Friday, December 9, 2011

Costco Disaster {Rice Spill}

Joseph, displeased with the whole situation.

Today I let my boys loose in Costco with their own cart and a shopping list.  I tasked them with finding the big paper products and a few other easy to find items from one half of the warehouse.  I shopped for the meat, produce and other items, and we rendezvoused near the check-out.  Joseph and Peter tend to love speed walking with shopping carts, and need frequent reminders to watch out for elderly shoppers and keep within the acceptable speed limits. Zachary refuses to use a cart, and will double wield hand baskets, hauling unbelievable loads, avoiding all wheeled assistance.  

Don't get me wrong: I love their 'enthusiasm' for shopping; but it takes a fair amount of parental management to get through a store without incident.  A few years ago, I took them to the mall (the only place selling boys' dress shoes) they made short videos on Zac's phone pretending they had been kidnapped, appealing to authorities for help.  Some were shot from inside clothing display racks.  I now purchase all their dress shoes online... but I digress.

At the Costco check-out conveyor, Joseph and Peter creatively tossed and passed the grocery items from cart to belt, team-style.  Apparently, the bagging clerk was also in the tossing mode, and told his checker, "Go long!" for the paper towels.  As the carts were being unloaded, I noticed that Peter and Joseph had picked up the 50 pound bag of rice, rather than our usual 25 pound bag.  They love sticky rice! 

What a mess!
In an effort to hoist the 50 pound bag of rice from the cart into the back of the van, Joseph inadvertently ripped the bag, spilling about half of the contents onto the pavement.  In less than thirty seconds, the birds appeared, and starting snacking.  Knowing that raw rice can be deadly for birds, we shooed them away and went for help.  A few more attempts to get help finally produced results, and a team of Costco employees scooped up the mess and insisted that we take an unopened bag as a replacement. 

Will this rice disaster, and the resulting inconvenient (embarrassing) parking lot side-show neutralize my impulsive helpers?  Or will we be found at the scene of future shopping catastrophes?  Only time will tell!

3 comments:

The Gaunts said...

we too recently had a costco adventure. After purchasing a cart load of items, we were walking to the car when I asked Cory if he thought we could fit all our items in the car with our HUGE double stroller taking up our entire truck in our sedan. Needless to say, we couldn't fit everything and I had to sit outside for 20 min. with our cart while Cory drove home to unload and then back to pick me up. ;).

Crystal in Lynden said...

oh no! Love that you had enough patience and humor to take a picture. So glad Costco gave you a new bag too.

Acolythus said...

I only refuse to use the girly-man mini-carts. Normal ones are fine.