Читать книгу A Compound Life - Gary Sr. McGee - Страница 8

Every Thursday rolls around like clockwork - rain or shine - and Thursday around here is Shopping Day. Armed with the freshly prepared shopping list, Jill makes preparations for the big event. This may seem like a fairly simple undertaking, make list - go shopping - back home - done. What’s the big deal? But it is much more complex than one might imagine.

First - you’ve got to decide on which store to shop at - (and I thought I was the only one to have to make hard decisions). Perhaps the corner market - while very convenient, this store may have only a few of the things on your list, but not everything. Or the Super Duper Grocery Mart; which will probably have most of the items on your list. This is the kind of store that Jill usually does her routine, weekly shopping. But if you’re feeling brave and adventuresome you can try the biggest, baddest mother of them all. Yep, you guessed it - Costco! This place, I hear will have everything on your list and then some. On this particular Thursday, Jill was feeling adventurous and decided to go to Costco. She asked me if I could break away from my busy schedule and accompany her to the store. She insisted that this might be fun, and as you know, I don’t shop much, but I decided to tag along with her.

As we approached Costco, I was amazed by what I saw. The 100 acre parking lot should have been my first clue that this place was no ordinary, run of the mill supermarket. We eventually found a place to park, and after we had walked for 10 minutes or so, we finally arrived at the main entrance. (They should really think about a shuttle service). As we looked around for the usual shopping carts, (I prefer to call them "buggies"), I didn’t see any. They had something a little different. You get to choose between a shopping cart on steroids; or one that resembles a small flatbed truck. Jill chose the giant shopping buggy, and said "Hey, you push and I’ll pull. As we proceed on our journey, I can’t believe what I'm seeing - a jewelry store, big flat screen TV’s, computer stuff, everything electronic. We keep moving, I look around and see clothing, books, furniture - wow - they have food, meats, produce and even a bakery. "This place is ginormous" I said, as I heard a feint rumbling - some distance away - "Holy cow, they’re stocking the shelves with a forklift - unbelievable". "Hey Honey - come take a look at this - Do you think we could get this 4000 pc. Tool set?, just think of all the things I could fix". "No Dear, she replies, we didn’t bring the semi-trailer, maybe next time".

As we continue, I notice that they only sell 3 sizes of most grocery items, Extra Large, Extra Extra Large, and Enough to Feed an Army! (Can anybody really use this much stuff before it goes bad?). I notice another corner of the store, "Jill, look - they even sell tires. I’ve been looking for some new "Michelins" for the golf cart - I’ll be right back". Jill persists with her shopping duties and I catch up to her a few minutes later, "Hey Dear, she asks, can you help me with this 100 pound block of cheese?" (Now I know why she wanted me to come along!). As we proceed up and down the food and grocery aisles, we are bombarded with offers from people wearing aprons, hair nets and plastic gloves, insisting that we "sample" the latest snack food or yummy tidbit that they've been cooking up, "Sure looks good, but no thanks" I said as we try to complete our journey. As we finish our shopping, we go through the checkout line and I notice - they don’t even offer grocery bags or paper sacks. "Hey, what’s the deal?", I ask. The cashier replies, "We don’t use ‘em so we can save you money, but we can get you a shipping pallet or a produce crate if you’d like". Now how convenient is that!?

Our visit to Costco had turned out to be an all-day event. Now I know why they sell Hot Dogs and Pizza. I think this store with the, everything AND the kitchen sink concept might just catch on.

So next time you have to shop and you need a pair of pants, a book, 3 gallons of ketchup and an office chair, this might be the place for you! Who’d A Thunk It?

Maybe next time, we’ll stop at Les Schwab and see if we can buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. Wouldn’t that be cool?