10 Things Costco Employees Wish Customers Would Stop Doing

As one of the most popular and beloved stores, Costco receives a steady stream of customers every day. Numerous Costco membership perks keep people coming back, but sometimes customers can get out of hand, leaving employees to clean up the mess.

Learn more about which behaviors to avoid and what to do instead, and contribute to creating a better shopping experience where both customers and employees are satisfied.

Here are 10 things Costco employees wish customers would stop doing (please).

Costco prides itself on having a squeaky-clean store, so customers leaving trash on the floor or in their carts infuriates workers.

"Trash," one Costco employee said on Reddit. "I feel like this is an obvious one, but STOP leaving your trash in the shopping carts, we have 50-plus trash cans throughout the store, and still your trash is making it all the way out to the parking lot. Don't do this, you're grown adults, do better."

Many employees are exasperated at shoppers letting their young children roam freely through the toy aisle or big seasonal displays unattended. This creates a big mess and requires staff time to reorganize.

"Treating the toys and seasonal games as a babysitter while you shop," said one Costco worker on Reddit. "Nothing stops work faster than unattended or missing children."

With so many great options, shoppers can struggle to make up their minds on a purchase, but that's no excuse to leave frozen or perishable food in a random spot in the store.

"Leaving Frozen/Cold food in random places," said one Costco employee on Reddit. "This one baffles me the most.. WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING THIS??! I get that you may have changed your mind on purchasing it, that's fine, but that doesn't give you the right to put it wherever you want. We literally have to throw it away when you do this."

Costco has massive crowds at all hours of the day, so customers standing in the middle of an aisle or blocking other shoppers makes the situation much more frustrating for everyone, including workers.

"Standing directly in the middle of the aisle, oblivious to the traffic around you," wrote one employee on Reddit. "So that includes, but not limited to.. seeing a sample and leaving your cart in the middle of the main walkway while you dash to go get it.. seeing a friend and proceeding to have a conversation with them.. in the middle of the aisle.. moral of the story, don't block the walkways, Costco is crazy packed as is.. be mindful of those around you and push your cart and conversations to the side out of the main walkways."

Given the busy nature of a Costco store, employees are constantly wheeling out products to place them on the shelves. Some shoppers can't help themselves and start taking items right off the cart. This can cause significant disruptions for workers, and hovering over them is simply rude.

"When I had to stock muffins, people would literally hover over me and wait until I turned my back to grab more from my cart and would try to snatch them," said one former employee on Reddit. "I know y'all thought they were fresher than the ones already out, but these were literally made at the same time. I just didn't have room to stock them earlier."

Costco has pretty clear rules about membership card use and other polices that some shoppers get upset over. And they're not afraid to let employees know about it. This will not help the situation and only serves to make things worse.

"As a Costco employee, one of my supervisors had to deny a person who was using his wife's membership card," said one worker. "Membership cards are not transferable. Members technically sign a contract saying they understand/agree to that…at work today, this guy called my supervisor every disgusting and degrading name in the book."

While Costco has a generous return policy, many customers push the boundaries of what's acceptable. Besides creating a logistical headache for employees, some attempted returns defy comprehension.

"I was working refunds one day and this guy came in wanting to return rotten salmon he left in his trunk for MONTHS," a Costco worker said on Reddit. "It was green and black and smelled like absolute death. I denied the return."

While employees working the register can scan an item from the cart if need be, it can be particularly infuriating if customers leave a bunch of small items in the cart. This makes for more work for the checkout clerk.

"Not unloading shopping carts when it's time to check out or leaving barcodes facing up," one employee said on Reddit. "No, take all your small stuff out."

While it can be prudent to look through the produce to find the freshest one, too many people take it too far. Opening packages and sampling the fruit or vegetable is very frustrating.

"STOP. SAMPLING. GRAPES. Seriously," one Costco employee said. "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."

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Lines are just part of the deal at Costco, so it's particularly troublesome when shoppers are unprepared and hold up the line at checkout. Every shopper knows they have to pull out their membership card, so when they rummage around in their wallet, it slows everything down.

A Costco membership is one of the most effective ways to save money on groceries and other everyday essentials, but that's not the only perk. A positive shopping experience is also something you get at the bulk retailer.

Costco has one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the retail industry, around 8%, while the average for other retailers can hover around 60%. That low turnover rate underscores why employees care so much about maintaining a smooth and efficient shopping environment, because many staffers stay long-term, become invested in the store, and want to do their jobs well. Help them out by being a good customer.