Not like in America

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Today we made the journey to Costco. Pedro was curious to see what they might have in terms of meat, dairy and eggs, since Morrisons has been a bit short as of late.  We still have the limit of 2 on eggs, and chicken, beef, and even cheese prices are going up, all of which Pedro eats a lot of.  One thing we hate about the limit is that it is a limit on a unit of eggs, not the number of eggs.  So by the time we grocery shop sometimes, there's only the dozen or half dozen cartons left.  The bigger packs of chicken are usually the first to go as well, so we were thinking about visiting Costco for awhile.  The prices for a membership weren't too bad, £30 per year, and we both get a membership card.  

When we got there, it was busy. Maybe we shouldn't have gone midday on a Saturday, but it was busier than I'd ever seen one and wondered if we missed a UK holiday again.  We made it over to the membership desk, luckily only the next in line and while we waited, about 10 people had queued up behind us.  When we got up to the counter, the lady asked where we worked. Cue puzzled looks. When we asked her to repeat, thinking we'd heard wrong, she caught on to our American accents. 

"Sorry, I know in The States it is open to the public, but in the UK, you must own a small business or be a part of a participating company.  Do either of you qualify?"

P: "I'm a student..."

Me: " I work for an insurance company...?"

"Ah, I think we have that one! Yes, do you have your company ID and driver's license?"

Me: *cringing* " No, I don't have my work ID on me and I just sent my BRP off to apply for my license.  I only have my American ID."

"That's ok, what about a payslip?" 

I handed over my ID and tried to log into my pay slip, but it kept saying wrong password. And I realized as she said it, I was locked out.

"Ah, I know that provider, new password every 12 weeks, right? Must be locked out.  How about your contract?"

I continue to frantically look in my email, know it was somewhere in my conversations, but I couldn't find it in the all the back and forth.  Pedro was beginning to say that is was ok and we'd come back with all the right stuff, but this kind lady was determined. 

"No? That's alright, how about any work related emails..?"

I found the email offering me my current position and she looked at it for about 2 seconds for her due diligence and said all good.  Thank goodness..

We took our pictures (though we didn't realize she was taking it, so I'm looking off to the side and Pedro had his chin tilted up, so it looks like we just got our couple's mugshot). After the paperwork, we sign the back of our cards, and finally enter the warehouse. 

Inside was just as busy and we easily got swept up in the flow of traffic. But this was mostly a looking around trip, to see what's available for future big shopping trips. We found a big box of eggs for Pedro and some snacks for me and got out of there.  I'm happy we have a membership now, but I think we'll be going on a more off-peak time. I can't imagine how busy it would be if it were open to everyone!

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