At Costco...Before The Masses Arrive

Tonight, as I wait for my daughter to finish up at her theater rehearsal, I'm sitting alone in a building that's accustomed to having throngs of people walk its spacious hallways before, during, and after a performance. The students are rehearsing in the theater. I'm waiting in the hall.

It reminded me of an experience from last week...kind of a strange experience I had at our local Costco superstore.

It's a feeling I'm sure only employees have--a feeling of being the only one in the building.

We had some errands to run early Friday morning and we timed our shopping trip to Costco so we'd arrive just before it opened. We pulled up and there were several cars doing the same thing as us--waiting. Eventually the doors were unlocked and opened. We all climbed out of our cars, trucks, and vans and headed inside. While my wife looked in one section, I headed off to the far corner to pick up supplies. I'm used to hurrying because the longer one stays in that store, the more one spends.

I headed down the main aisle and I was about 2/3 to where I needed to go when that weird feeling struck. I wasn't sure what it was at first. I actually stopped and looked around. Then it hit me. The feeling of slight unease was due to the fact that I was (for all practical purposes...) alone.

Oh, I knew there were other people in the building--I could even see them way off in the distance. But there was no one close, no one heading toward me with their cart, no one trying to bump me out of the way to get at that bite-size pizza roll. I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures. I'm sure I've never had that feeling before at Costco nor had I seen the store in quite the same way before.

I watched a show one time about an artist. He was non-traditional and a little crass. It was a documentary and the artist showed some of his work to the interviewer, and camera, and to the world. He had drawn a picture of a street--I believe it was close to where he lived or grew up. He pointed out something I hadn't thought much about, but have done so many times since watching the show. He said that he was always interested in power poles and telephone poles, and the wires attached to them. He said that people don't see those things--they just look beyond them.

When I go to Costco on a crowded weekend, I don't think I see the people. I know they're there, but I don't see them. They're just things in store, like the huge TVs, the fruit and vegetables chilling in their own room, or the antacids you can buy by the case.

It's too bad I had to be in a place void of people to finally see them.