A woman taking a quick trip to Costco was baffled when an employee told her she couldn’t come back if “he’s” not with her. “He?” she asked. Who was the employee talking about?
That’s when she realized that the Costco check-out attendant thought that she was a man in her photo. In a video with over 875,000 views, @fatpastrychef explained how the employee mistook her baldness for masculinity.
Costco customer service workers—out of pocket.
This isn’t the first time a Costco employee has been out of pocket, catching customers off guard with backhanded comments about their experience. For instance, one employee compared a customer to her son. Surprised, the customer asked, “Is he handsome?”
Her simple reply was, “Actually, no.” That was something that @vroomjuicy recalled from his car after his day of shopping at the megastore.
Likewise, other posts on Reddit have recounted borderline toxic behavior from Costco’s employees.
A man in r/Costco said, “For some reason, maybe my age or my race, most Costco employees are much ruder to me than the other customers… For example, I will be walking past the door greeter with a smile and they will almost always ignore me while giving an enthusiastic hello to the middle-aged couple behind me.”
Another post recounted, “So I just had a pretty infuriating experience as I was leaving my local Costco. On my way out as I handed off my receipt and [had] it checked, another employee…came up behind me and bumped [a shopping cart] into my back. Before I had time to react, [the rude Costco lady] just [started] spewing a lot of crazy and extremely rude remarks, very loudly.”
But some commenters disagreed with letting experiences with a few rude employees ruin Costco’s benefits. For instance, one commenter replied to the first post, saying, “Why is there an issue with them not talking to you? Why is it you have a problem with that? Personally, I hate the forced small talk at the store. And guess what, most middle [aged] people that work there feel more comfortable talking to people who are their age and much more likely to have something in common with.
@fatpastrychef Bald does not mean I’m a boy
♬ original sound – Fat Pastry Chef
TikTok versus Reddit
While Reddit users were mixed on calling Costco’s employees bona fide rude, TikTok commenters were more than happy to share their thoughts.
“Costco customer service is terrible. They act like crossing guards and hall monitors,” said one viewer on @fatpastrychef’s video.
Another added, “I would’ve asked for a manager IMMEDIATELY, and I’m calling corporate.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Costco via email and @fatpastrychef via TikTok for comment.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
