Here’s the thing - most of the people who don’t return their shopping carts don’t even know that this is a test. If they did, their behavior would change. If you know about the test, it fundamentally voids the test. And that is what makes it valid. If there is no pressure, what do they do?
Theres lots of reasons someone might feel or be incapable of following all of the social norms. Good and bad reasons. Since we can’t know which is which at a glance its best to withhold judgment.
Although some cases are like 99% sure and you can totally judge their pants off all you want.
I feel like this was chosen specifically because it’s one of those cases where it’s easy to tell.
For instance, there was a Walmart next to a bus stop I used to take. People had to take their groceries to the bus, but Walmart didn’t put a shopping cart corral within like 200 meters of it. I don’t really blame people too harshly for leaving their carts there, if they’re taking a big load of groceries on the bus.
Fwiw it’s not that it’s a social norm that is important, it’s it’s natural as a social good, and it’s nature as something (typically) trivial to do.
The only “cart returner” I saw against it basically just claimed that the people in their town/state/country were too incompetent to operate shopping carts (even if that’s not what they explicitly said) so idk if i really trust them or want to use that as a measure.
Making work for others to save yourself some trivial amount of work absolutely says something about your character
Here’s the thing - most of the people who don’t return their shopping carts don’t even know that this is a test. If they did, their behavior would change. If you know about the test, it fundamentally voids the test. And that is what makes it valid. If there is no pressure, what do they do?
Or you could just not judge strangers who are in a rush.
You can typically tell when someone is in the kind of rush that’d excuse being a jerk to others
Theres lots of reasons someone might feel or be incapable of following all of the social norms. Good and bad reasons. Since we can’t know which is which at a glance its best to withhold judgment.
Although some cases are like 99% sure and you can totally judge their pants off all you want.
I feel like this was chosen specifically because it’s one of those cases where it’s easy to tell.
For instance, there was a Walmart next to a bus stop I used to take. People had to take their groceries to the bus, but Walmart didn’t put a shopping cart corral within like 200 meters of it. I don’t really blame people too harshly for leaving their carts there, if they’re taking a big load of groceries on the bus.
Fwiw it’s not that it’s a social norm that is important, it’s it’s natural as a social good, and it’s nature as something (typically) trivial to do.
Its neither a good or bad. It could be argued either way, which makes it a matter of opinion.
You even have cart returners here in this thread arguing to not return them in some cases.
The real answer is that whether you put a cart back or not says nothing about someone’s character.
It’s absolutely a good.
The only “cart returner” I saw against it basically just claimed that the people in their town/state/country were too incompetent to operate shopping carts (even if that’s not what they explicitly said) so idk if i really trust them or want to use that as a measure.
Making work for others to save yourself some trivial amount of work absolutely says something about your character
I’m saying it doesnt rise to the level of determining if someone is a good or bad person. Besides the fact that noone is good or bad.
Let me put it another way:
They fail the vibe check
It’s a red flag
Bad vibes and red flags don’t mean for sure someone is a bad person, they’re a call to be alert and suspicious.
Goodharts law in action