Was crouched down looking at items on the bottom shelf at Home Depot. Someone handed me their cart.
Not asked me to watch it. Handed it to me. Placed the handle directly into my hand and walked away. I was wearing jeans and a grey hoodie. Home Depot employees wear orange aprons. I was not wearing an orange apron. I was not wearing anything orange. I was on the floor looking at caulk options because I needed caulk and I don't know enough about caulk to just grab one without reading the labels first.
A woman came up, stood next to me for a moment, and when I looked up she extended her cart handle toward me with the confidence of someone who has never once been wrong about anything. I took it, I think out of pure reflex, the way you catch something someone throws at you before your brain has processed what's happening. She was gone before I fully understood what had occurred.
I stood up holding a stranger's cart containing what appeared to be two bags of mulch, a bird feeder, and some kind of outdoor lighting situation. I looked around. She was not visible. I waited maybe ninety seconds trying to figure out what the correct move was here.
She came back about four minutes later with more stuff, looked at me still holding her cart, said "oh good, you're still here" and started loading her new items in. I said "I don't work here." She said "I know, I just needed someone to hold this." Said it like that was a completely normal thing she had asked a stranger on the floor to do.
I handed the cart back. She seemed mildly inconvenienced. I went back to reading caulk labels.