Tuesday, March 17, 2020

With My Own Eyes

It seemed like such a good idea. I read a piece in the NYTimes by a doctor who practiced 18 months of social distance back in 2003 in order to keep her premature babies as healthy as possible. She made it all seem so doable, especially the grocery shopping. She went late at night when the stores were nearly empty.

I knew yesterday would be a madhouse anywhere, but I thought that by early this morning some stores would be less crowded and restocked after a crazy weekend and the first Monday of widespread social distance. And so we set the alarm and armed with disinfectant wet wipes and hand sanitizer headed off optimistically at 6:30 AM for the nearest Wegmans. It almost seemed fun, like a silly lark.

Arriving 25 minutes later, we were heartened to see customers pushing carts with toilet paper to the cars. "It kind of makes me want to run," Heidi said, and we laughed as we wiped down our grocery cart and swept through the automatic doors. Our smiles turned to gasps when we turned the corner into the produce department. The giant wooden display bins were bare of nearly all the fresh fruit and vegetables.

Heidi headed to household while I turned to the bakery. A few loaves of warm bread were on a metal rack, along with some soda bread and Irish butter. The meat cases were practically empty, there was very little milk and no eggs, and the toilet paper was gone. Meanwhile the line to checkout stretched to the back of the store. Over the store's audio system Crowded House sang Hey la, hey la, don't dream it's over as we pushed our cart down aisle after empty aisle.

So this is what dystopia is like.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, I thought they would be stocked after the weekend rush. Maybe try smaller grocers or a delivery service? My spouse found TP, rice and frozen kabobs at our neighborhood halal market. Not sure what to do in times like these.

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  2. Pretty crazy. I was taking to my daughter over the phone yesterday while she was in the supermarket because she needed, actually needed TP, and it was all gone. I can't explain the disappointment in her voice. I guess dystopia brings the best and the worst of us.

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  3. That final image is haunting. Strange times for sure. I went to ten stores yesterday and scoured Amazon. No toilet paper. So weird. You wrote this really well. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. The Bradlee Safeway wasn't too bad today- I think once people stop panicking and realize that the food supply chain is still working (it is) the stores will reach some normalcy again. Until then, we feel like people in a YA novel.

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  5. This is one of the scarier accounts I've read. An early morning trip? Yikes.

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  6. "So this is what dystopia is like." - totally feeling that. I am hearkening back to Mad Max - and dreaming the worst. Your description of wanting to fun when you get to the store - totally get it.

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  7. You captured this eerie scene well. You know how we tell kids, "It's okay. If you tell us the truth now, you won't be in trouble"? Well, I think we need something like that for the TP hoarders. "Okay, we know you're hoarding toilet paper, but if you drop it off today at [some public, police-regulated drop-off], nobody will shame you and your conscience will be cleaner.

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