People are Crazy

I made my weekly trek to Costco today, all three kids in tow. On the way out the door, my kids put out their hands, fist up, in their usual attempt to silently ask the door-check lady if she'd stamp their hands.

The hand stamp thing has gotten to be kind of a pain. At first it was fun. The kids looked forward to seeing if the stamp was going to be a smiley face or a star, or maybe even a rainbow. But it soon turned into an annoyance. When the line at the door was too long, the door check people couldn't make time for stamping kids hands, understandably. Or rather, I understood that, my kids did not. My kids pouted, which irritated me. A frequent exasperated lecture from me about how we should be happy when you are able to get a stamp but not be unhappy when you don't went unheeded.

I wasn't all that unhappy today, then, when the door checker informed us that the stamps were permanently gone. I was glad that I wouldn't have to go through my unheeded lecture again and again. The lady said that they had to remove the hand stamps because they were a potential source of germs. Hmmm. That gave me pause. I've got nothing against germ protections, but I wonder how that came about. Did some lawyer decide that it was too big of a risk for Costco to continue with their "germ stamp" process? Or did some germ-phobic parent call Costco and complain that her precious child MUST have gotten the flu from the hand stamps? And why do I think the germ-phobic parent was a she? Costco doesn't have the standard anti-biotic wipes at the door, which makes me think their legal department doesn't spend hours a day thinking of how they can germ proof their processes. I vote for the germ-phobic parent as the culprit.


Lame. What's next? Do our kids have to go through Costco with their hands straight up in the air (reminiscient of beevis and butthead) to avoid spreading germs? Or maybe those fun little face masks? Hey, come to think of it, that might keep Spunky Girl from always sneezing on me...