Danger! Suspense! A high stakes game of cat and mouse!

No, this isn’t about picking gunk out of an electrical socket with a fork… I’m talking about going barefoot at Costco.

When we got to Costco today, I found out that Mama had accidentally removed the pair of sandals I keep in the car. Costco is pretty strict with the rules; among other things, that means shoes are required. Nearing the entrance, I walked behind the rest of the family, thinking up how I could get the front guard and card-checker to waive me in. As it turns out, though, she didn’t see my feet. I was in.

The first thing I did was head toward the shoes section to see if there was a pair of sandals I could borrow for the duration of my visit. There were only regular shoes, though, and I wasn’t about to dirty up a fresh pair of for-sale shoes, so we continued on to pick up supplies and cruise the sample booths. I knew the sample-givers wouldn’t have a problem with my shoelessness; we’ve got a bit of a rapport with many of ‘em, and they were mostly excited to see Papa’s new haircut (more on that later). Besides, they don’t even work for Costco, but for another company (WDS, I believe). What I had to watch out for were the wandering Costco employees.

At the Boca Burgers stand, I suddenly saw two of the guards walking toward me (but not at me). I deftly moved to the side, putting a cart between their eyes and my feet, and slowly walked forward as they walked past in order to maintain my cover. Believe me, it was smooth.

On my way to put back an extra bag of apricots that accidentally got added to the cart, I had to duck back from an aisle intersection when I saw a guard (who I know from experience is an all-business kind of employee*) start to face my direction. Moving my way closer (I had to get around them somehow) I discovered that there were 3-4 guards walking around, blocking off a section of the aisle to do some maintenance. There was no way to avoid being in direct line of sight with them, but I waited for the right moment to leap across to the next aisle, and apparently evaded detection.

As we left, Kyle suggested I do a little victory tap dance. I opted not to.

* He made me get out from under the cart last year. I mean, does he like spoiling the fun?