The road to hell is paved with good intentions…not sure how accurate that is but sometimes it feels that way. I believe I promised in my first blog that sometimes we’d mess up – today is the day.

The parking lot is one of my least favorite places on earth. It is a gauntlet of running children, distracted pedestrians and poor drivers. I’m always on the lookout for those who are not on the lookout. People get cranky over parking spots and impatient with each other – myself included. A parking lot simply does not bring out the best in people.

Then there is one final hazard – shopping carts.

I don’t claim to put my cart back every time…but I almost always do. I’ll even grab extras that are lingering about if they happen to be on my way. Well this particular day I noticed someone half turn into a stall but a ditched shopping cart was in the way. I gave them a wave, grabbed the cart and moved on. Simple. Good Deed. Everyone’s happy.

No. Not Everyone.

While moving the cart I cut through another empty parking stall…slowly…distracted…as I was also texting (sigh…I know…) until HONK! Apparently I was in the way of someone trying to park.

I waved, mouthed a ‘sorry’ and got my distracted butt out of the way. No biggy.

No. Wrong again.

“You are supposed to put the cart back at the return!”

Ummm….ok, rude stranger…we seem to have a misunderstanding…

I smile. “I’m on my way there now.” No point getting into an argument.

“Ya right! This is how I ended up with a scratch on my door last week. No one can be bothered to put their damn carts back!”

Deep breath. I try to ignore all the people(who I’m guessing are) staring at the angry lady hanging out her window.

  “I agree,” I reply through clenched teeth.  I turn to go.

…she is not done…

“How would you like it if one of those carts scraped your car door? Maybe you think about other people who use this parking lot.”

Biting my tongue until it bleeds. I get that this woman has misinterpreted what I was doing. She doesn’t seem receptive to my explanation so I save it. She’s probably having a rotten day. She’s obviously bitter about the scratch on her door – who wouldn’t be? I’m trying to give her this moment although I’m about 3 words away from snapping at her…

…when I hear the voice of an angel.

“Oh my gawd, lady. Shut up and park already!”

Another stranger. I love her instantly.

Rude stranger flies into the stall like Cruella DeVille and I’m thankful I’d moved out of her way.

My angel grins and winks at me. “Mind if I take that cart?”

I roll it over to her probably looking more stunned than grateful…hopefully  that wasn’t the case, and off she goes to do her shopping as if she hadn’t just made my whole day.

I’m not sure what the lesson is. My good deed kind of kicked me in the ass. A good Samaritan’s deed came in a rather prickly package but I am grateful none-the-less. And as far as the rude stranger – I hope her day got better from there. I try not to hold it against her. As I said, parking lots bring out the worst in people.

No good deeds go unpunished…but it’s still worth it 😉

Have a great week!

Xo

D

P.S

If you follow us, you might have noticed that it wasn’t my turn to blog. Conner has promised to be ready for next week 😉