I had one mission on Saturday and that was to get milk and while I was at it, some other groceries. I had a thought that Costco on a Saturday is sort of like a suicide mission, but I had nothing else on my plate while Vero went to shop for maternity clothes so off I went.
I should have sensed the alarm bells as soon as I creeped into the parking lot and had to tour around two or three times to find a spot to park. Or maybe it was the point where I went to the entrance and there were no carts left. I went back to a cart area in the parking lot and managed to find one, but they were slim pickings. Did everyone in Gloucester have a cart today?
Of course they did! It was a little hectic inside so I stuck to the back aisles as much as possible (and also stumbled into Laura and her friend) but I made my way to the back of the store to pick up some milk.
I’m not sure if it’s my marathon viewings of The Walking Dead but the milk area looked like it fell victim to a zombie apocalypse-like run for supplies. There were three bags of skim milk left along the back wall with no 1% to be found. What the heck!?
With that, I finished picking up other groceries and headed out to the parking lot which was a graveyard of vehicles. As in…they were all still. Not one was moving, but there were the sounds of horns and the visages of some very frustrated people out there. In fact, I saw one guy who screaming to the point of being red in the face while his wife sat next to him. I realized then that people should just relax in situations such as these and that’s what I did.
After fifteen minutes of sitting in the exact spot I was parked in, I realized that I may as well venture out and get some food. Off to get a schwarma down the street! I had no worries…it wasn’t like the parking lot was going to empty anytime soon. I mean, if I couldn’t even reverse out of my spot in fifteen minutes, there was no way that would change for another 30 minutes while I had lunch.
I ended up back at the same situation I left and sat in the car and thought to myself “Well, I should take this as a sign to do something constructive with my time.” Unfortunately all I had in the car was a user manual and a map book to read. I then decided to pop in the new Corb Lund album my parents picked up for me and listened along while reading the lyrics. I have to say that this was some prime quality time and I’m glad I took advantage of it as I did! An hour later I finally managed to sneak my way out of the parking lot and headed to another grocery store to pick up some milk. There’s no way I could come back empty handed!
The moral of this story? Never go to Costco on a Saturday, let alone the first Saturday where they start accepting returns after the holidays. Also, if life gives us an hour of time to do something…use it smartly…read a book, listen to some music or smartly just walk away and come back in an hour. You’re not gaining anything by just sitting there getting frustrated.