costco conundrum

As I left work around 5:30 today, it felt very odd to see the sun still shining so brightly. Dang daylight savings. All this extra sunlight gave me the urge to grab a $1.50 Costco hot dog, and so I went.

Decided to peruse around Costco before claiming my prize. I remember how I used to be such a bookworm as a little kid and indulge myself in the books section while my parents shopped for groceries and bottled water. It's been a while since I picked up a book to read for pure leisure.. maybe I'll start again. Any suggestions? Anyways, I inhaled a couple mashed potatoes samples, then checked out with some eggs and a bag of spicy beef jerky.

Now, I've always wondered about those two employees who stand by the exit and ask you for your receipt before you leave the building. They take one look at the receipt, quickly eyeball the things in the shopping cart, glance at the receipt again, pull out a highlighter and finally mark across it. This entire process takes about five seconds per customer, regardless of the amount of stuff they bought at Costco that day.

So I think to myself, what exactly are they doing? I understand that they try to check for items that aren't listed on the receipt in case the cashier forgot to charge something. But c'mon, how accurately can you verify what's in the shopping cart versus what the receipt says within that amount of time?! What about the guy behind me who has two jam-packed shopping carts? Do they randomly choose one or two items from the receipt and check for those items only? Why not the other items? What if some guy hid some stolen dvd's between the frozen pizza and the toilet paper? You expect these guys to do anything more than mark receipts??

This frustrating mystery quickly left me as I remembered to get my hot dog and soda.. for only a $1.50. You can't beat that anywhere!