More Adventures at Costco

I've previously blogged about my love-hate relationship with Costco. My memories of the hatred of the whole Costco experience began to fade, so I journeyed out to Costco in Brooklyn this afternoon. Other than the dim-wits that shop there, it was a bearable experience.

After waiting twenty minutes to check out (a new record, woo-hoo!), it was finally the turn of the family waiting in front of me. It was mom, dad and a 2 1/2 year old little girl (mom mentioned the girls age - three times). This family was a piece of work.

First, they refused to take their items out of the cart. They simply refused - let one of the lowly Costco employees do it because it's not their problem. You would think that these people were royalty.

Second, they announce they don't want a box filled with little serving sized bags of cookies. Doesn't sound too odd, right? Wrong...they had been eating it throughout the store. They opened the box up, and had eaten about half the smaller packages of cookies - daddy, mommy and baby all had a bag of cookies in their hand and there were a few empty bags thrown in the cart. "What's the problem?" questions the father. "You're known for your great return policy. What's the difference if I pay for it and then return it or if I just don't buy it? I don't want it." A very confused cashier put up virtually no fight, and threw the box of cookies under the register.

Third, the little girl is clinging to some toy that her parents promised to buy her. The cashier started to scan it. "Oh, no!" interjects mommy. "We're not buying that. We just gave it to her to shut her up." This toy is now covered in dirty toddler fingerprints from this kid who has been eating cookies as her parents shopped. Clearly, it's not in a condition to just put it back on the shelf. The cashier asked them to take the toy away from the child. "No," replied the father, "You take it from her. She'll cry and throw a tantrum. You can cause that, but I'm not going to." The cashier really got into taking the toy away from the kid. "I'm sorry, but your mommy and daddy say they won't buy this for you. I'm really sorry about that. I think they should get it for you. I asked them to buy it for you, but they said 'no.' It was wrong of them to tell you that you could have it since now they say that they won't buy it. After you leave, you should really talk to them about this."

I pray that we are better parents than that. I pray that we are simply better human beings than that.