This Tacoma Costco employee and customer hazard clearly demonstrate that the brain dead are not able to read and understand the fine print, nor do they understand the laws of physics.
My recommendation to the manufacturer is to print the safety warning using much larger letters.
Joe…breaking news for ya… Stupidity exists everywhere. Costco is just a very minor example. You should see the drivers on I5 or … anywhere in the world. The nut cases in england tearing down towers… Voters…politicians …enough said. And the list goes on…
JC,
You hit the nail on the head. For decades I never wanted to think people were stupid, nor did I want to look down on anyone. I have intelligent friends who encourage me not to make comments indicating someone is stupid because doing so will cause me to be thought of as being judgemental.
I have finally come to the conclusion that being judgemental is not always a bad thing.
People, such as many, many of those on I-5 that you reference, follow too closely causing countless collisions, property damage, injury, and death. There is an easy fix. Do not follow too closely (FTC). Will they learn? No!. If they do not have the information, traffic safety tip, or education, they are not stupid. They are uninformed, making them a danger to mankind, none-the-less. If they are given the information, do not follow too closely and they continue to FTC, then they are stupid.
Stupidity comes in two forms. Some are stupid based on what they do. Some are stupid based on what they fail to do.
Anyone, including me, can do something stupid. The difference is I try to not be stupid in my actions. A stupid person moves through life without a thought and without paying any attention.
Lets you and I call it what it is. Stupid is stupid.
Maybe being able to read, and understand the laws of physics is NOT a job requirement at Costco? ?
P. Rose,
You have a point there.
It might erode the Costco profit margin, but having at least one manager who can read would seem like a requisite for a well run and safe business establishment.
I can now see that my expectation regarding Costco employees knowing the laws of physics is off base.
Decades ago, going against my father’s sage advice, “Joe, whatever you do, do not sign up for high school physics class”, I enrolled in Mr. Prevost’s Physics Class.
I realize not everyone working at Costco can reach my intellectual level of academic achievement.
Mr. Prevost awarded me the letter grade of D for my level of accomplishment and grasp of the subject matter. Grade D. I am not bragging.
Joseph Boyle
Common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone’s garden
Mike Brandstetter,
How right you are. Many could plant and enjoy the flower of common sense simply by thinking beyond the end of their nose which is a process of considering alternatives and consequences as they look into the future in terms of where their decisions might take them.
Joseph Boyle
Mr Boyle you are a very smart man. My husband would have applauded you. You echo everything he alway said and stood for.
Joan Campion,
Thank you for your positive words.
I am certain I would have enjoyed sipping some espresso at TCC with your husband, as we compared notes regarding life in the fast lane and life in the slow lane.
Joseph Boyle
Of course you fully understand that the instructions are merely recommendations?
I was once told that “you can not regulate stupid, thus we are forced to regulate intelligence”.
Good catch on this display and its warning at Costco. But I have to tell you that for years there has been an even more dire warning inside Costco that troubled me to the point that I left and did not renew my membership and have not renewed it now for several years. Imagine that. What, oh, what could it be? If you’ve ever had occasion to use the restrooms, there are exit door at the end of the hallway just beyond the restrooms. That’s where there is the sign that troubled me. It warns people that those doors are for Emergency Exits Only and people should push on them “In Case of Emergency, Alarm Will Sound and Doors Will Unlock in 15 Minutes” (words to that effect). In this day and age — people don’t have 15 minutes to get out of a building in an emergency. Whether it’s an earthquake, a fire, a bomb threat, an explosion — or perhaps most serious of all — an “active shooter — having those “Emergency Exit Doors” LOCKED for 15 minutes is a horror. Think of the congestion of the long line of shoppers trying to get their receipts checked at the main exit door and others trying to flee out the Emergency Exit Doors. I could only envision bodies piling up as they would try to escape. Obviously Costco’s purpose in having the time-delay on those so-called “Emergency Exit Doors” is to thwart and intercept would-be shoplifters. But in the event of a REAL emergency where the risk of loss of life is greatest, it is a death-trap IMHO. I never snapped a picture of those doors or the ominous warning on their signage — unlike what you did with that store display, Joe — but I wish I had. It is certainly something for shoppers to be aware of. It has been several years since I have been inside Costco; perhaps it has changed and I hope for everyone’s safety that it has. It would not be a time for shoppers to run for the Emergency Exit only to discover that they are trapped in the store when there’s an active shooter.
Jaynie Jones,
Thanks for sharing your excellent life-saving comment and observation. I will check that out on my next trip to Costco, either Tacoma or Puyallup.
History has shown in other incidents that even when the doors open instantly, people get trampled to death. If Costco still keeps doors locked for 15 minutes, the injury and death toll will rise dramatically.
Should I find the same dangerous condition, I will photograph the “stupidity” and then discuss the matter with the Tacoma Fire Department. Once my field and phone work are complete, I will more likely than not write a Westside Story on the subject.
If the same condition still exists, you may have saved lives by commenting.
Joseph Boyle
Thank you, Joe. As I said, it has been several years since I’ve been inside Costco. My recollection of the exact number of minutes the Emergency Exit Doors Will Remain Locked may not be accurate — but whether it is 15 minutes, 10 minutes or even 5 minutes — I can still envision the horror of people trying to escape an unfolding disaster only to find themselves trapped by locked Emergency Exits. I look forward to your follow-up report and findings.
FYI = No one knows what the out of focus image is at the bottom of my column. My people are working on it. It might be related to someone from a foreign country hacking into Westside Story to try to make me look bad, worse than I even am already.
It could be a conspiracy.
It might turn out to be a “We are holding your column, Westside Story, hostage unless you leave $50,000 in small bills in a plain brown paper sack in a designated phone. Just in case, I got the sack and I scrounged up $23.75 of the $50,000, but for the life of me, I could not find a phone booth.
I will keep you posted on the ghost-like photos as we learn more.
Joseph Boyle
The Ghost-like photo appears in the Instant Joe version of Westside Story only, not in The Suburban Times version. The $50,000 needs to be left in a phone booth, not phone as I wrote above.
Joseph Boyle
Giuseppe, in college you and I used to refer to those stupid people as P_ _ _ _ _r Heads and nothing has changed during those 56 years. How about the Choir director at the Skagit Valley Choral who had 60 people gather at the Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church for a Choir practice and out of the 60 that attended 45 people showed positive to the COVID 19 and two have died. Duh is all I can say.