My wife and I live in the country on the outskirts of suburbia in Columbia, South Carolina. Living in the country, we have to drive about 20 minutes into town to reach any kind of “big name” store.
This morning around 11 I drove to town to pick up some random office supplies at Office Depot. Pulling up to the store, I realized it’s closed — the sign on the door reads “Sunday: 12PM – 6 PM.” I decide to check the nearby Wal-Mart, the only other store in the area that could possibly have what I need. They don’t, so I go back out to my car at around 11:15 and wait for Office Depot to open. I drove to the back of the Wal-Mart parking lot (within view of Office Depot) and parked to kill some time.
Bored, I played with my iPhone, flipped through radio stations, watched cars, etc. As I lost interest with my phone, I began to watch cars more and more and started to notice a lazy trend:
They didn’t want to park.
Well, it’s not that they didn’t want to park, they just didn’t to park and walk. I understand elderly, pregnant, or injured people (or all of the above?) going down three or four aisles to find a close parking space, but if you’re able-bodied — just save the time, park, and walk the extra 25 feet.
Being intrigued (and a nerd), I grabbed a pen from the console and started to jot down my observations. I watched 23 cars in the roughly 30 minutes I had to kill — here’s what I observed:
2 cars went down 1 aisle. These cars went down the aisle they entered the lot on and quickly parked at the back of the “main group” of cars.
6 cars went down 2 aisles. Down the aisle, then up.
6 cars went down 3 aisles. Down, up, then back down again.
7 cars went down 4 aisles. That means they came in from the back of the lot (where I was) and went down that aisle, came back up another aisle, down another, then finally parking on the trip up the next aisle.
2 cars went down 5+ aisles. I spent less time watching OJ’s bronco.
Want to start losing weight today? Park in the first aisle, not the 3rd. I’ve lost 47 pounds in 9 weeks not just by going to the gym and eating moderately healthy, but by making countless small lifestyle changes like this one.
I’ll share a lot more lifestyle changes later on this week.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Haha! I’ve noticed people doing this too. I know I used to do it sometimes, especially in the rain or cold, but its a bit ridiculous in good weather. We are so lazy as a society! Besides, if you just park in the first spot you find and WALK the longer distance you will normally get in the store before the people who spend time circling to find a close spot.
OH I KNOW! I can’t stand either sitting in my car behind someone who just blocked the entire aisle to sit and wait for people to load up in a car… just so they can get a parking space 5 feet closer!
GRRR!
LOL – At first I thought this post was about me – ‘observing lazy lifestyles’ but when I read a little further I find that it isn’t me… I admit to being a bit lazy (trying to change that) but I always just pull in and park… I hate driving up and down isles.
Keep up the hard work.
I generally try to do this. However, if my small child is with me I will circle around till I find a spot next to the buggy corral. That way I can pull my son out and put him right in the buggy. But, sometimes I end up parking further away than other empty spots when doing this.
My mom goes to the other extreme. She parks as far back as possible(within safety limits, like where it is still well lit and people could hear her scream if she were attacked).
You know, this is a great idea but I feel much safer if I’m parked close to the door. However, I do make a point to carry my bags rather than using a cart.