Monday, April 03, 2006

"I See Stupid People..."

On a Saturday before Christmas, my two daughters and I went shopping at Costco. I'm not sure if Costco is a nationwide chain, so if you don't know what it is, think mega-warehouse where they sell everything in bulk, for a lot cheaper than the grocery store, sporting goods store, hardware store...you name it.
When we pulled into a parking space, I turned off my car, turned to my girls and said, "Get ready. We're about to enter Costco on a Saturday before Christmas. Every stupid person in Southern California is within those four walls this very minute. Don't be scared. Don't be frustrated. Just be ready." In an attempt to preserve our sanity, we decided to make a game of it and count stupid people. Whenever we walked by someone blocking an entire aisle with their oversized cart just waiting to get a sliver of a Bagel Bite sample, we would yell over our shoulder, "NUMBER 1!!" If an entire family of stupid people rammed their cart into us and then just stood there blocking our way for longer than two minutes, we would yell, "NUMBERS 3 through 6!!" Eventually, my girls ditched me to look at DVDs. A few minutes later, I heard a voice from the opposite end of an aisle yell, "NUMBER 7!!!," and I turned to see my oldest daughter trapped between a shopping cart and a wall of hair products, while she was trying to get to me. The shopping cart was actually pressed right up against her stomach pinning her in place, and the person behind it wasn't moving!
Later, when my younger daughter was pushing the cart she said, "I just found Number 12, and Boo (her sister) is in serious danger of becoming Number 13." Now when we're in any crowded place, we know we'll automatically play the stupid person game. We walk through the gates of Disneyland, or anywhere else there are big crowds, and almost immediately get started with, "NUMBER 1!! And NUMBER 2 for the idiot who just sneezed into the back of my head!"

Not long after that day at Costco, I was walking into my living room where my daughters were sitting and I tripped, barely catching myself from falling. Without even looking up, my oldest daughter quietly said, "Number 17." :)

7 comments:

Jenni said...

I need to try this at Home Depot...because those people have large pallats with power tools and dry wall.

They are everywhere...

Anonymous said...

i think you and your dughters are awsome and i love reading your stories.

ThursdayNext said...

This was a great post; I loved the ending. I was in a Costco before New Year's Eve once and my sister and I literally held onto each other for dear life! It is actually a fond memory, believe it or not! :)

shpprgrl said...

that's fun! we'll have to try that. i love to talk in code like that. we do it all the time!

carmilevy said...

You and your daughters are wise indeed.

I'll never be able to go into the local Costco without thinking of this entry.

Barry said...

Funny!!

My float said...

Don't you love the fact your oldest daughter is such a comedian?!

A funny game. I will definitely pick it up, there are stupid people everywhere! you may well be responsible for starting a new fad family game in Australia! (Bringing families closer together!)

Here from Michele's.