Clean bathrooms.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why I’m writing this.\u00c2\u00a0 Cleaner than my own house.\u00c2\u00a0 So clean I’m convinced no one used the commode prior to me.\u00c2\u00a0 There weren’t even any scratches, it’s like they installed a brand new toilet for each and every customer.<\/p>\n
So Leo and I are rolling down the highway, after a few days of skiing the pow in Mammoth, and I get a hankering for some ice cream.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think you can get Haagen-Dazs in Lone Pine, never mind Bishop, then you’ve never cruised 395, one of the most beautiful highways in the nation, located between the highest point in the continental U.S., Mt. Whitney, and the lowest, Death Valley.\u00c2\u00a0 Leo suggested McDonald’s, but I wanted real ice cream, not a concoction made for the masses that looks right, but tastes wrong.<\/p>\n
And ice cream is one category where you can demand quality without breaking the bank.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like going to In N’ Out instead of Burger King, or eating store-baked chocolate chip cookies instead of Chips Ahoy.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m willing to splurge on ice cream.<\/p>\n
But I didn’t have to.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we went to Costco!<\/p>\n
That wasn’t our original plan, but after failing to find an outlet for soft serve in Mojave, Leo floated the idea.\u00c2\u00a0 Costco was off of K Street in Lancaster, or was it J?\u00c2\u00a0 Leo felt he could find it.<\/p>\n
And I was up for it, because I’d had an ice cream sundae at the Toronto Costco just the week before!<\/p>\n
On the way to the airport, Jake told me he wanted to stop, to buy chicken breasts and dog treats, and on the way out he had a hankering for a corned beef sandwich, did I want anything?<\/p>\n
I got a hot fudge sundae with ice cream as good as Carvel for less money than I’d have spent at any dip shop, where the mix-ins might be good, but the ‘scream is so often terrible.<\/p>\n
Lancaster isn’t pretty, and its inhabitants aren’t either.\u00c2\u00a0 A mix of multiple ethnicities, I wondered what they thought of the umbrellas covering the tables inside the establishment.\u00c2\u00a0 They said HEBREW NATIONAL!<\/p>\n
Speak to any Jew.\u00c2\u00a0 He’ll tell you these all beef hot dogs are the best.\u00c2\u00a0 But most people can’t argue, because they’re not willing to cough up the dough for this premium product.\u00c2\u00a0 But at Costco, a Hebrew National hot dog was $1.69!\u00c2\u00a0 And it wasn’t the chubby mini-dog you get shrink-wrapped in the frozen foods case, it was a foot long, plump and juicy in a bun that could accommodate all the condiments laid out ballpark-style by the wall.\u00c2\u00a0 Costco is doing more to eradicate anti-semitism than the UJA.\u00c2\u00a0 Start with their bellies, not their brains.\u00c2\u00a0 Once they see how good our dogs are, they won’t be able to hate us.<\/p>\n
But I had to use the facilities.\u00c2\u00a0 We’d been on the highway for hours.\u00c2\u00a0 (Well, we stopped in Olancha at Gus’s for jerky<\/a>, but we didn’t hit the bathrooms…)\u00c2\u00a0 And I remembered T.O., where Jake waited while I did my business.\u00c2\u00a0 The cleanliness of the rest room.\u00c2\u00a0 Stunning!<\/p>\n And it was just as clean in Lancaster.<\/p>\n And the ice cream was frozen yogurt, and there was no chocolate sauce, only berries, but the concoction was delicious, and so large that when one finished, you didn’t want more, you were satiated.<\/p>\n And I’m thinking how great this is.\u00c2\u00a0 How an establishment without advertising, that doesn’t bop us over the head telling us how great it is, appeals to the populace on sheer quality.\u00c2\u00a0 And price.\u00c2\u00a0 But unlike Wal-Mart, pays its employees a living wage, respects them and STILL makes money!<\/p>\n Did you read that essay by the Wharton professor delineating how advertising is failing on the Internet?<\/p>\n\n