Posted by Julie/MI on 10/28/06 9:27am
Msg #155726

New one; Costco closing OT

Yesterday, I had a borrower that wanted me to do his closing in the breezeway of Costco. With my mightly legal size clip board, anything is possible. So I get there about 15 mins early and call the borrower, he's not quite at the check out yet, so this gives me some observation time.

For the record, I'm not a Costco/nor a Sam's Club member as I am 100 percent convinced their stuff is seconds, and they never have the brands I like to use and I'm not paying a membership fee to buy the nasty Kirkland crapola, nor huge boxes of Cheerios that the weevels will get to before I do.

So I have a nice people watching experience. Well, after some time I realized that people saw me and were darting away. I guess with the clip board they must have thought I was a survey type of person or working for some political campaign. Then I watched the powerful Costco greeter, demanding a view of the Costco card before entry through the double door. I thought to myself that if these Costco employees patrolled the international borders there would be no way in hell any illegals made it over! I swear I couldn't stop smirking at how intense these "greeters" were.

Well they wanted to know what I was doing there and I explained I was waiting for a client and they wanted to know what for. I told them it was a Patriot Act violation and I could not tell. They bought that story and my client soon came out and we closed using his mega toilet paper in the cart as the writing surface for the clipboard.

My docs are printed, now off for two closings.

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 10/28/06 10:05am
Msg #155735

I did a Costco once. It was for an employee. What a circus. Other employees kept coming up and interupting and it was busy as heck at the time. Of course wouldn't you know in all the crazyness I missed an initial and had to go back. That was after 2 qc's. I was so mad at myself. Had it been just a customer without the interuptions I would have been fine. In fact I just didn't like the experience at all so I did one more qc at home and that's when I caught it. Going back sucked and I apologized profusely. But so glad that I qc'd again.

You did good, Costco can be more hair-raising than a house full of 4 to 7 year olds yelling the f word at each other.

Reply by LkArrowhd/CA on 10/28/06 10:10am
Msg #155736

Re: Julie perhaps the costco cops are wantabe real cops....

I tend to agree with you and if your just 2 folks in a household buying the carload of tp is a waste of my valuble space.....I can bearly stand to shop let alone unpack the groceries as it is. I don't want to locate storage areas for 500 rolls of tp nor do I want to squeeze a huge box of cereal into a cabinet that is shorter then the box itself. However for large families it might be to their benefit. Nope and I don't believe in the membership either......

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 10/28/06 10:18am
Msg #155740

I just sent my hubby and son

to Costco. I didn't feel like going. It's an hour drive just to get there.

Reply by SueW/Tn on 10/28/06 10:45am
Msg #155750

Where oh where were these guys 50 years ago?

I grew up with five and dimes, Woolworth's and JJ Newberry's. They had real soda fountains and you could get a grilled cheese sandwich and a coke for a quarter. You got a big bag of goodies for a dime and looked forward to allowance (ackkkk..what's that)? I was one of 6 children born to a hard worrking roofer and a dyed in the wool home maker. We were raised on venison, white sea bass, beans and potatoes. We used to go to the fields and buy tomatoes by the lug (do they still have those)? Strawberries were an absolute delicacy but Mom always managed to mix up one of those wonderful chocolate cakes. What am I saying? Well to a family that could afford one pair of shoes per child per year, Sam Walton's empire would have looked like Disneyland to us. We have become a society of convenience, it's "convenient" to hit the drive thru, it's "convenient" for the bus to stop every block, it's "convenient" to slip a twenty into a birthday card and mail it off. And finally, it's "convenient" to buy that tiny box of soap that lasts two weeks rather than buy that giant box that will barely fit into the car, that lasts 6 months....for 1/2 the price.

Reply by LkArrowhd/CA on 10/28/06 10:51am
Msg #155753

Re: Sue I recall sitting at the soda counter, with paper cup

inside the metal holder, I also recall paying Mr. Payne for our groceries once a month and he in turn gave us a whole box of choc bars......I recall buying a pack of Lucky Strikes for my dad for 23 cents......

Reply by SueW/Tn on 10/28/06 10:56am
Msg #155756

I hear ya Susan....

I wonder just how much is lost to our new generations by not forming those relationships. I'm all for progress but some things just can't be skimmed over like learning integrity, compassion, taking time to savor each day. Trust was the buzz word and a hand shake was as binding as any contract. Mechanics that actually fixed your car and self-serve wasn't even thought about. You babysit the neighbors kids and got paid! You could gather pop bottles and make a fortune! Kids went around the neighborhood on the weekends to mow lawns for 50 cents! And also the mainstay....ya better be at the table for dinner with the family or feel the rath of Dad! We played outside after chores and never worried about one of us disappearing....it's a very very sad commentary on how our times have changed.

Reply by Gary_CA on 10/28/06 11:05am
Msg #155757

Sounds like my Dad... was it an uphill walk to your school?

and uphill home to? Just razzin' ya... I'm not quite that old, but I did get in on the tail end of the domestic arts... home canning, raising our own beef some of the time and buying a side cheap to fill the freezer other times. We did a little hunting and fishing too, but mom claims that meat costs $400 a pound. Strawberries aren't a delicacy here... one piece of summer was turning a flat of 'em into jam for the year.

Do you tell your kids about all this when they're beggin for cash?

Reply by SueW/Tn on 10/28/06 11:12am
Msg #155762

roflmao....I hear you too Gary

Mom and Dad didn't finish school so I never got that "we trudged through 6 feet of snow" lecture but I will say that buses weren't a choice for us. Mom didn't drive (dad tried to teach her once but she kept pulling over when a car was approaching from the opposite direction) and so we walked. Good news is that there wasn't an issue with obese children back then because not only did we walk, we actually had a class in school known as PE! America is not only the home of the Free, it's also become a place where we absolutely cannot figure out how to survive without fuel. We can't cook or clean or bath without electricity and we don't know what to do if our phone service is out. Kinda scarey. When Katrina hit I actually stood back and took a hard look at things. We have become too dependent on someone else taking care of us (IMHO), and IF that someone else isn't available....what do we do?

Reply by Charles_Ca on 10/28/06 12:45pm
Msg #155790

You are absolutely right Sue...

I was brought up in a rural environment in the snow country. Several years ago we had a really hard winter storm and the main power trunk out to the coast ws destroyed and it took them 10 days to restore electricity to our area. My daughter still remembers that time with a great deal of plesure. We were fortunatel because I have wood as alternate heat (I put up severla cords myself every summer) and also cook with gas and heat our hot water with gas. We normally use well water but we also have an ancient dam in the forest up hill from our house and so we just switched to water from the dam. We boiled it just to make sure but it was a fun time. School were out, we walked and talked and listend to the only readio station we cold get on the portable and they had old time radio theater. We used oil lamps and candles in the evening and heated with our fireplaces it was a very special time and actually stenghtened our bonds becasue we did the things we liked. It was great not to have all the electronics.

Reply by SueW/Tn on 10/28/06 1:01pm
Msg #155792

Charles, your writing is beautiful and

I could in fact visualize the family with warm cups of steaming ________(fill in the blank) huddled in overstuffed chairs with plaid covers in front of a blazing fire listening to the radio and not complaining about all the hard work it took to make this picture come to life. Family...perhaps the most important cog in the machinery. There's nothing more gentle than the memories, those emotional scrap books we all keep tucked away in our hearts. Thank you for sharing a page....

Reply by Charles_Ca on 10/28/06 1:35pm
Msg #155800

Re: Charles, your writing is beautiful ~ Thank you Sue!

its tea to fill in your blank. Coffee, coffee, coffee in the morning,coffee in the afternoon, herbal tea at night. I don't know if you are in a rural area yourself but if you are you know there are times you have to rely on yourself and yourself alone and it may be a while before anyone else comes around. Sometimes I worry about our younger people. Perhaps I am becoming an old codger but I have had arguments with my daughter about electronic appliances. I remember in school they handed out calculators in the 3rd grade. I tired to reason with her that she needed to know how to to arthmatic without the calculator, what if the batteries died. Her reply was she'd get new ones (I finally won that battle and now in college she accepts that I was right). I have seen people be extremely uncomfortable or have to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive. During that same storm I was describing a lot of people in town started to run out of food. I have a pantry and it is well stocked and if worse came to worse I have plenty of game running around but many people just accept that nothign will ever happen. I chatted with TedDog the other day and boing snowbound was not a horrible prospect. I know I've enjoyed being snowbound, but preparation is the key. Most kids today take electricity ofr granted and I am concerned what might happen if it ever goes away, even for a short while. At least I was able to teach my daughter survival skills, she knows how to get firewood, how to start a fire,build a shelter, and how to kill and prepare game, can't get much more basic than that.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 10/28/06 11:11am
Msg #155761

Re: I hear ya Sue ...

Complete disconnection from anything communal - a society of individuals belonging only unto themselves.

And Kirkland brand Columbian coffee is the BEST "everyday" coffee you can find, and I am a coffee SNOB who can't afford to live on Kona which might possibly be over-rated anyway. =)

Reply by SueW/Tn on 10/28/06 11:16am
Msg #155764

Hugggs to the cheerleader...it's quite late for you eh?

You know I treasure your input, just funnin' with ya. Big storm blew through here last night, very few leafs left on the trees and we're soaked to the gills! I'm making a half hearted assault on this disconnected house today....between NotRot and Flip this House I'm not having much success! I need the Champion of Organizers!!!!!

Reply by Charm_AL on 10/28/06 11:27am
Msg #155767

Re: Where oh where were these guys 50 years ago?

Sue, we have a lot in common! I used to love Woolworth's and I remember their soda fountains. Corner grocery stores where we cashed in 8 pack bottles of Pepsi for my uncle and spent it on little surprise boxes. Then head over to the other corner grocer for candy. My favorites were the peel off buttons and the wax soda bottles.

My Mom's two sisters lived on our block, all we did was play outside and go between the cousins' homes. Our neighbors were a part of our lives, somebody always watching you and snitching. We spent hours playing jump rope, double dutch, hide & seek, tag, green light red light and sports in the street. We all had bikes you actually had to pedal.
We walked back and forth to school everyday with a few books in our shatchel and our metal lunchboxes.

Staying in was unheard of year around, thankfully they did not have video games and other couch potato obesity making devices! We all ate dinner together every nite and played out until dark. We had to stay in front of the house in the evening. God forbid you didn't hear Dad's whistle indicating that it was time to get in. In those days being 'grounded' was a fate worse than death. You guys got me walking memory lane.

Reply by Dorothy_MI on 10/28/06 10:40am
Msg #155748

Except around here

no one beats their price of legal paper or their gasoline. Also one of the best places to buy newly released books at greatly discounted prices.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 10/28/06 11:14am
Msg #155763

Re: Except around here

Dotti - I am a Costco freak, and 90% of all my money goes there - primarily food. I LIKE not having to pay for branding, and the quality has NEVER disappointed me and I look for Kirkland. Their lamb roasts and chops are to die for, as is the fresh ahi and the cheese deals, their yogurt, the roasted garlic bread ... I just hate that they don't open until 11:00.

Reply by Dorothy_MI on 10/28/06 11:32am
Msg #155768

Renee, I never noticed

that they don't open until later, but remember, I work the second shift!

Reply by ananotary on 10/28/06 11:48am
Msg #155773

Renee, I don't have Costco membership but with the

Sams Club BUSINESS membership I get in at 7am. Sams opens at 10am. Maybe Costco has something similar. It's great when I drop off the kids at school and can run in after for milk.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 10/28/06 12:10pm
Msg #155777

Re: Except around here I don't know if its a California

thing Renee but I am what they used to call a wholesale memeber, I guess its now called an Executive member but the Costcos here open an hour and half early for business members so you can go in and shop before the rest of the crowd get there.

Reply by LisaWI on 10/28/06 11:43am
Msg #155770

Re: To All the Kids Who........

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and
NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because .
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING even in the rain (we weren't made of sugar so we wouldn't melt)!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.
And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's (we read books), no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and kno cked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
These generations have
produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . .
CONGRATULATIONS!