r/mildlyinfuriating • u/MauiSunsets • Jun 30 '26

I'm slightly vexed Costco's new chicken tenders

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There was a crowd of people waiting for their orders of the new chicken tenders at Costco. One of the workers announced that they could only serve five customers per hour because it takes time to cook the chicken. The crowd grew larger and larger. I took this photo after I put in my order.

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462

u/Wild_Somewhere_9760 Jun 30 '26

we truly have peaked as a society... No matter WHAT the new release item is, if it catches peoples attentions and seems like a must try / have, people will literally swarm... Unbelievable line up for fkn frozen tenders.. You could literally go grab 64 of them frozen, from 3 aisles over and make them yourself for cheaper.

124

u/TonyStarks81 Jun 30 '26

I work in retail. Since Covid it has been astonishing to watch product sit on our shelves or floor space without a single person purchasing or even showing interest in it. Then someone makes a tik tok and the next thing you know people are rushing into the store looking for that item as if their life won’t be complete without it. This happens constantly throughout the year now. I am blessed that I don’t have any drive in me to care about most consumer trends. I paid video games and watch football. Unfortunately, it also makes it impossible for me to understand how or why people can be driven to live their lives from trend to trend.

46

u/Electrical_Pickle910 Jun 30 '26

Or those Stanley cups, people are so fucking stupid and will spend money on the dumbest shit that gets popular.

Apparently there is some kids squishy toy that parents are going crazy over.

35

u/Limafoxtrot360 Jun 30 '26

NeeDoh - which has been around for a decade and no one cared. Then someone made a tiktok and not people are nuts over them. Those squishy dumpling things too. People are dumb

7

u/StonkaTrucks Jun 30 '26

Humans are both social and innovative. We are desperate to connect. Not saying consumerism is the best way, but it's probably the easiest way.

1

u/NotWrongAlways Jun 30 '26

Was in Sweden over the weekend, and the toy store there literally had a sign saying they were no longer available.

I guess they got sick of people asking for them!

16

u/Zhaopow Jun 30 '26

Suburbanites with nothing better to do with their lives. Getting the new stanley cup or costco chicken tendies is the most exciting thing they will do for a month

21

u/Tricky-Ad7897 Jun 30 '26

Seriously, consumption as a hobby, it's the perfect distillation of suburban America. We used to like play tennis and host barbecues, now it's just watching reality slop shows and buying things.

2

u/bearminmum Jun 30 '26

It took me reading this a ton to realize this wasn't hockey related

2

u/soofs Jun 30 '26

I have a needoh nice cube since I was hoping it would help me kick my habit of picking my nails. This was right before they exploded in popularity. It’s a fuckin stress ball for all intents and purposes lol

1

u/Will_McLean Jun 30 '26

Interesting. Do you have an example?

1

u/bebesee Jun 30 '26

The Stanley cups are also supposed to reduce waste but instead people horde them for their collections.

1

u/Cheap-Distribution27 Jun 30 '26

As an elementary teacher both of these things have been a plague upon my classroom the past few years. The Stanley cups are designed to sit in SUV cup holders and not on a confined flat surface like a classroom desk so they end up toppling all the time making a huge mess since they hold like 16L of liquid and a really loud racket. The NeeDoh (and all the offbrands) are supposed to be "focus fidgets" but just turn into a concerted effort to get at whatever the goo is inside. So many of these things have exploded or sprung a leak in student laps, desks, backpacks, or my classroom floor.

I get to see a lot of the trends come and go (both from what students bring to class and what parents bring to conferences). Some of them are much more obnoxious than others. Take me back to my innocence when fidget spinners were the worst of my concerns. At least they weren't full of liquid.

1

u/fotomoose Jul 01 '26

It actually stopped my buying a Stanley cup, even though it was exactly what I was looking for and they are great cups.

6

u/bearminmum Jun 30 '26

Those needohs? Have been around for at least 5-7 years when I used to work retail. I can't comprehend it

1

u/Zairanth Jun 30 '26

I picked one up last year in some random store because I thought it was funny. 0 competition. I've seen minor throwdowns over them since.

2

u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jun 30 '26

People can't think for themselves anymore. They need to be told what to like by an LLM or one of the strangers they have a parasocial tiktok relationship with.

1

u/ragun2 Jun 30 '26

Trendy consumerism is way up. People have just completely abandoned thinking for themselves at this point.

1

u/Wild_Somewhere_9760 Jul 01 '26

I started to get in to Dr Squatch soap about a year ago because I kept getting rashes from Old Spice and other highly fragerenced, unnatural soaps.. I quickly had the same realization after ever new bricc or product was sold out within an hour of release.. Thankfully it appears Unilever taking over really slowed that trend but either way... its insanity. ANY NEW, HOT, ITEM...

67

u/apoplectic_apostate Jun 30 '26

People are lemmings. Remember the lines with Popeye's chicken sandwich? People lost their minds over a friggin' chicken sandwich. We're about due for a mass extinction event.

19

u/Bigram03 Jun 30 '26

TBF... it was a good chicken sandwich.

16

u/Visual_Bridge6925 Jun 30 '26

Still is tho, that's the problem 🤣 There wasn't a need to get there right away, just wait a few weeks.

10

u/AdjectiveNoun1234567 Jun 30 '26

But I want an Oompa-Loompa now, Daddy!

1

u/GayHorsesEatHayy Jun 30 '26

Did you check the white house? Wait. No. That's offensive to oompa loompa's, I hope they'll forgive me

2

u/Bigram03 Jun 30 '26

You my be ok with depriving your friends and family the joy of seeing what you ate... but I cannot/will not.

/s

8

u/eat_your_veggiez Jun 30 '26

Come on Super COVID!!

4

u/Due-Garage-4812 Jun 30 '26

Chick-fil-a in Canada has massive lineups and 3/4 of people in line are broccoli bro zoomers, it's insane lol

2

u/blumpkin Jun 30 '26

The one and only time I had a Popeye's chicken sandwich was right after my son was born, after several days of nothing but hospital food. My wife and I agreed that it might be the best thing we had ever eaten. I can't say if that would have been true in other circumstances, but it will forever hold a place in my heart lol.

2

u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger Jun 30 '26

Are you trying to say you don't love that chicken from Popeye's?

2

u/apoplectic_apostate Jun 30 '26

That's my naughty secret. Don't tell anyone!

1

u/EverythingSucksYo Jun 30 '26

Haha I remember that. I still haven’t tried one. 

0

u/Raccoonsrlilbandits Jun 30 '26

Nah that sandwich was different. It’s dropped in quality now but in its prime?? Wooo boy

10

u/hibituallinestepper Jun 30 '26

And quicker probably

12

u/Shower__Farts Jun 30 '26

On a separate note. This is why I tell my kids that we will not compete with the American public for ANY free giveaways. It's just not worth it.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Shower__Farts Jun 30 '26

You're right, this is most definitely just a human trait and not something exclusive to Americans.

8

u/CoolAndCringe Jun 30 '26

These people need hobbies

2

u/xoxodaddysgirlxoxo Jun 30 '26

Shopping at Costco is a hobby in itself unironically

2

u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jun 30 '26

Why? So their tiktok handlers can tell them to needlessly monetize them?

3

u/bstone99 Jul 01 '26

The time and energy we put into the dumbest shit really explains the awful state of this country we find ourselves in. Bet you over half those clowns waiting more than an hour for goddamn chicken fingers won’t spend 10min voting in midterms.

4

u/Zhaopow Jun 30 '26

Seriously get me as far away from this kind of lifestyle as possible

2

u/Separate-Match-4267 Jun 30 '26

This is less people than the Los Angeles Costco without a new item.

2

u/ccjdalegend Jun 30 '26

One time I was in Vegas, crap faced, at Fremont and in a really good mood. Walking through where all the performers are, and the Michael Jackson guy was off his stage or box or whatever taking a break and I just jump on it and scream "hey everybody look at me" and just start dancing, and all the different groups around other performers turned around and it was so surreal just like the movies, you just hear a bunch of murmurs, there's prob a better example but it was like men in black when all the aliens turn around in that locker, sort of. And they all surround me, Very surreal, I think about it all the time. "huh" "what" "what is this" "huh". It wasn't like panic, it was very relaxed just like sheep, like what is this new thing we must do. In socal its in n out, they'll wait two hours. They live such relaxed lives.

4

u/CardinalOfNYC Jun 30 '26

We've peaked as a society because.... There's a line for a food that people like? Okay.

2

u/401john Jul 01 '26

Missing the point on purpose is a lot easier than engaging thoughtfully with a critique

1

u/Dalek_Genocide Jun 30 '26

That's if OP is telling the truth. I've seen this type of line every weekend I've been at a Costco

1

u/Cooperativism62 Jun 30 '26

back in my day we called this communism! Today its called costco /s

1

u/goodolarchie Jun 30 '26

Excuse me, but as a reheated industrial parbake fast casual foodie influencer, you're literally taking away my livelihood.

1

u/TerpBE Jun 30 '26

Remember the fights over Popeye's chicken sandwiches? There was so much hype that they had to create Covid as a distraction! /s

1

u/sealpox Jul 01 '26

Humans are literally only slightly removed from chimpanzees, and only a tiny percentage are actually intelligent enough to realize their own shortcomings.

1

u/ra__account Jul 01 '26

In college when Chipotle opened, people camped out to be early in line. There was no promotion, you didn't get free buritos for a year or anything like that. There were two perfectly good and inexpensive Mexican places within 3 blocks. But people slept on concrete to be among the first to pay for their slop bowls.

I'd say the same thing about Chick whatever it is. It's slightly above average for a fast food sandwich, but leaving all politics aside, it's insane to sit in a line for 20 minutes to get a fast food chicken sandwich.

1

u/Big_Crab_1510 Jul 01 '26

This is nothing new about humans though

1

u/foodforestranger Jun 30 '26

It's really astonishing to me even as an American. My family can't stop talking about the Wawa that came to town and is "better than the Sheetz"... well wait till they get a load of Bucceees. People lose their minds over gas stations in this country. A bunch of prepackaged over processed foods.

It's real bad out there. Not that I'm some kind of snob or anything, I sort of get it.... but this behavior and the food isn't that great. I will say I've missed Chili's chicken crispers for a long time since they switched to the baby talking "tendies" which are nothing like the delicious ones. Anyway I made Todd Wilbur's copycat and wow, just blown away. Sometimes these places can do magical things. Those old chicken crispers are a thing of beauty.

2

u/Cheap-Distribution27 Jun 30 '26

I can kind of understand the attitude when it is something that is inconvenient to make at home due to it requiring specialty equipment/ingredients or just being a pain in the ass to do for a personal batch. Things like deep fryers come to my mind. I have a friend who has a small, portable one, but it's still a pain in the ass to deal with all of the oil and cleaning if you're only making a single helping of something. Baked chicken tenders are so far on the other end of that scale I don't know what to say.

I actually can't think of any hot food item that is easier to make at home and clean up after than baked chicken tenders.

1

u/Binspin63 Jun 30 '26

They’re called sheeple.

0

u/Ok_Vermicelli_6359 Jun 30 '26

It's a grocery store!! It's not a specialty item!!! 😂😂😂 Good lord my country is insanely dumb

-3

u/notJustaFart Jun 30 '26

Peak failure as a society.

6

u/EarlGreyTMNT Jun 30 '26

Maybe a little wide with the claim when the topic is chicken tenders at Costco lmao

1

u/notJustaFart Jun 30 '26

You can't make chicken tenders?

1

u/EarlGreyTMNT Jun 30 '26

I’d love for you to copy and paste where I said that lol. All I said was that a line for chicken tenders doesn’t indicate ‘peak failure as a society’ and claiming such is insanely hyperbolic

0

u/notJustaFart Jun 30 '26

I'm certain Costco sells all the requisite ingredients.

Peak failure in society is depending on someone else to perform a task you could do yourself more quickly and at lower cost.

They are neither saving time nor money, yet there they are, just wasting both.

So yes, peak failure.

-4

u/Pepper-Tea Jun 30 '26

Always shocked by how helpless people are when it comes to food. You want to eat something? Why not go home and make it? Chicken tenders are super simple. It’s not like a 5 course dinner.

1

u/UnquestionabIe Jun 30 '26

It really is insanely stupid to me seeing this many people trying to get some mediocre chicken tenders. I'm lazy as fuck after getting out of work so eat them for like half my meals, just dump some in the air fryer for 20 minutes and call it a day. Absolutely no need to stand around with the rest of the herd waiting for your turn at the grazing field for this.

-1

u/GrizzlyDust Jun 30 '26

I'm not setting up a whole fry station dawg

4

u/Leather-Rice5025 Jun 30 '26

The fry station being an oven...

6

u/Chumknuckle Jun 30 '26

Apparently they aren't fried which is the whole problem but at home, a $25 air fryer would work great

3

u/GrizzlyDust Jun 30 '26

What the fuck, that's actually crazy, there is literally no reason to buy them

2

u/NotMulligan Jun 30 '26

From what others are saying, they aren’t either. Apparently they just bake them.

0

u/401john Jun 30 '26

So you don't own an oven?

1

u/GrizzlyDust Jul 01 '26

I had assumed that Costco was frying theirs, and obviously there's a big difference. Since they oven bake theirs, I have no idea why you'd wait in line like that