Funny how those who apparently don't shop at Costco are always in tune with the pricing and day to day operations to provide these types of comparisons.

While I certainly question why a 90 year old would want to shop in a Costco that has more to do with the size of the store and the need to buy in bulk.  But as the column points out many things are substantially cheaper because of the wholesale format - which is probably why the dad still wants to shop there.

Rather than insisting on the having the rules bent the obvious solution was to help dad out and get the membership in her own name so that when she wants to pick up those few items for herself she can pay for it alongside her dad's purchases (which he obviously had the cash for).

Or she could have also requested to have her purchases removed from the bill.

But then that would have kinda of dampened the drama presented.