Chicken vultures

Costco rotisserie chicken was on my short shopping list for today. It's hot today, and going to be hot tomorrow, and I don't want to cook much. On Saturday I am providing dinner for a group of women from church and need cooked chicken for a lovely, feminine dinner salad. Costco has great chicken. I confidently walked to the chicken area of Costco at 4:30pm...

And the rotisserie area was empty.

Oh, the ovens were full of lovely chickens, going round and round and getting brown. But there weren't any chickens to buy. Then I noticed all the dazed people walking around the area aimlessly. It appeared that there had not been chicken for a while. So I found an employee and asked when there would be more; he said about 30 minutes. 30 minutes!? I have to wait 30 minutes for a chicken?

I assessed the situation and did what I always do in a crisis: called my husband. He sympathized but didn't have an answer. I walked over to the area where they keep the raw chickens; I could bring a couple home and cook them. But there weren't any of those either. What's happening here? Is there a chicken shortage crisis going on? My husband suggested I "say that a little louder and see what happens." I hung up.

I wandered around and checked out the samples, never getting too far from the rotisserie area. Lots of other people were doing that too. We were all eyeing each other suspiciously. How many chickens would they bring out at once? Would there be enough for all of us? Would I be able to get the two I needed?

Really, it was ridiculous but by then we had struck up a sort of camaraderie and were chatting as we waited. Everyone cheered as the chicken guy came out and started prepping the birds to bring out. He was the hero of the afternoon, and he knew it.

I was out of there 5 minutes later, my lovely, plump, fresh chickens in my cart. The car smelled fantastic all the way home.

Think of how convenient and wonderful that is. Isn't it amazing? And we take it for granted. We get a little crazy when there is no chicken available right now.

Wonder what would happen if they ran out of ribs?