8 Times Costco Employees Went Too Far With Customers

Costco has a cult following, but even the most beloved companies have their moments. If you shop often, chances are you’ll have an unpleasant experience for one reason or another, whether it’s overzealous employees who haven’t been trained properly, or a cashier who’s just having a bad day.

Reddit’s r/Costco forum is filled with stories of Costco trips. Most are great, but some are comically bad. Here are some of the most ridiculous stories Costco members have shared when employees had absolutely no chill.  

Costco allows anyone to use the pharmacy, no membership required. One shopper, who doesn’t have a membership but uses the pharmacy regularly, ran into some over-the-top employees on their way out after getting a prescription.  

“I stopped for about 20 seconds to look at a product & an employee came up to me & said ‘ARE YOU THE ONE WHO HAS NO MEMBERSHIP BUT WAS USING THE PHARMACY????’ and I said ‘yea is that okay?’ she told me ‘actually you’re supposed to walk straight to the pharmacy & straight back out. You're not allowed to stop and look at anything.’”  

In response, another Redditor quipped, “The right thing would be to offer a burlap sack to place over your head and an employee to lead you to the pharmacy and back.” 

According to a number of Redditors, some Costco locations require an employee to escort you to and from the pharmacy if you don’t have a membership, which seems like a ridiculous waste of time since you can’t purchase anything else without a membership anyway. 

“Our store does that,” said one Redditor. “I‘m a Costco member but had to send a family member to pick up my prescription. He was escorted start to finish.” 

“LMAOOOO like it’s a maximum security prison or something.” 

Some Costco members have had bad experiences with employees when they try to exit, even if they didn’t purchase anything. One Redditor said they didn’t find what they were looking for, so they walked out through the entrance instead of the exit. Here’s the conversation that followed:

“The door lady: Are you getting a cart? 

Me: no. 

The door lady: Well you are supposed to exit through the exit. 

Me: Oh I’m sorry, I will next time. 

The door lady: Please go back and exit that way. 

Me: You would like me to reenter the store and go around and exit through the exit? 

The door lady: Yes. 

Me: No.” 

The real kicker to this silly exchange? “This entire conversation occurred while I was outside of the store.” 

Sometimes nature calls when you’re shopping, especially at a huge store like Costco. But one employee got annoyed with one shopper after a restroom visit. “I was yelled at because I was walking back from the bathroom into the shopping area through the self checkout lanes. The crazy associate wanted me to exit the store and walk back in through the entrance. I gave her an emphatic NO.” 

Costco customers who use the tire service, which is usually located next to the service desk near the exit, also report dealing with the entrance/exit issue. “They almost tackled me for going in thru the exit to the tire center,” said one Redditor. “They made me card in and walk all the way around and back to the exit for the tire center.” 

There are a few items that Costco sells that come in pairs, but are packaged separately, including the bakery muffins. One person witnessed a member trying to buy only one package of muffins, but it didn’t go well. “The man in front of me only wanted to buy 1 pack of muffins. The cash register person told him he can grab a second one. He didn’t want one he said,” the member recounted. 

“They told him then he can’t buy them because they come as a pack and it can’t be rung up as one. They also said the people at the door checking as he left would also make him return it. The guy looked so confused bc he said he didn’t need two packs but was nice about it and put it back.” 

Lots of people have over-the-top stories about employees who man the self checkout line. One member posted that they used the self checkout for an order with about 7 items, and since they were large things, they used the handheld scanner to ring them up. 

When they only had two items left to scan (steaks), an employee “yanked the hand scanner out of my hand and told me I had to use the table scanner,” the customer said. “I just stood there not believing what I was seeing but the woman just stammers off without another word. I used the table scanner for my last item and I made my exit.” 

Another Costco member told a story about how a self checkout employee was a little overzealous and it resulted in them leaving the item they came for behind. “The attendant started scanning stuff with the hand scanner in my cart (which was great, yay, not having to move stuff!) but” then accidentally double scanned some items. 

While sorting all that out, the employee also wrongly deleted one item, which was caught at the receipt check at the exit. “What really griped me was that unscanned item was the 1 thing I went to Costco for but now that my cart had frozen food in it, I didn't want to stand in line again so I just surrendered the item at the door and drove home more than slightly pissed off about my wasted trip.”