A la cart

There was a lady on the train today who was selling a shopping cart for $75. I didn't want to mess up her sale so I refrained from letting the other passengers know that they could have their own shopping cart for free. All they had to do was pick it out and take it from their local grocer.

Fortunately, and not too surprisingly there were no takers. I felt sympathy for her. I wanted to walk over to her and say "I know, it's hard. I've been there too." But I didn't because a) I was not going to give up my seat and b) I'm not sure she was in the right frame of mind for a heart-to-heart right then and there.

I used to own a shopping cart once. Well, maybe less owned and more in possession of one. Possession meaning I took it home with me one day from the creamery by my dorm.

It was so fun at first. "Hey! Is that a shopping cart in the middle of your room?!" people would ask. "Awesome!" or "Why?". Why not? It was cool. Or at least it felt cool. Two different things.

And it served us well. It provided some much needed storage in our tiny cell-like dorm room. It held books and whatever cans I had gotten from "shopping" in my parents pantry. It could hold shoes or pillows and any odd knick-knacks lying around. And we thoroughly enjoyed it. Until....

One day it was just too much. It took up too much space. Even though it was just a mini-cart. In our room it felt like it kept expanding and soaking up our much needed oxygen. Compound that with a zebra blow-up lounger, two beds, two desks and a bigger than life sized fiberglass Ronald McDonald statue that some one had stolen from a McDonald's and it was all just a little TOO MUCH. Something had to go. Especially since it had become the dumping ground for anything we didn't want or have a place to put away. It became like that chair you put in your room so you can relax and read a good book but instead becomes the resident clothes-dumping chair that sees the light of day every few weeks for a couple of hours before it is once again consumed under cotton and wool.

So I did what any responsible person does with something they don't want anymore.

I left it outside somewhere.

So yeah Lady, I get it. Maybe it's time to lower your cost and do a short sale so you can get out from under that thing.