Xmas in July

That’s what I thought today as I stood at my demo at work putting samples out as fast as I could get them into cups and onto the trays.  I never saw this much traffic in the middle of summer.  Not everyone has left town to escape the heat. 

Speaking of heat, the desert has been in the triple digits for the past three weeks with no end in sight.  We have to wear so many clothes to work that I was practically sick from the heat by the time I got off today.  A penguin suit isn’t the coolest thing in the world.  And on top of that we have an apron, gloves, hairnets and hats and heavy duty shoes with socks.  I wasn’t made to wear this much clothing in the summer, but its part of the job and probably why I always have an athlete’s foot problem.

Costco

I knew it was going to be a rough day when I arrived at work and there were already about a hundred people there ready to rush in with shopping carts once they opened the doors.  Today most people weren’t the least bit interested in hearing anything about the product at all.  They wanted to eat and even announced they were there for lunch.  Of course this isn’t everyone that comes in shopping and eating, but probably ninety-five percent of them.  People can be the most impatient creatures I ever saw sometimes.  We have barrier screens up to give us a place to prepare the samples before we’re ready to put them out for the hoards that are waiting.

Sometimes these guards do no good.  People will reach over, or snake their hands and arms through a tiny crack to get a sample early since they have no intention of buying anything anyway.  Would you go into the kitchen of a restaurant and help yourself?  I don’t think so.  And then they look so aghast when we have to throw the whole tray away and start over.  They don’t even seem to care if we’ve just swept up the messes on the floor and need to change our gloves to serve them.  They want the food NOW.

Thank goodness for the understanding shoppers because they do make us feel better about doing our jobs the right way.  It’s really nice when those people come along because preparing food and cleaning up after people while I’m smiling and acting cheerful all day is a tough situation.  Just standing on my feet all day is hard enough and the sweat running down my back doesn’t help either.  So the friendly people can really make my day.

Have a wonderful July Fourth everyone.  Be safe out there and cherish family and friends.

Raven's ready for the holiday

Early bird Dinnertime

Yes, Costco seems to be the place for those early bird diners.  We see the same people daily in our local store.  They just come to eat, which is obvious when they have no shopping carts. The eaters that do have them use them to lean on and the basket is covered with sample cups.  I’m not joking.  I see this daily.  There are also walkers who come to eat, no carts needed, and people in those motorized scooters who zoom from demo to demo.  Don’t get in the way because they’re likely to run you over.  They hit our food carts daily because they’re reckless drivers.  All they can think about is free food.

Hubby and I were in Costco shopping today because we were both off.  There’s no time to shop when you’re working, unless you already have a list and can grab those things and run for the checkout after work so you can get on the road for home.

As we were leaving the daily diners were coming into the store through the other door.  It was then that it occurred to me they’re using Costco for an early bird dinner place.  Why not?  They can make the rounds for the next two hours and eat as many samples as they want for free and then go home.  I’m sure they think their Costco membership allows them to have a free dinner like this everyday.  And not only that, but they also feed their “service dogs,” which are far from that because a service dog doesn’t eat on the job. 

Some of the eaters even have the nerve to tell us that our samples are too small and they serve bigger ones in other stores.  Really?  Well, what are you doing in this store then?  Of course we can’t say that even though we’d like too.  These same people will complain if we have nothing good to eat that day.  This isn’t a restaurant people.  We serve samples so that members can sample before they buy because the food at Costco is in large quantities.  Period.  We have a nice snack bar upfront if you’d like a meal.

Yesterday I had a customer who told some other shoppers “no, you can’t have another sample.  They aren’t feeding you dinner.  These are samples.”  Bless you, lady.  Where did you come from?  I wish you were in the store everyday monitoring things.  Of course we can never say anything like that to a member, but it’s nice when these real people come along.