsager9425]

I just want to say that the thumbnail for this video is your best thumbnail, so far.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Thank you! I'm trying to improve my thumbnails!

[@chrisnotaperson8127]

what is a disk horse? Do you throw them or are they just flatter and oblong horses?

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

lol

[@oiytd5wugho]

Honestly, this is something I really struggle with. Every time I go outside I won't last 5 minutes before thinking "fuck all of you". People throwing their thrash on the ground, smoking in vicinity of others, disregarding traffic law, standing around with a power tool making noise instead of pre-planning how to do things quickly, playing music loud, coughing and sniffling and not wearing a mask, general disregard for the environment and society. It's really, _really_ hard not to think "this person is an actual piece of shit and I hope they disappear" especially when I keep those things in mind. I pick up a piece of trash and throw it out or take a moment to fix a crooked sign or something and think "wow, I'm actually the biggest loser in this postal code." And I am just _tired_ of being angry all the time

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Unfortunately our society is designed poorly, which allows for that kind of behavior. Many of these things are structural.

[@Desimere]

people making noise don't think that this would bother others, and mostly it doesn't. For anything you do, there will be some percentage of people who are bothered by it, it's inevitable. So it doesn't really make sense to be too bothered/careful about bothering others. For example, i have misophonia and sometimes i'm bothered by someone taking a sip of water really quietly, just because i can hear their "biology", it's pretty gross. Fortunately, this is a strange-enough thing to hate that i would never think someone is a worse person for having those bodily noises. Maybe it will help you in not hating them if you keep in mind how much people can change their behaviour based on knowledge of others. I'm sure that many of those annoying people would be more careful if they had friends who felt like you do about the things they do. It's not that they are wilfully dismissive of others, it's just that they probably see it as unlikely that anyone is really bothered by what they're doing. Where i live, people are quiet, but they are often very insensitive emotionally and i've realised that they assume people have thicker skin than they actually do. Because the society is insensitive, it seems absurd to them for anyone sensitive to live in the society. But ofc, sensitive people do often end up with anxiety, depression and on welfare due to that. If your environment is full of loud people, it may seem similarly absurd to them that someone who is sensitive to sound could be living there.

[@oiytd5wugho]

@@Desimere I have misophonia and sensory difficulties around sound. If there's a loud enough noise I will literally not register what you're saying to me and I have meltdowns due to noise. So, no, it very much makes sense to be "bothered by it," I'm literally in pain, how would that not bother me??? And there are plenty of people who know for a fact they are - charitably speaking - being a nuisance and just don't care, especially teenagers and young adults partying. Hell, I heard fireworks go off not too long ago. When I'm about to make annoying or loud noise I think about the impact that's gonna have, I think that's a normal thing to be careful about - and people _are_ careful about this when it concerns them, if _they_ have a baby that's sleeping, they're gonna quiet down, it's pretty normal. But if you're having a party? Sure, let's set off explosives in the middle of August, it's not gonna bother anyone and it's not like you can hear the absence of wildlife in the area for a day after you do that, nahhhh Same goes for everything else I mentioned. How can I not be bothered by someone operating a vehicle with disregard for safety? Sure, you've got places to go, and motonormitivity made you complacent, but that doesn't change the fact that you can _kill me_ with your 2000kg car. And _some_ of those people might change once they are shown the impact it can have or the consequences of their actions, sure. But none of them were born yesterday, it's a statistical certainty that someone has told them about what they are doing wrong, but listening was inconvenient. So yeah, I will continue to be upset and I will continue being careful, because I would feel awful if I didn't care

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@oiytd5wugho The noise thing is awful, everything is too damn loud. In many cases public spaces are so loud it is physically painful for children. And for people with sensory sensitivity, including me. People don't really seem to care about those with sensory issues. I wear earplugs or headphones in public most of the time. Unfortunately society is not accommodating. I'm not sure what's going on with that but we all do seem to accept that it's fine for the world to be too damn loud.

[@Desimere]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash here in Finland most people are mindful of making noise, but rejection sensitivity is extra difficult for to live with.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

1:05 it's not zero cost for everyone though: people with small kids to look after may need to get them into car seats to be able to unload the cart, and then do they get the kids out again to return the cart, or leave their kids in the car to return the cart? Neither is risk-free, and getting the kids out is definitely not effort free.

[@razoras]

I'd recommend watching the whole video, this gets acknowledged super early. Possibly even literal seconds after 1:05

[@Madbmberwhatbmbsatmidnight]

I always return my cart. I will also park further out if it means parking closer to a cart return. I also always back in or pull through when parking so that backing up is not required when leaving. Some people say $#!+ happens. I say $#!+ better not happen. I don’t have any particular diagnosis but I’m pretty sure there’s something there or some sort of trauma response.

[@ku8408]

At least with Aldi, when my family would go there more often, we have offered or been offered quarters from strangers numerous times , and they don't ask for them back, so it seems more friendly there, it involves sympathy I guess , it feels good to be able to help someone out Another thing about Aldi tho is that they only sell grocery bags too, so you have to bring bags, but if you forget you can always use the shipment boxes that they get with the food they sell, I like the sustainability of that store! And cats love the boxes, they are perfect for little houses with the holes on the side I liked when I had the chance to get a free quarter/ switch it, I collected the ones with pictures and I'm pretty sure I found some new quarters just through aldi lol (Sorry, I'm sleep deprived and wanna ramble)

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

That's interesting!

[@atrution]

I take a shopping cart in from the parking lot, and put mine away before leaving because I want to make the job of the underpaid employees easier. I bike to work on the road, and seeing other bike commuters feel very aware that I'm safer around the cars because I'm white, and hope that my biking on the road eventually makes it more acceptable for others. Never have I ever thought less of people for not putting a shopping cart away, due to the fact that it can rain pretty hard and not always forecasted I don't fault others for not biking. I do think doing these things can make it easier for others, and understand that I can because of a position of privilege.

[@Talentedtadpole]

Thinking of a TERRIBLE person I know who returns their cart. Whoever came up with SCT surely had a job collecting carts.

[@GrimCryptid]

"That is an unrealistic kink" XD I love it and it is true. Thank you for another quality video 😁 Seriously, I think the shopping cart test is flawed. While there are some general bad actions in the world a lot fall into a gray area and are subjective by culture and situation. I am not a good or bad person, just another animal on this planet trying to live. I learned in criminal justice classes that "Broken window" policing pairs best with proactive/preventive policies. Like outreach and assistance. Places like Buena Park windows "fix themselves" because Disneyland is near by and pays for it all, graffiti removal too. Property owners private and rental just need to call them. they do it for free since it makes the area feel more hospitable. Of all collectives they price gouge enough to afford it. Broken window policing is at it's worst when paired with reactive policy. As in make sure every crime is taken far to seriously and punished/fined heavily. How to make people buy in on the world around them. My thoughts start a trend that makes them feel good by doing good. People try to say this makes things a non-selfless act since the person gets something out of it but so long as everyone benefits from it, it would be better to normalize it. I counter by that logic there are no selfish acts as the person hurts themselves and everyone else in the long run. When the traffic slows, when laws to prevent corner cutting are passed or more paperwork and verification is needed because people thought cheating the system was easier, till it wasn't. So if I had to pick from: 1. People give themselves a mental boost by doing something nice for another people watching or not, 2. People carrying great shame and physical pain or being in dangerous because they needed to keep up appearance and maybe couldn't or suffered for it. 3. People hurting themselves and everyone else with their thoughtless actions , since people will be judgemental anyways. I will pick 1. To answer on the carts. I often return multiple carts that are not mine especially before covid, I have also ended up putting a part on a raised cement surface not intended for walking use because my Uber parked in a far off load zone was not going to be happy waiting for me to run it back to the front since it costs them money. I have medical reasons for not being able to drive.

[@artosbear]

I want to not remember that website

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

haha yeah we all wish we could not remember that website

[@TheBlackRainWolf]

I think you make some good points, but I also want to 'yes, and' a few things. For example, yes, it is a systemic issue, but its ALSO a cultural issue; social pressure does work, its just working in the wrong direction right now, because current culture reinforces it. Social pressure didn't work for getting people to wear masks during the current pandemic because the pressure to not wear masks was louder and more prevalent, but it DID work during the spanish flu, there are old photos of people wearing masks posing next to signs posted in public that shamed people for not wearing them, and you even mention that they wore masks during that pandemic. I'm more familiar with a different version of shopping cart theory, which is not about people returning their own carts, its about people returning others' carts after they've been left behind. When I encountered the 4chan version, my interpretation was that the poster might have encountered the version I was familiar with, but either way, did the usual internet thing and took it to a stupid, purity-testing extreme. (purity testing is unhelpful BS, people should really stop bothering with it) The other version of the theory focuses on returning others' carts because its more concerned with how society benefits when people pick up the slack for others, whether that's as small as grabbing a shopping cart that someone else just did not have the time (or the ability) to return, or as significant as providing a place to live for an acquaintance who would otherwise be homeless. Turns out, you can just help people because its within your ability to do so, without expecting anything in return, there's nothing stopping you. That mindset isn't common, currently, but that's a cultural issue. The dominant culture right now tells people that everything they do needs to be met with a return on investment, whether that's a favor owed or being paid or some faithful belief that the person will be rewarded in the afterlife. I had a habit of grabbing others' abandoned carts on my way to return my own long before I encountered any version of shopping cart theory; initially because my dad did, who was a devout christian and there was likely some expectation of that afterlife reward for him, but I don't think that was the whole reason for him, and I know its not why I still do it today. I don't like people owing me favors, I don't believe the same things my dad did, and I only put up with money as a concept as much as current culture forces it upon me because that's apparently how we determine whether people get literal necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.

[@SirPaws]

I'm not sure how prevalent it is around the world, but when I was younger you had to put in a 5 kroner coin into the shopping cart to get access to it, and when you returned it the coin would pop back out It isn't really a thing nowadays, I think it still might exist but I haven't used a shopping cart in years. Also a lot of people used to have a fake coin in their keychain explicitly for shopping carts. Anyways not really relevant to the video, just thought it was an interesting difference because here you did kinda get rewarded for returning the shopping cart edit: this comment was brought to you by, someone that didn't watch the whole video before commenting

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

The only stores in my area that have that are Aldi, which I've never been to, but I hear it's really common in Europe. It definitely at least mostly solves the loose shopping cart problem.

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

I think it is better for people to have more positive experiences with police and also less over policing. This will help people feel like police are actually around to protect and serve the public instead of hindering peoples day to day lives.

[@ainsel98]

2:40 commenting immediately to leave a record of my thoughts before watching the entire vid - I worked in retail, and I do think that you can judge people (who are able bodied) that do not return carts (negative) or people that go out of their way to tell you the accidentally destroyed something in the store (positive), but maybe Kill-On-Sight is a little much for that (first) offence

[@UmbralRabbit]

Still watching, but I have to say, not putting your cart back, is a huge loss for those ppl The parking lot is the best pace to the runny-ride thing with the cart! I'm always the one putting it away cuz it's so much fun to it :3

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

that is fun to do lol

[@drewgon13]

The pandemic was a perfect example of broken window theory. Why didn’t people take the situation seriously enough? It might have something to do with the silliness of being told you can’t gather for church but you can gather in large numbers while clustered together to protest the police. Mass protests happened constantly during the pandemic, even during the lockdown. If the pandemic is so trivial that people consider police reform more important than stopping the virus, why would the wider public care?

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Well, even before that, they bungled the messaging, people were willing to take precautions at first but as soon as it became clear that other people were breaking the rules everyone immediately gave up. Which tracks with the studies I mention. When other people break the rules, people feel they don't have to. So when highly visible people normalized not wearing masks and other bad behavior, it Outdoor spread is less common, and the protests were not the main thing causing people to take the pandemic less seriously. I hear that talking point a lot, but it's just a right-wing talking point from people who think black lives don't matter. For communities being murdered by police, police violence was a pressing and recurrent enough issue that they were willing to risk not only outdoor viral spread, which is less than indoor spread, but police violence and death. Many people died during those protests directly from police violence. Proving the need for those movements.

[@drewgon13]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash Not denying the need for the movement, but if adhering to pandemic guidelines saves lives, is gathering to protest during an emergency bad behavior? The virus doesn’t discriminate, and was capable of asymptomatic transmission, so the protests were a vector of infection. The video was good, and made a lot of good points, but it did dance around one key issue: what is the point of obligation to society? Returning the cart is an obligation, and people do it because they want carts to be available and not knocking into cars. The activity does have a reward: a functioning system. However, if the system didn’t function, why would people engage in the desired behavior? Why respect a building with busted windows, clearly no one cares about it enough to fix it. Why adhere to pandemic guidelines if it isn’t stopping the disease? What is a society’s recourse if shame is not enough to self govern?

[@nathanaelgazzard7989]

Hi Trash, thanks for welcoming me to your channel, I will listen to whatever you want to talk about

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Thank you!

[@TheMenasaur]

omg cat wine bottle spotted i have like five of those dang things, they delight me. i am very lucky to have found a few of them at thrift stores, very very sad they aren't making them anymore

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

A friend gave it to me for helping them move lol. It's cute! It still has wine in it.

[@PhatMongoose-zj2rc]

I'm early and i love your videos! Plz talk about the Mormons sometime. I'm an exmormon.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Oh wow, Mormons are a huge topic! I know their history is wild. I just realized I already recorded a video that Joseph Smith would have fit into really well. Oh well lol.

[@joesfeet5760]

Especially the Utah Mormons.. the horrors…

[@PhatMongoose-zj2rc]

@@joesfeet5760 I went to college at BYU. one of my roommates was a literal nazi

[@joesfeet5760]

@@PhatMongoose-zj2rcnot shocked in the slightest

[@Tempestchime]

holy fuck that conclusion went hella hard. I love it.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@Tempestchime thank you!

[@im_aleey]

Really good video 👍

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Thank you!

[@rorbee]

first name trash, last name discourse. thanks for being dinner company for me.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Thanks for watching!

[@Sharrakor6]

Are you afraid of stairs? WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE 😮

[@tehlaser]

18:10 I find it far too amusing that the existence of “the shopping cart test” causes itself not to exist. It’s a morality quine.

[@anarchrevolution]

16:13 In Jainism, strict practioners will wear masks for fear of harming small insects or otherwise. Nonviolence is a means of self-actualization in this religion. In their view, it makes you a better person, you are actively avoiding negative karmic particles.

[@Il_Dilettante]

wanna comment before i forget... do they mention asking a store employee for help because they have offered to help _me_ before so I assume that's, like, a job requirement at at least one store at at least one point in time

[@TacticalGamingFool]

Ok when I worked at a grocery store I enjoyed atrolling around to get the carts, not that anyone cares

[@GhostIntoTheFog]

Oooh, a late-night Trash content drop. Super nice!

[@Sugar3Glider]

Change the incentive, change the world.

[@lacrimassenzio]

I will notice: all this discourse is around shopping carts, owned by big multimillionaire corporations...and Most people that steal a cart are homeless people that need a place for carry their belongings.

[@KrazyKaiser]

Is there not a teenager being paid to run around and wrangle all the carts?? THAT'S what's wrong with society.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Most stores are extremely understaffed now. Unionized stores like Kroger fare better, but largely the stores are so understaffed it can be hours before the employee is available to wrangle carts.

[@jenniferpatton5108]

​@@Trash-Garbage-Trash Because they are cheap and don't want to pay staff.

[@razoras]

Not a good enough reason to leave it around, though. Why walk your trash to a garbage can when you can just drop it where you are, don't we have people sweeping the sidewalk?

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@razoras A lot of people do that, it's unbelievable how many people litter without thinking about it. It's funny, I heard this attitude a lot in France, where they really do hire people for living wages to do things like pick up trash. Whereas I rarely hear it where I live, where no one is paid to do that job let alone a living wage. In places where there are decent jobs doing these things, people often do justify littering or whatever by saying "that's someone's job, they'll clean it up." It's an interesting cultural difference.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@jenniferpatton5108 Yes, obviously

[@andr0oS]

Oh hey, I have that empty wine bottle too XD

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Mine still has wine in it!

[@andr0oS]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash Real question, since I came back across this in my notifications, did you enjoy the wine in that bottle/have you had it yet?

[@mrpieceofwork]

There should just be carts of all kinds, all over. If someone needs to take one off a property, another will be returning with one... bc they're going shopping, so they bring a cart. On foot ofc... peeps in cars can just do whatever. The PEOPLE will fund a cart return reward. It will be awesome. There also can be cart return bins all over... like... ALL over. LFG!

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

I'm imagining shopping carts randomly available like those city bikes

[@dexmartin4358]

I think this misses one of the major points of the test: that no one is watching. The whole point of this test is that only YOU know whether YOU pass it or not. It's to create a jumping off point for self-reflection, not bragging to others about being a good person or making excuses for failing it. A person might have an excuse for not returning a cart, and that excuse might be valid. Or it might not. You can't depend on others to validate your excuses for you. Only you can do that. Only you know if you're being honest with yourself.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

But if people are so affected by their environment, is it not just a test of the environment they exist in? Similar to how the marshmallow test turns out to be a test of how much the children trust the adult administering the test.

[@dexmartin4358]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash People are affected by their environment, but also a thousand other things: their genetics, their upbringing, their religion, their philosophy. That their boss yelled at them yesterday. That their rent just went up. But people still have choices to make. We're not all good people waiting for the perfect conditions in which to be good, because the perfect conditions don't exist. Some people aren't good people. Some people are selfish. Some people are lazy. Some people are cruel Some are downright sadistic. And SOME people make a bad choice fully knowing and believing it's a bad choice, they just don't care.

[@ArtOfficialKreations]

I think it might be poignant to suggest that there may be a distinction worth considering here with many of the examples presented: Should consideration be made for situational differentiation between what is _statistically_ "less safe", & that which, ostensibly, might only _feel_ "less safe". Additionally, if I'm roleplaying at taking the stance of devil's advocate, to what degree is someone's safety (real or imagined) the responsibility of society in general, as opposed to that individual specifically?

[@Sugar3Glider]

The Shopping Cart Test is checking a symptom, it doesnt point to the cause.

[@smileyp4535]

"A small task that doesn't harm anyone to do and is helpful but not rewarded to do, and not doing is a nuisance" by definition of you are disabled or caring for a child, putting the cart away is harming someone (you or the child) so what's the issue? It changes the whole situation

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Oh wow! I definitely didn't consider that at any point during this 55 minute video on the topic. How could I overlook the most obvious point that's constantly brought up in the discourse around this topic? What did I even talk about for the rest of the video after the 2 minute mark?

[@jesipohl6717]

one of our neighbors steals shopping carts for construction work. he also stores them in our back court yard, in everyone's way. he also happens to be a q person... at some point the evidence adds up.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

A place I work has a bunch of old stolen shopping carts they use to move things lol

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

0:05 ESRLY?!

[@tatianatub]

@22:40 yes and no

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

0:05 oh hey I’m not just early I’m first??

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

Congratulations!

[@kristopherrobin4001]

Nice

[@ku8408]

Human thinking is so interesting

[@WoohooliganComedy]

💖

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

Trash this comment is not directed at you. Just commenting on the subject. When you are talking about wearing a mask as being the right thing to do, it is probably best to define the circumstances and appropriate actions. If you are sick with sickness that is communicable by aerosolized particulates from breathing, sneezing, and coughing, you should probably stay home and avoid contact with people when possible, as well as wearing a mask and avoiding close contact with others when you need to go into a public space. If you are wearing a mask because you think it is going to protect you, you are mistaken. If you are wearing a mask to distance yourself from others. That's your choice, I am not opposed. If you are wearing a mask to virtue signal, I kinda feel bad for you. I find masks uncomfortable and they initiate my skin and make me feal like I can't breathe as well. Also, why do you feel you need to virtue signal? With a mask? Statistically speaking wearing a mask is not good for your health unless you are in a dusty environment where the mask may stop some of the dust. A mask will not significantly inhibit mold spores, bacteria, and viruses from entering your body. And you are more likely to touch your face when wearing a mask, which significantly increases your chances of getting sick 😫 😢 A mask only helps reduce the risk of the wearer getting someone else sick, when they are sick and contagious that is all.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

This is not true of high-quality respirator masks! They are actually very effective in preventing the user from catching respiratory viruses! The reason masks don't work was because people weren't using actual respirator masks. I have fit-tested respirator masks and I basically never get sick anymore. I used to get sick all the time as I am in large crowds relatively frequently for work. Unfortunately this is all super common misinformation.

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

@@Trash-Garbage-Trash I own seven respirators for my business. Five of them are full face and I use 3M M100 filters. Also, I was in the military for 25 years and for much of that time I trained for two to three weeks per year using full chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear & explosives CBRNE gear. I understand the requirements to prevent being contaminated with an airborne disease. However, I do not role into Walmart rocking my full CBRNE outfit or even my respirator for three reasons. First, I do not want to scare people. I don't think the average person can handle seeing someone fully outfitted to protect themselves from any biological contamination. Second, I am in somewhat good health and immune system and do not need to prevent myself from getting infected from most airborne diseases. Once I have been infected and recovered, I have increased immunity to that contagion. Third, it is very difficult to consistently employ measures to significantly lower your chances of being infected, beyond the use of a full face respirator, avoiding humans, cleaning everything after contact with a human, and increased ventilation/air filtration.

[@Trash-Garbage-Trash]

@@jasonneugebauer5310 www.google.com/search?q=disposable+respirator&sca_esv=e84d3365b4113c52&ei=uoUuZ_npK_bIp84Pk6m5oAw&ved=0ahUKEwj5rrGA2s2JAxV25MkDHZNUDsQQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=disposibe+respirator&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFGRpc3Bvc2liZSByZXNwaXJhdG9yMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHMgQQABhHSIICUABYAHAAeAKQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgGgAgyYAwDiAwUSATEgQIgGAZAGCJIHATGgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp