Littered with Indifference

At a local Sears store, my daughter and I shopped for school shoes. While we were successful and had a good experience inside, things changed dramatically in the parking lot.

It was closing time and while we approached our car, there was a young employee a distance away gathering shopping carts. It caught my attention because I heard the sound of plastic bottles hitting the ground. When I looked over, the employee was removing pieces of trash that were left behind in the carts. Removing them from the carts and throwing them onto the ground in the parking lot, of the company he worked for.

It was infuriating! But since he was still some distance away, I felt a bit awkward walking across the parking lot to express my disapproval. At the same time, I was conflicted because I wanted to say something and stand up for the environment that I value and that I teach my children to value.

I resorted to getting in the car, keeping my mouth shut and using it as an example of what not to do for my daughter. When we circled around the aisle, the employee, with the carts he had gathered, was now only about 12 feet away. Still infuriated and conflicted, I stopped the car and glanced over at him, pondering my last chance to speak up.

Then it happened…he did it AGAIN! He grabbed another cart and threw whatever piece of trash was left behind onto the ground. This time I did not think twice…I instinctively opened the car window and said to him that he could have just as easily taken the trash to the garbage bins in the store and properly disposed of it instead of throwing it on the ground and littering. Not surprisingly, he looked at me and snottily said “yeah” as if he could not be bothered.

I let the disrespectful, indifferent employee know that I planned on contacting the store manager. Not so much as a threat but really moreso to follow up on inappropriate behavior of the people they employ. Although I am not expecting great outcomes, I am anxious to hear the response of the store manager.

When did our society become so indifferent, so careless, so callous to each other and to our environment? Just like I mentioned in the post Gum on the Bottom of My Shoe, littering is a disgraceful, disrespectful act that reflects in the same manner on the people that do it and results in a reputation that is not so easily reversed.

Ecosize Me wants to know…what do you do when you see someone littering? And, what would you have done in this situation?