by Doron Levy

Created on: January 09, 2008   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

Imagine someone rolls up beside you. The two of you are in really close proximity of each other.. The other person glances over at you with a sneer on their face and you can feel the tension. You feel like the urge to move but you can't. You are blocked in. There is not enough room to move. The other person tells you to get out of the way but you can't. You've reached a breaking point and you lash out at the other person in a fury of rage and possibly violence. Is it just another road rage incident? Perhaps, but in this instance you are in a supermarket and you are experiencing what is known as shopping cart rage.

Shopping cart rage can be classified into two distinct interactions: customer to customer and/or customer to employee rage. The causes of shopping cart rage are similar to road rage incidents. An action is interpreted as a personal assault and is reacted upon with irrationality and aggressiveness. We live in an era where humans are constantly under pressure and time constraints. This type of aggressive behavior has become more prevalent in this day and age. The human condition is compounded by the fact that we are moving towards more of a self serve environment. Customers are feeling more helpless in retail settings, and attitudes towards customer service are decaying. In conducting research for this article, I interviewed several different types of consumers to analyze their experiences with shopping cart rage. Some interesting conclusions were realized.

Marc (the name has not been changed to protect the innocent) is a business owner and entrepreneur. He recently relayed an interesting experience which occurred at a large grocery chain. The store was extremely busy and lineups were very long. Using the self serve checkout lane, Marc inadvertently forgot to pay for an item that his daughter had hidden. When a customer pointed it out, a cashier came running and screamed at Marc, essentially accusing him of theft. The exchange between Marc and the associate worsened when she asked him if he was going to pay for the item. Marc replied yes of course, it was an oversight and he apologized. He then asked the cashier if she could ring him through and she replied that he would have to go to the back of the line to pay for the item. With frustrations mounting, he threw the item on the ground (it was pudding), and promptly left the store. This is a great example of a customer to employee interaction. But what are the implications when the altercation is between

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