Little did I know that I was immersed in the first Costco stampede…

On Saturday, March 7, I ventured to our local Costco to cash in the annual reimbursement given to those who use the affinity Visa Card. I scooped up seven items on my ‘needs’ list, which included a prescription the pharmacist readily filled. She thanked me for her patience and smile, relating that many customers had berated her because the store was out of face masks. Puzzled, I walked away, hoping to pay for the items with my cash-back check.

Nope, not possible. Get in line over there.

So I did – and waited online a half-hour. There was commotion ahead of me, as I was two people away from cashing in my modest check (I shop for two, so @ 2% of our purchases is hundreds of dollars, not thousands/year). People were thronging, muttering that Costco was out of toilet paper and bottled water. Dour, judgemental faces surrounded me as people pushed carts past, piled high with multi-packs of TP and pallets of bottled water. WTF!

Finally, my turn at the cashier’s desk came. The woman looked down as she explained that, indeed, Costco was out of the staples. Further, Costco was out of cash!! I could not receive cash nor could I use it to pay for my seven items. I needed to accept a hand-written check for the amount, then use my Costco Visa to purchase my seven items, with points applied to next year’s cash-back privilege…

Guess how the teller looked when I took the hand-written check to my bank on Monday.

Since I had to use my card and wheel my cart of seven items into a regular check-out line, I grabbed an extra item –

These pricey, healthy vegan snacks taste good. When the food shortages began in grocery stores began, I learned to seek vegan items.

I’m an inadvertent vegan due to COVID-19.