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An Ordinary Evening
Just so you know: I am not panicking. I am not alarmed. I am concerned. Mindful. We’ll get past this. But we are not there yet.
I go out at night, to scavenge. I have stocks to last the family a while, but every day I note some lack that could be filled. The situation is absurd: the stores are denuded of bread and toilet paper, but the circular we got in the mail promises a BOGO on frozen fish. No hamburger tonight, but the exquisitely seasoned artisanal salmon? Two for one, and there’s lots of it.
The mood in the store is subdued. The stockers are young and tired. They are moving the product to the lip of the shelf so the rows don’t looked ravaged and denuded. The pasta is mostly gone, same with the sauce. The expensive varieties are still available. No eggs, but one small container of Brown Organic Eggs. I put it in the cart, and mentally tote up the number of eggs we have now: 18.
As I said, no pre-packaged bread. No yeast. Ah: one loaf of diet bread, 40 calories per slice. I put it in the cart, and mentally tote up the stocks: we have one loaf open, two in the freezer. That’ll do. No more. We’re good.
Hello, hummus: the varieties could be more bounteous, but even now there’s still a choice. Garlic, Red Pepper, plain. This matters, because yesterday the store had a BOGO on some chickpea nuggets, frozen, 16 to a bag, and the store has pita bread. This is four meals. The Rotary exchange student coming to stay this week doesn’t like spicy food; this will help.
The speakers are playing ’80s rock.
DOAN STOP. BEHLIEEVIN
There’s an older guy with a lurid amount of brilliant shiny grey hair chatting with the deli clerk, and he’s amused at people getting panicked. His cart has potato chips and chili.
The pizza freezers are mostly empty. I tell myself they’ll be filled tomorrow, or the day after, and I won’t see it, because I only show up at night to scavenge. But it’s entirely possible the frozen pizza supply chain is stressed right now. I have a month’s supply, but I always have a month’s supply.
The check-out clerk is friendly but curt and tired. We don’t make jokes, but we act normal. The bagboy asks if I need help carrying it out to my car, and I act insulted. No, lad. Strong like bool!
I sit in the car, and text Daughter: no yeast. Then I think, maybe there’s yeast at the store close to our home. I go there. Grab a basket, walk inside – and for the first time in my life I am astonished by the great glory of an American grocery store produce section. I mean, it’s just a glorious, brilliant thing. It’s so reassuring. It’s a bright garish affirmation. I pick up some salad material, and go to the baking aisle.
No yeast.
I fill in a few items that appear to be well-stocked – hey, there’s wife’s favorite yogurt. She took two today to work, there’s lots here, I can top off. I buy an extra store-brand pizza, because they were out last time. I see my favorite candy, an expensive licorice I only get when it’s on sale. It’s not on sale. I toss it in the basket. Screw it. I’m going to pay $25 to stream the last stupid Star Wars movie this weekend, I’m going to pop for my favorite licorice.
But one piece after supper, not two.
The line is short; the store is closing soon. From a scan of other people’s baskets, no one’s panic-buying. I wonder if anyone else got the last yeast. In front of me is a young woman in her 20s, and her purchase consists entirely of a single flower she chose from the floral display by the entrance. That’s all. The checkout clerk puts it in a protective bag, and she leaves.
I say to the clerk that it was nice to see someone just buy a flower, and she agrees. It was.
When I get in my car I reach in my pocket for the hand sanitizer, and it’s not there, and I feel a twinge: did you lose it in the store, ya idiot? It’s not like you’re dead now, there’s more at home, the emergency stocks, but you don’t want to dip into those – ah, it’s on the car seat. I rub my hands and head home and put everything away, including the beer I bought because they said the bars were going to be closed. All told we’re good through April.
If, you know, it comes to that. I don’t think it will. But let’s just assume it does.
And I think: okay there is plague about in the land. Also, I have to get my oil changed tomorrow.
I wonder who got that flower. Maybe she just felt like bringing it home, so it reminded her of the imminence of Spring,
Published in General
My wife went to the vet to get a refill for one of our cats. A sign on the door said no one was allowed inside, and to call and someone would come out and bring your pet in. My wife got the refill when a gal brought it out, yet vet girl wasn’t wearing a mask.
In a pandemic, baking powder or bicarbonate of soda will do…
And the cashier’s hands which are handling each of your items have handled every other item that came through their line before you, and each of those items were handled by every customer who came through the line before you. So every customer who came through the line before you has, effectively, handled all of your items. So when you get home, all non perishable items should go into a spare room for a week before use. Others should be handled with care and cooked. (Or, just use self checkout if available.)
In 1990, I was on a software project in Mexico City. I don’t know how it is today, but then the air pollution was really bad. They implemented a regulation that one day a week, you could not drive your car. I think it was based on your tag number. People who could afford it went out and bought clunkers to drive on their assigned “off” day. Given the condition of the clunkers, I imagine it made the air even worse.
My wife is semi-panicking cuz we are down to 22 rolls of TP and we have around 750 butt wipes. I remind her that this isn’t a cholera epidemic but I am icily stared down.
Plenty of paper towels. Well stocked on dried pasta. Could probably use more pasta sauce. Garage freezer is full of meat. Stocked up on a few loaves of bread. Like 25 bottles of hand soap, courtesy of stocking up at Bath and Bodyworks annual sale.
We will be fine. But I find the empty shelves unsettling. I am used to the great American grocery store always having everything on demand. I feel like a bad provider because I haven’t properly prepared for an emergency. I remain uneasy.
Fortunately, I work from home so income is not affected.
Several months ago I ordered this toilet paper and holder. Mostly I did it as a joke and wanted to hear the reaction of people who went into that bathroom and saw the size of it. I was put on a monthly subscription which I have been meaning to cancel because the rolls are actually more expensive than the kind I usually get. But me being me, I had never got around to actually doing it. A day or two ago I looked on their website and it said all their products were out of stock. Not surprised, really, and I currently have two extra “forever” rolls plus a bunch of “regulation” rolls in reserve. Imagine my excitement when I got an email from Charmin today saying that, although the website says everything is out of stock, they still have stock to send to subscribers! Not the first time – and probably won’t be the last – that procrastination has paid off.
I feel vindicated. I’ve always set the bar fairly low when it comes to stupidity. No matter how low the bar is set someone always manages to get underneath it. This mass hoarding, and panic just reaffirms what I believe, so I’m happy. Slàinte mhòr; Great health to all of you on St. Patrick’s Day.
I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I was in Walgreens today, and they had a whole bunch of toilet paper. The grocery store anchoring the same strip mall was completely cleaned out.
Up in the High Desert – I was in Stater’s yesterday around noon. It wasn’t quite as bad as your photos, but I expect it was the same by late afternoon/evening. Some things are hard to explain. They were totally out of Campbell’s Soup but you could get any version of Progresso. Not a bag of flour in sight but you could still stock up on sugar. No milk but plenty of eggs. No paper products except any kind of adult or child diaper. But like I said, that was at noon. They’ve reduced their store hours and are currently hiring. I have a kid who does overnight stocking there – it’s crazy.
This is a question that no one has answered………and I’d really like an answer since they are saying its ok to get a to-go meal…..
I don’t think anyone can answer it, FSC. (BTW–congrats on getting the post of the week from James Lileks!) We have no way of ensuring that someone in the kitchen isn’t scratching his or her nose, or isn’t coughing unconsciously into his or her hand. They may not even know they’re infected. Even if the restaurant has a solid policy of people being careful, we’re all only human. Put me in the front of the careless line!
So…. I’m curious. Does anybody on Ricochet know someone whom is infected? I’d like to get a read for the degrees of separation we’ve got from CoViD, I suspect it’s further from me than Kevin B.
I’m mostly in the “Gosh! This is a huge waste of everybody’s…. well…. everything,” crowd. That might have less to do with my having good reasons to think these precautions foolish than the fact that I was just getting ready to move across the country and I’m also young. But I’m not sure that just because a general concern for the virus has become bipartisan means that this whole thing isn’t a giant overreaction.
I’m at the point where I’m trying not to take a position anymore, but step back and observe. I can see both sides–this is crazy and draconian, and the other side, many people could die if this goes on for a while. For me, I’m going to try “not knowing” and just follow both sides.
Probably the wise thing to do. I mean, I’m clearly outnumbered anyway. I’m glad @bryangstephens used Gandalf for his QOTD post, which, coupled with yours on the Sabbath have provided some necessary perspective.
Even so, I can’t quite shake this sneaking suspicion that we’re overrating our dominance over nature. Publix, even in its new 8 to 8 hours, still seems like fertile transmission grounds, and the fact that kids will be home instead of on campus just seems like it increases the likelihood that grandparents are more exposed, rather than fellow youngsters.
But it could very well be the case that I’m just grouchy – it has happened before.
I wonder how this will play out for gas stations and corner stores that compete with supermarkets on select items by offering convenient locations. Will suppliers jilt them by redirecting small orders to bigger sellers? Or will the little guys make out like bandits?
I did indeed take note; they had gloves on, and I washed after leaving the store and removing the items from the aluminum foil.
I use self-checkout, always.
Meanwhile, perhaps the stupidest thing I’ve heard in probably at least a month, from a host on a music radio station: “Coming up we’re going to find out what Kamala Harris thinks about coronavirus.”
I think a lot of them will go out of business. It may not seem like a long time, but shutting down and starting back up are costs that they probably didn’t factor in. A local bar, the Irish Pub, that has very good food and looks to this day as their biggest of the year, thought they could deliver food and found out they had to have a license. Very quiet day and night here in mid-Michigan.
It is a nice thought to support local businesses.
Not really an option now due to lack of transportation and funds, but as soon as I’m able, I’m going to make a special effort to visit local restaurants, which includes local sites of chains. Boston Market is a big example, I haven’t been there in years. But their roasted chicken might be the best I’ve ever had, and now they have ribs too! Also going to hit some of the buffets, which sometimes seem to be teetering on the brink of viability even in the best of times.
No. I know someone they though might have it. Before doing COVID-19 testing , they run labs for “normal” respiratory infections and the flu. The person I know had they flu
We went for years without a television. Then we bought one, but we took a pass on cable. We got an Apple TV, and then a PS4. Best thing we ever did was keep all that cable crap from being spewed into our home 24/7. It stops the constant crisis journalism and the hate from darkening our door. These AHs have been proclaiming the end the Republic for so long I can’t believe anyone still listens anymore. But they do. Now there probably is a real crisis, and they are still pretty worthless. Almost entirely worthless. My point is that if you want to spare yourself some portion of anxiety, turn off the idiot box.
By the way, I know that this is not officially the time for partisanship, but it is so welcome to see at least some Democrats in Congress shut their cakeholes for five gd seconds. Can you imagine they wasted everyone’s time with that stupid impeachment garbage? What were these idiots doing while this COVID-19 crisis was brewing and growing late last year and early this year: they were effing around with the impeachment crap. The voters will get a say on all of that soon, and they will vote not only for themselves but also for those who die because of this crisis.
Come on. Think about it. How many other kids will a child come in contact with during a school day. Your risk of infection is a function of the prevalence of the virus and how many people you come in contact with. If the child is already infected then they can spread it to their family. If we isolate them before then they are not a danger.
I’m glad to hear of your diligence, James. My few experiences with take-out is calling in the order, going to the restaurant and giving my name, and I’m handed a plastic bag with my goodies. I wouldn’t know if my food was prepared by a walrus.
I think only the bigger chains have self checkout. Like Kroger. But not Trader Joe’s, or Aldi, or Fresh Market, or (I think) Whole Foods. And obviously not convenience stores.
Yep. This is why parents of school age children get every cold and sickness that goes around every year. Since my kids left elementary school, my incidence of illness has decreased a lot, too.
Publix, the biggest chain in FL, doesn’t have self check-out (at least not in the stores I’ve gone to), although BJ’s does.
One news person brought up the idea of “Coronavirus babies”. Has anyone checked to see if people are hoarding condoms?
I think James and Rob could do us a great service by providing a list of essential movies we should stream during this period to educate us on the American canon. I’ll start with three:
The Best Years of Our Lives
Inherit the Wind
The Caine Mutiny