Thursday, November 29, 2007

Creepy Shopping Cart Guy

I stopped at the grocery store a couple of days before Thanksgiving to buy some ingredients for my world famous Thanksgiving yams. I popped in and popped out because I only needed a few things.

As I was walking back to my car, a guy in the parking lot collecting shopping carts for the store said, “That didn’t take long.”

At first, I didn’t think he was talking to me. When I realized he was, I smiled and said, “I only needed a few things.”

As I was driving home, I began to think it was a pretty creepy encounter. First, it was disconcerting to realize that I hadn’t noticed him at all when I got out of my car. Even if I had noticed him, I probably wouldn’t have given him much thought since someone pushing shopping carts in a grocery store parking lot is a common site. Second, the fact that he had watched me park and go into the store and then remembered me when I came back out, in such a hectic parking lot, was definitely creepy.

Was he just a nice guy making conversation or was he watching customers coming and going so he could alert an accomplice who was breaking into cars? Was he really a store employee or just a crazy person pretending to collect shopping carts so he could catch customers off guard, knock them in the head and rob them?

‘Tis the season to be paranoid.

11 comments:

Leon said...

It's like that song from "Harvey Danger" called "Flagpole Sitta" (i think.
It says:
"Paranoia! Paranoia! Everybody is coming to get me!"

:P

I'd say he was just some dude, pushing carts. But hey! What do i know..

jsdaughter said...

I definitely would have been creeped out. Maybe it's paranoia, but I think you can never be too careful.

It's been awhile since I've visited here Laurie. I love your blog design now..
Hope you and your family have wonderful holidays..

P.S. do you give out recipes for things like your world famous Thanksgiving Yams? :)

Laurie said...

Leon - Yeah, probably just a guy pushing carts.

J's Daughter - Nice to hear from you! I'll post the recipe tonight. :)

Steve said...

I'M JUST A NICE GUY MAKING CONVERSATION! I SWEAR!!

Anonymous said...

I might've been creeped out, too. Was he cute? He may have been hitting on you!

Laurie said...

Pokerboss - I believe you! :)

Leslie - Hahahaha! That's even creepier. :)

Susan in St. Paul said...

Since it was before Thanksgiving, maybe it was shopping cart related?
I'll bet those guys worry about getting hit by cars, damaged shopping carts, how many carts can they push in line, when people will move cars, will it mess up their shopping cart line...
He was probably just so thrilled you weren't a cart ;-)

Laurie said...

Susan - HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That's funny. You're probably right!

Grimm said...

LoL, you never know - I would agree with Leslie, how do you know he wasn't checking you out?

Either that or he REALLY didn't want to get back to his real job inside the store.

Grimm said...

LoL, you never know - I would agree with Leslie, how do you know he wasn't checking you out?

Either that or he REALLY didn't want to get back to his real job inside the store.

Laurie said...

Grimm - Hahaha! Maybe.