Other Things # 13 – Toilet Paper Again

My first “Other Things” post concerned the toilet paper situation at Costco early in the Covid 19 Pandemic. It was when the “toilet paper panic” was coming to an end because stores, including Costco, were limiting people to one package per trip. I was thrilled because I no longer had to worry about such mundane things as toilet paper. However, a few things have happened recently that have been upsetting, and they concern toilet paper.

About a month ago, I did my Costco run, and it was time for more toilet paper. I picked up my package of 40 rolls, placed it on the cart’s bottom rack and continued on. After the cashier ran my order through and I looked at the bill, I saw the word “Purex”, and for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what that meant, so I immediately concluded that the cashier had made a mistake. I showed the bill to the cashier and said, “What’s that?”

She looked at me and said, “Toilet paper.”

And then came our nice moment — we looked at each other and really laughed. I felt like a twit, but I was happily on my way.

When I got home, my husband got the groceries into the house, and I unloaded them. After a while, it struck me that I didn’t see the package of toilet paper. I went and checked the car to see if my husband had somehow missed the enormous package and with growing dread, I realized he hadn’t. He confirmed that there had been no toilet paper, and I concluded that the Costco employee who had been loading groceries into the cart, after the cashier scanned them, had placed my order into a cart that didn’t have the toilet paper on the bottom rack. Obviously, the Costco employee and I had “gifted” the customer right behind me with my 40 rolls.

I had the thought to drive back to Costco and explain the situation to Customer Service, but then I envisioned the service worker saying to the colleague next to her, “There goes another one lying about toilet paper” as I walked away. I therefore decided to maintain my dignity and forget about it.

On my last Costco trip, I was pleased that I remembered, as I passed the toilet paper/paper towel section, that we needed more paper towels, so I grabbed a huge package. I actually got it into the car, drove it home, and when I opened the package to put the paper towel rolls into cupboards, I discovered that I had grabbed a huge package of toilet paper. Yes indeed, we can always use toilet paper, but I hate this stuff. The rolls are too large to fit into our “in-wall“ dispensers, so we have to have the roll sit by the toilet for a few days until it will fit in. Furthermore, the quality of the paper isn’t great. It’s only two-ply and sort of scratchy like the kind you get in public washrooms.

Well, Dear Readers, I sincerely hope this will be the final toilet paper post I write, and possibly, you feel the same way.