Shopping scooter/motorized carts

[Cloud966]

I have a rant about the little motorized carts for groceries and such.
I have had crohn's for approx. 7 years., two surgeries and some very bad days (walking for a time made me nauseous).
I know I don't look sick but the greeters at stores are.....unpleasant about me using the carts. Isn't that what they are for? Would they rather I walked about shopping and threw up here and there?
I am a 30-something woman. It is not like am making a fuss running over people in the store (although I occasionally want to). There isn't cart races with my friends. But I am made to feel like I'm "getting away with it" on days when I can't walk it myself.
I have actually had a fellow tell me when I asked if there was a cart that "it was not like I needed it anyway".
Do I need to have a permit for them? Or a sign over my head?
*sigh*
:depressed:

 

[Kev]

Hi cloud966. Welcome to the forum. that's a great little rant. congratulations. It's amazing how judgemental people can be... On the positive note, it appears that you look better than you feel. One of the scourges of this damned disease. Think it is fairly common, and may lead to someone on the outside looking in 'thinking' we are overstating our symptoms, if not downright faking them. If only we could show them pictures of our gastrointestinal tract.

anyway, glad you took the opportunity to vent. I hope it helped you feel little better. just a crazy thought, by why not pop these thoughts into a form letter and mail or drop it off, addressed to the manager, of the stores where you've experienced these issues. not to target the individual employees who've taken it upon themselves to judge your medical needs, but to inform management of a possible issue... Like, the purpose of these carts are to assist shoppers who otherwise couldn't shop there. this common attitude may be costing the store customers, and money. Think it could be an eye opener for management. OK?

I mean, ranting should make you feel better, but a form letter might prevent a further recurrance. that could make your future shopping trips much easier.

 

[Jvstin]

hey, my girlfriend has RA and of course I got Crohns. there are time when we wait and go to Wal-mart after midnight and either she or I have to use the shopping scooters. with us both being 24, we get horrible looks and have had an underbreath comment or two before, but what you gotta remember is that those people are just gonna go to hell and Satan is gonna give them Crohns and make them live in a dimension where all they do is crap themselves in front of a bunch of people who do nothing but point and laugh and say horrible mean things about them.
sorry for sounding so harsh, but I REALLY hate ignorant people who don't take a moment to consider that anyone can be sick. I've been treated like crap ever since I was diagnosed, I was once punched in the stomach because one person said Crohns wasn't a real disease, that it was just as treatable as the flu.

 

[mikeyarmo]

Hello Cloud966,

I have not had personal experience with this, but something I could see you doing is creating a certificate on your computer or having a doctor make a note for you. It should explain what you have and why you need a motorized cart in these stores. When you ask a greeter where the carts are, you can present this note to validate your need. While you may get some comments from the greeter (asking you more questions about Crohn's for example) it should probably lead to less comments made about you. I mean, does a greeter really believe you would go through the trouble of printing out a certificate and explanation or getting a doctors note just to use a cart in the store? Hopefully that can be of some help.