Adrian Aguilar

Discussion Post #3

On march 10 I decided to go to Costco. I went to buy groceries and some extra essentials I would need due to the Coronavirus outbreak. As I pushed the cart I recorded notes on my phone; it became increasingly difficult to maneuver through the crowd with my phone in my hand. In my head I thought this might have not been the best place to conduct my research but I continued anyway. With my brother doing most of the work, by grabbing and picking up the essentials we needed, I stayed on the sideline to watch the cart and our bags. 

What I noticed the most as I watched from the side was the pace of the people in the store. It was a packed day at Costco, and it felt like everyone was trying to escape. With the line starting at the front of the store and ending at the fish section (the back of the store), I felt like we were never going to leave. Like everyone else our pace increased. As we speed through the crowd to the paper towel section I hear a mother tell her kids, “grab everything you see we will use it at some point!!” I thought this was super funny as I retold the line I heard to my brother. 

We finally make it to the checkout line with our starting position at the back of the store. This was the longest and most boring part of my whole trip to Costco. As I heard the complaints from customers, “no one is working”, “what is taking so long!” I thought to myself what can you really do. Faced with a situation that was unavoidable I tried to be as patient as possible by keeping myself busy. I finally make it through check out and I am almost out the door. As I leave I hear one final phrase from my fellow hispanic security guards. 1st security guard “Tanta gente aqui”, 2nd security guard “ya tu sabes este virus tiene a la gente loca!” (TRANSLATION: “so many people here”, you already know this virus has the people crazy!”).

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