The Lady from Costco

Once when I was much younger, my uncle made a comment about my grandpa that I have for some reason remembered over the years. Perhaps I remember it because it seemed like my uncle was teasing my grandpa--who is one of my most favorite people ever. I didn't understand the comment and it bothered me. I thought about it a lot until I think I figured it out.

The comment was something along the lines of "Grandpa--the man from Sears." At the time I was maybe 10 and I thought that perhaps my grandpa was from Sears the way some people are from Japan. But that didn't seem right, he was born in Utah and I had seen pictures of the house he grew up in and his family. There was no Sears anywhere in the photos. And I was pretty sure they didn't let people live at Sears.

But I came to realize that what he meant was Grandpa frequented Sears. He took his car there, bought his tools there, his clothes, gifts for people, his appliances, it was a store he spent his time and money at. He liked Sears.

I remember in junior high and high school the girls from Wet Seal or Contempo, the boys that spent too much time at Spencer's. Sadly I spent so much time at the mall myself, I knew where they shopped because I had seen the clothes they were wearing at the stores. Where did my free time go?

Today I was thinking where am I from? At first I thought Target, but I don't really like Target. The cashiers there seem to ask weird inappropriate questions about my children too often and their return policy is absolutely TERRIBLE! I shop there mainly because it has what I need and it's relatively close and cheap.

I would have to say I'm the lady from Costco. The people there are super nice, probably because we are so close to Costco headquarters. Target in Minnesota was better. One time Luke lost his precious monkey at Costco. He sleeps with it every night, he NEEDS his monkey. I was in a panic when I told the manager, he was so understanding. He put out an APB to all employees on the radios and soon the monkey was found. All at once every Costco employee was looking for the monkey. A box boy ran it up to the front of the store. Yeah, he ran it.

Did you know you can buy lunch there for your family for $10?

They have hand stamps for the boys as we leave, the carts have buckles and seats for two babies, not just one. Best of all they have what Luke endearingly calls, "snack ladies" wearing bright red vests at nearly every corner giving out FREE samples. The diaper boxes and dog food bags almost last me a full month. They sell everything from designer jeans to dishwashers, to grapes, to fresh flowers. And the cashiers always tell me how cute my boys are and play with they as I pay my bill--instead of asking really, really dumb questions that are none of their business. One time a snack lady told me I was the most beautiful lady she had seen all day. It made my week. I had all three boys with me and a very full cart. I estimated I was pushing about 200 lbs for about an hour that day. Beautiful and strong!

Last year I spent enough there to cover my cost of executive membership. (Please don't calculate how much I spent and tell me, I really don't want to know.) They are not always the cheapest, but usually they are. They carry great quality products and they stand behind them with a great return policy. Yes, I'm definitely the lady from Costco.

Where are you from?