Outside of the obvious like the Xbox, Wii, Playstation, et al., I was surprised that they still play with things that I played with as a boy.  Only some of these are mutants.  Matchbox offers “Stinky the Garbage Truck” for example. And for the mere $60 (!) it costs, it does a lot.

Stinky is the name, gobbling garbage is his game!
Newest addition to the Big Rig Buddies assortment is every boy’s best friend!
A real working garbage truck brought to life!
Best features and interactive qualities of his buddy Rocky the Robot Truck!
This interactive buddy talks, tells jokes, eats, exercises and sings!

That’s right; a talking, eating, exercising, singing garbage truck.  A thing that nightmares are made of, well maybe for me.  As a young boy, I played with (and still own) a huge Matchbox car collection dating back to the 50s.  Never made stuff like “Stinky” back when.  The Matchbox brand was known for its die-cast 1:75 metal models of cars and trucks; lorries, to be precise since they were manufactured in Britain.  My friends and I spent hours driving these vehicles around on the bedroom floor.  We never wished for or even dreamt of a talking, eating, exercising, singing garbage truck.  I don’t get the whole concept of it.  Sing with your garbage truck?  OK!

Robotic toys have been around for a long time.  Seems like they’ve been around a bit too long and have also metamorphosed into “Bigfoot the Monster”. Ugly ‘spud’ ain’t he?  He works by remote control and he’s “A Big Monster with a Big Personality, a Monster that Burps, Laughs, and Talks.” I’m happy to see that “Stinky the Garbage Truck” is not the only toy with rude manners.  He has a, “bank with over 30 phrases, words and funny noises.”  And I’m certain the “funny noises” are not just belches.  Oh, God, that doesn’t paint a good picture!  But he does look fun to play with!

Rude toys are the new norm, I guess.  When I was a kid, we had a robotoid named “The Great Garloo”.  I think that “The Great Garloo” was quite a bit uglier than “Bigfoot”.  Who designed the looks of this thing?  And this was from the early 60s a bit before heavy LSD usage.  Poor Garloo couldn’t do much.  He could move forward and backward, turn left and right, and it was claimed that he could pick things up.  I wouldn’t know, I never had or wanted one.  He was even too ugly for me as an 8 year old.

Toys have evolved, yes and no.  I think that “Stinky the Garbage Truck” is a toy that was invented during an alcoholic binge.  I just don’t get the concept of what the designers were thinking during their ‘toots’ of Skye Vodka.  I give it a FAIL.  “Bigfoot”, on the other hand, looks kinda fun.  If he can actually move around like that and cause some mayhem, he’s a definite WIN!  A lot more fun than “Garloo”, sorry, pal!

Next Time: Toys I had or wanted

You can apply at Costco every 3 or 6 months, I forget which.  And I dutifully did just that since 2006.  Never heard a word back.  Then in the first week of September, 2010, I finally got a response.  We had been out running errands.  When we returned home, there was a message on the answering machine from Costco.  Being unemployed for a year and 9 months, I was excited as this could be my first call back from a potential employer.  I returned the call and spoke to a woman who was very nice and explained to me that she had two permanent positions to fill and asked me a battery of standard phone-interview questions.  I passed the first cut as she invited me to come in for a face to face interview on Tuesday.

I had a major case of ‘butterflies’ on Tuesday morning.  It had been over 23 years since my last job interview.  I limited myself to half a cup of coffee and stayed off the cigarettes trying to keep the caffeine/nicotine nerves down to a minimum.  Once I got there, I had a tag-team type interview with the photo lab manager, the same woman I spoke with on the phone, and a woman from the optical department.  I didn’t know why but figured that this was S.O.P.  They asked me questions straight off of a list for what seemed like hours.

If you’re not familiar with the place, Costco is a membership only wholesale warehouse that sells a lot of varied merchandise, some in bulk.  You can shop there and choose anything from TVs to fresh calamari.  And lucky is the shopper who enters the place and exits with under $100 spent.  It can be done but it takes a lot of will power.  My wife has a membership through work; I never quite understood the idea of having to pay up front to shop a store but a lot of folks do.  And I never had the inkling to buy toilet paper by the pallet or mayo by the gallon.  Costco does have good buys on some things but one should always remember, Caveat Emptor.  But, anyway.

As the smoke cleared from the interview, I was informed by the lab manager that it was not up to her to do the hiring; the manager above her would make the decision.  This meant that I would be treated to yet another interview within the next week.  A week later,  she called me back and told me to come back in for another ’round’ with her manager.  I arrived at the appointed time and waited in the employee ‘break room’ for the next inquisition.  This question/answer period was a no stress, one on one discussion instead of a ‘by the book created by Human Resources interrogation’.  I had the job; next was the orientation to follow.  Weeks went by and I heard nothing.  I finally decided to call Costco during the first week of October and learned that the orientation would be held the 7th of October.  Thanks for the ‘heads-up’!

Orientation was lots of paperwork and viewing videos featuring O.S.H.A. safety rules and company propaganda.  This took the better part of an 8 hour day.  When it was done, the other newbie for ‘One-Hour Photo’ and I were told to report to the photo lab which would culminate with us spending an entire 8 hour shift; hell, we were getting paid for it!  We even received our official Costco name badges!  Our new boss already had our schedule mapped out.  I was scheduled to work the next 9 days straight, hmm.  Those first nine days were absolute hell on Earth.  There was NO training; I was immersed in what became the complete disillusionment of a job I thought would totally rock!  I have to say, I’ve never worked retail or wholesale.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  The hours were goofy, the customers (‘members’, as Costco likes to call them) on the most part were nice, though there were some that I would’ve loved to punch in the nose!

The two of us ‘newbies’ made it through the Christmas rush and were unceremoniously discharged Christmas Eve at the end of our shift.  We were told that since the store was under-performing compared to last year, Costco couldn’t afford to keep us.  Seemed rather fishy to me but the news was like throwing a life preserver to a drowning man.

As I exited the lot that day, I looked out the rear view mirror and felt a bit light-headed and giddy again.  I watched the Costco sign sink into the horizon behind me and reflected on, and I’m not making this up, some of the best co-workers I’ve ever had the pleasure of going through the trenches with.  I tip my hat to all the people that work in the retail field.  It’s a much tougher job than I ever dreamed of.  And the next time you go to shop, remember the person behind the counter.  Treat them as you would like to be treated.  Retail can be HELL!