Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I was diagnosed with an ASC of the Aspergers type last year.
I thought I'd see how everyone else is coping with lack of essentials in supermarkets due to panic buying of customers and stock pilling because of the Covid-19 virus impacting our lives?
I cannot stand doing my weekly shop as it is on a Sunday but even more so now that every time I have gone recently through the week for toilet roll I cannot seem to find any anywhere not only that but they are more busier than usual.
I have seen the true selfishness of people with the thought of "me, me, me" springs to mind of some people I see in shops. I cannot help but think if everyone just bought what they needed that there would be more than enough to go around everyone.
I'm approaching almost a week with no toilet paper which is really angering me even though I'm using tissue paper and kitchen roll. I have a family of five so as you can imagine we get through quite a lot through the week but having said that usually 9 rolls will last a week.
Anyway my question to you all is how are you all finding the current situation we are living in? Do you think the supermarkets could have done/do more to enable all of us to continue to buy basic essentials without a problem?
Anyway sorry if it comes across as a whinge but I needed some where to vent my feelings.
I've luckily not needed to do a full shop since everybody started with the totally unnecessary panic stockpiling, but I have several family members who work in supermarkets and honestly it sounds like a nightmare, I'd have had a breakdown by now if I was in their position. I'm dreading when I finally need to go out and get toilet paper or soap.
At the moment there are no real shortages, just people buying stuff faster than the supermarkets can restock them.
If toilet rolls are out of stock in the evening, try the morning, they might restock overnight.
I started stocking up early, before it got mad. However, I only have 27 rolls of loo paper, 16 bars of soap, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 160 tea bags,.... I'm still doing a stock check.
If thinks really get bad we may be reduced to a barter economy, one roll of toilet paper for one bottle of milk!
I'm not a fan of crowds at the best of times, but to see people all crowding into the supermarket when what we should really be doing is staying away from other people, I can't help but think it's going to backfire BIGTIME. We've already been super slow in closing schools and enacting a proper quarantine, I expect the next few weeks will see exponential growth in the number of infections. More infected means more infection spread, and ultimately more opportunity for this already nasty virus to mutate into something even worse.
It's nice to feel I'm not the only one that feels this way. Hopefully we can ride it through and get back to some normality sooner rather than later, I hope.
I think its times like this that people show their true self. May I add their are some good folk out there willing to do some kind favours for people also.
I quite agree. I can see no reason that there should be significant shortages of anything at this point. The production of food and goods didn't suddenly plunge off a cliff, and reasonably well-off folks with freezer-space and a car (i.e. the majority of the selfish hoarders) should have little need to buy so much more than they normally would to cope with a two week quarantine (to quote a joke I saw recently; if you need a trolley-full of loo-paper for a fortnight, you should probably have seen a doctor long before the virus outbreak!).
I have had a few dirty looks already when some of my slightly less charitable thoughts have inadvertently slipped out ("sure you've got enough there?") - not knowing when I'm speaking out loud is probably an autistic trait I could do without right now. But franky, I think it is about time that decent people do let their disapproval show, and that we try to make such selfishness socially unacceptable. I didn't really expect the supermarkets to respond swiftly (ker-ching!), and I would have been completely in favour of them being forced to implement rationing long before they've finally got around it voluntarily.
And who is likely to suffer most from the selfishness of the hoarders? The very people who are most likely to have the most to fear from the virus - elderly folks, disabled people, and those with chronic illnesses; especially if they have no family or friends with sharp elbows.
I for one have no problem with you having a bit of a rant; I'm thoroughly disgusted myself with some people's behaviour (many of whom no doubt would allege that its autistic folks like us who are short of social graces and common sense!)