Costco employees are dishing the dirt on customers.
In a viral Reddit thread, store staff shared their pet peeves and annoying things customers do that drive them crazy.
“People leaving perishables in random places, throwing their trash in random places, and rudeness, I think we agree, don’t belong in Costco,” the original poster said of what bothers them.
“Setting up a portable potty and having her child use it in a food aisle was less obvious than I thought,” they added.
The post quickly gained traction and had other employees chiming in with their sources of irritation.
“There aren’t enough hours in the day to completely answer this question,” someone joked in response.
One employee excitedly ticked off their list of “pet peeves,” including when people stand directly in the middle of the aisle, “oblivious to the traffic around you.” Blocking the walkways for whatever reason — whether it be having a conversation or walking away to get a sample — worsens the traffic in an already busy store.
“Leaving Frozen/Cold food in random places. This one baffles me the most. WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING THIS??!” they exclaimed, adding that they “literally have to throw it away” every time.
“That’s like me coming over to your house, pulling the ice cream out, only for you to find it an hour later chilling in the bathroom,” they grumbled.
Multiple employees mentioned trash, noting that there are garbage cans next to sample stations and at the ends of aisles, yet customers still tend to leave their garbage in a cart.
“We have 50-plus trash cans throughout the store, and still your trash is making it all the way out to the parking lot,” one complained. “Don’t do this, you’re grown adults, do better.”
“The latest one that seems to be happening a lot at my warehouse is throwing sample cups behind or in between the pallets,” another chimed in.
Others shared some creative ideas shoppers had while in the warehouse.
“Opening produce containers of apples, grapes, berries, mangoes to make a new package,” one said.
“Treating the toys and seasonal games as a babysitter while you shop. Nothing stops work faster than unattended or missing children,” someone noted.
“The amount of times I’m in the produce fridge and see people opening every container of grapes to take one and try it in order to apparently find the bunch of grapes that Christ himself blessed is too damn high,” another snarked.
The complaints from employees come shortly after Costco’s customer satisfaction rate plummeted in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Since 2024, Costco shoppers reported a 5% drop in satisfaction.
