The Trolley Cops Want You To Have Late Fees!

I borrowed a large number of craft books, all pretty big and bulky and HEAVY, from our local library. The library is right next to the supermarket, so patrons park in the supermarket car park. The library book drop is literally right next to the trolley bay; in fact, if the line of trolleys is too long, they block the book drop. Yes, it’s a bad design.

I was doing my weekly grocery shop, so I piled the books into the car, parked at the supermarket, did my shopping, and took the full trolley back to my car. That’s where the fun began.

An employee was in the car park collecting trolleys, and he spotted me unloading my trolley. He headed my way with his long line of trolleys.

Employee: “Hi! I’ll take that for you when you’re done.”

Me: “It’s okay. I’ll take it back to the trolley bay.”

Employee: “No, it’s fine. I’ll wait.”

Me: “I’m going to use it to carry my books. I’ll leave it in the bay when I’m done.”

Employee: “You can’t take it away from [Supermarket]. I’ll just take it now.”

Me: “I’m not taking it anywhere! I’m just going to take my books to the book drop.”

By then, I’d finished putting my bags into the car, and he tried to grab the empty trolley. I quickly grabbed a book bag and put it in the trolley.

Employee: “This is for [Supermarket]! You can’t take it anywhere else.”

Me: “I’m literally taking it back to the trolley bay. Honestly, it’s not going anywhere else.”

As I turned my back to get the second bag, he obviously saw his chance. He put the first bag on the ground, added my trolley to his line, and started pushing them back to the store.

I picked up both very heavy bags and walked to the library. I literally walked right next to him all across the car park, across the forecourt, and right up to the trolley bay. And then I darted in front of him and stood feeding my books into the book drop. He had to wait because I was blocking him from putting his line of trolleys away. Petty? Yes. But satisfying.