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August 05, 2012 - 2:03 a.m.
"crazy costco" or "celebrating cameron's birthday"

Hey Journal!

We got up this morning at 10:00 and went to see Norman Vincent at the Strathmore Bagel place. My mom wanted to come again, so she met us there.

We had a fun time there, and then Dan and I headed to the mall. On the way, we stopped because Dan wanted to visit his Dziadzi at the nursing home.

We took a walk around the mall, and then we stopped by to help my Grandma with some random tasks she needed me to do. First, I had to fix the TV. It was set to Zoom mode, and she couldn't see any of the information on the top and bottom of the screen!

Then I had to reset the circuit breaker for the air conditioner in the dining room. It had tripped, and they couldn't figure out which one it was!

We watched some Volleyball on TV, and then headed out to get Dan's car washed at Touch of Ass. When I checked in on Foursquare, it told me that the last time I had been there was July 2011, and I saw the pictures I had posted of my car being washed. I can't believe it's been over a year since me car was washed. I think it's overdue... but today was Dan's turn!

They usually do a good job, but for some reason they kinda failed today. When we got back in the car, we started heading towards Price Club. As we were driving, we noticed that a lot of things inside the car were dirty, dusty, and it looked like they hadn't paid too much attention to the details!

Dan called them to say we weren't happy with it, and the lady was very nice. She said to just come in tomorrow, and they would redo it. So, that's what we're gonna do!

We arrived at Price Club and headed inside. Now, I have gone into many different Costos, and I've been there too many times to count... since I was little! Every single time you go through the door, you flash your card to the person there, and you walk inside. Easy as can be. (Although, as someone told me recently... why do they even bother doing that? It's not like you can buy anything without the card, so who cares if you have it on your way in!?) I agree that's stupid... but that's what they do, so whatever. It's never really been a problem.

So, there are a bunch of people going in ahead of me, and all of them flash their cards and walk by. Specifically, the woman directly in front of me was talking on her cell phone, showed her card, and kept on walking. (Pretty typical of any other time I've been there.) So we walk by, I show my card, and as we get inside, the woman at the door is calling to us, yelling that she needs to see my card. I turned around, and showed it to her again, thinking she must not have seen me the first time.

Then she tells me she needs me to come back, so that she can check the picture to make sure it's me. (WHAT?) The pictures are so small, there's no way you could see them from any distance, so why would everyone else be able to walk inside without scrutiny, but for some reason I am singled out for a thorough inspection!

I looked at her with the stink eye, and my blood was BOILING. I marched right back out the door, across to the membership desk, and asked to speak to the manager. The store manager came out, and he was very friendly, polite, and courteous. I explained the entire situation, and how I have never seen anyone stopped to have their card inspected, and felt very unwelcome and always treated with an attitude when I shop there. (In fact, I think it's only at the Nesconset location. We have never had the "attitude" problem at Commack or Farmingdale.)

So, anyway, he said she shouldn't have done that, and apologized. He said if we ever have any similar problem, to ask for him.

Now, in retrospect, I really think she did that because I look young, and she thought I was too young to have a membership of my own, and she thought she was going to bust me. They have this attitude there that they are the protector of this great place, and that I should be grateful to shop there! Well I have news for you...

Meanwhile, we shop at all sorts of other stores, Target, just to make the example... and you are treated nicely, and the register people are friendly and helpful. They value your business, and want to make you happy. THEN, you take Costco, where they charge $40 a year JUST for me to be able to set foot through the door, and when I do, I get an attitude. The staff feels like they're doing ME a favor by LETTING me shop there! They act like I should bow down to them for providing me a place to spend my money!

Re's mom used to work there, and she said everyone in her department would always say the same thing about the front-end workers. So it's not just me.

Anyway, I was LIVID.... but I was happy with the way the manager handled it.

Later, Dan had to go back to the front of the store, and he ran into the manager again who said that he had looked at the incident on the security cameras, and saw that we came in, just like everyone else, and then he could see that she said something to us that really changed the dynamic. I'm sure he could see us walking in normal, and then my face when she had the nerve to demand that I come to her to examine my card. I was glad to see that he took it seriously, and seriously enough to review it on the camera.

After Price Club, we brought our stuff home, and then went right back out to go to Linda's!

We stopped at Target on the way because we had purchased half of Cameron's birthday present a while ago, and needed something more to add to it. We had already gotten a Sesame Street Memory game, and we picked up the Barbie Golf Cart!

When we arrived, I played a Wii game with Connor, and then Cameron opened her presents! She really enjoyed them. I was surprised, but by the end of the night, I think she possibly liked the Memory Game more than the golf cart! We played Memory a couple of times, and then we went out to "the market."

Before going to Waldbaum's, we went to Burger King to get some food! Who knew we would be in for quite the wild experience. The people who worked there were nice young girls, but they were so confused and clueless!! First, the one who rang us up had no idea where to find the buttons for the items on the computer.... so much so that she asked Linda to change her order since she couldn't find the chicken nugget button, but was able to locate the chicken strips! She wound up asking for help. Then she was equally as clueless when I ordered.

Next, we went over to wait for our food to be made. We waited, and waited, and waited, and it never came! The girl working that part of the line, getting the food put onto the trays, was just staring at my ticket with this blank stare on her face. It was just the strangest things in the world. There was a biker man and woman there waiting, too, and they were just as confused. We all just kept looking at eachother and laughing! It was the only thing to do in this situation! The biker lady told me, "they're in lala land!" They really were.

FINALLY, the man who helped the other girl find the buttons on the register came over and took charge of the situation. He got the order made, and finally we got our food!

After we ate, we checked out this random building behind the Burger King that looked exactly like a mini-burger king! It had the same design, and we were curious as to what it was! It had a sign on the door that said "Burger King University" and inside said, "Burger King Corporation, New York Area."

There were a couple of offices you could see through the windows, and they had a ton of empty Dunkin Donuts coffee cups on the table. That was really all you could see.

After that, we went to Waldbaum's, and Linda did her shopping! She looked through the circular, and almost all of the items she bought were on sale. Cameron fell asleep in the shopping cart right away, and she had her head resting on the metal bar. Figuring that this was probably a very uncomfortable position, Dan reached for a bag of black eyed peas to use as a makeshift pillow! It worked for a while!

Anyway, when it was time to leave, the kid at the register forgot to use her Waldbaum's card, and she didn't get ANY of the discounts that she was supposed to get! He told us to go over to customer service and that they would fix it there. It turned out to be a little more complicated than he made it sound... they had to return EVERYTHING and then re buy it! It was worth it, though... Linda got back about $25.00.

Then we went back to the beer distributor and got some drinks for the night, and then back to Linda's. We hung out for a while, and then Lauren came... followed by Meg and her boyfriend Chris. Connor and I played some Mario Kart, and then after that we just hung out and had a fun time. We sang Happy Birthday to Cameron, and had cupcakes for dessert.

When it was time for Connor and Cameron to go to bed... around midnight... I went up to help them get ready! We turned out the lights, and it took a while for me to get out of the room, but I finaly managed, and they went to sleep!

When I came back downstairs, Lauren and I played a game of Memory. It made me think... You know, kids must wonder what the grown-ups do then they go to sleep... and little do they know... we play with their toys!!

It was fun.

Anyway, we hung out until about 1:00, and then hit the road! Just before we left, we were listening at Connor's bedroom door, and we could hear him talking, but had no idea what he was saying! lol

We got home around 1:30, and now it's really late, and I am super-exhausted and ready for bed! The plan is to sleep late tomorrow! Woo.

Goodnight. :)