Australians behave like they have never seen Costco before?

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I think that that hotdog looks enticing.

Yeah I apologise for picking on the take away cuisine in Costco. they are cheap/affordable to bring in customers.

But here's the thing, I am not sure how the quality is in the US but the staff making the hotdogs in the Melbourne store teat the food like they are on an assembly line of a third world factory look at you with a glum face and can't understand a word when making an order (almost all the staff and customers in Melbourne Costco seem to be foreign, perhaps craving goods unavailable in local stores?).

By the way the photo I posted is misleading. In the city store that closed they used to serve a boiled weiner in mass produced white bread buns in a plastic cup, no foil. the cashier would throw the weiner into the bread and slide the contents to customers like a beer in a western saloon from a cowboy movie. Not appetizing but again I have seen folks sitting with their kids happily eating the boiled dogs drowned in mustard/ketchup and tucking into burnt pizza with strange indistinguishable toppings. If the kids are happy then that's all that matters.

^^^ to be fair McDonalds hires underaged teenagers who can't be expected to be enthusiastic about "tender love and care" when they are under the pump with a line of "hangry" customers who are liable to get cranky if the order is missing serviettes or sauce. Despite that its rare I've had burger that was below expectation and always met with a friendly face and good customer service.

In contrast Costco workers are grown adults who appear to be on some temporary work visa seem to all have the demeanour of a prisoner on death row. the ones serving food could be replaced by Japanese robots. there are always the staff at the exits who behave like they are working in airport customs going through cross checking receipts against items in the trolleys. Its an overall poor experience and and the products are weird kind of like what you get in Aldi.

Have you ever worked on, or in support of an assembly line?

What you're describing sounds pretty typical of that environment, so pretty much what I'd expect in a fast food kitchen, which is usually just a simple assembly line.

My comments only apply to the kitchen, Costco here is known for paying pretty decently, especially by retail standards.

That said, there are staff at the exits who check receipts. They're less physically secure around the cash area because of size limitations resulting from them carrying lots of physically large items, so I understand why they check receipts more than other stores.

If they didn't it would be relatively easy to get out with a big ticket item without paying, all you'd need to do is walk out like a legitimate customer while all the eyeballs are busy.

^^^ Agree with your take (at least how it applies in north America/Canada) but it still doesn't diminish the overall customer experience in our Stores. My take is people here like buying in bulk, but some items like frozen bulk goods and meat/fish packs require people to have a giant basement walk in freezer. I honestly don't know where people store all the crap they buy - could load a small truck.

Yeah I know people who were friends of my parents who had bunkers built under their house for storing wine, curing meat and vegetables. I suspect they could qualify as Costco or Aldi shoppers.