Costco. I like that store because you can get some good quality stuff for a reasonable price, but the people drive me nuts. The parking lot is a mess. People put their groceries in the car and sit there for 5 minutes staring at their damn phone while people are waiting for that parking spot, and they are oblivious to the fact that they are blocking other people from backing out. Then you get in the store and a bunch of fat ass mouth breathers wandering around at a snail's pace blocking the whole aisle. They'll look right at you knowing you want by but they just go right back to staring at the ****ing shelf with their mouth open and that stupid blank look on their face. I just want to grab my trash bags and bottled water and get out but NOOOO...I gotta do an idiot slalom course with my shopping cart for half an hour.
I just don't get Costco...
I guess I would understand it more of I needed to buy a 50-pack of toilet paper every two weeks. Plus, I have to buy a membership to spend money there, something else that makes no sense to me... I will give the cashiers props, there is no f***ing around with those guys. Four shopping carts full, no problem, they'll have it rang through before you can pull out your ATM card.
Costco does have some strange people there, and some strange Costco specific etiquette rules that infrequent shoppers get chastised for breaking. From time to time we'll get a gift card, and experience of redeeming it is always an interesting one...
One particular occasion my wife's work gave her a Costco gift card. The wife decided to buy an iPad with it, so we got the ticket from the electronics department and proceeded to the registers. Given that each register line was several customers deep, each with several carts, we looked for a speed line, or a line for those of us that who were picking up electronics... no luck. So, we stood in the regular line, cartless...
The cashiers worked quickly, and before we knew it there was one person in front of us, and they were unloading their last cart. Standing back a foot or two, to give the person in front of us room to unload on to the belt (and doing her level best to keep up with the cashiers), a guy pushes a cart in front of us, as if he is getting in line; never minding the fact we had three people behind us, all with multiple carts.
"Excuse me," I said, "we are in line."
Pointing behind us, my wife added, "They are in line too..."
The guy, who was likely 20 years our senior (and we are not spring chickens...) bellowed out, "Where's ye'r cart?"
"We don't have a cart." I replied.
Wife, holding up the electronics slip, "We just have this."
The guy, clearly annoyed by our gall to be in line with out at least one cart asked, "So, you don't have a cart?!?"
Both of us shaking our heads, clearly confused by this man's annoyance both muttered, "No... no cart..."
I looked at the woman behind me, who was clearly following the Costco gospel of being in line with a cart. She looked just as confused as we were; like us, she also had not stopped by the pharmacy for free samples that morning.
Giving one last shot, the guy asked rhetorically, "So you're in line?"
Again, the wife and I in confused unison and nodding our heads said, "Yes..."
Clearly disgusted by the whole affair, the guy pulled his cart back and got behind it. I figured he'd go to the back of the line, or to another register, but no, he pushed his cart back towards the middle of the store. As he walked away he was muttering quite loudly, his incoherent rant was obviously about us, because the only word that was clean in his rambling, and the only word he put emphasis on was the word "CART".
