Empty shelves at Vons in Pasadena (Photo – ⒸColoradoBlvd.net)
“Was it crazy today?” I asked the manager at Ralphs. “NO,” he said. “It was mayhem!”
By Wafic Khalil
At one store, the manager decided to close the store at 10:00 pm as opposed to the 2:00 am normal closing time. “The store made half a million dollars today,” he whispered. “It was insane.” They would fill a shelf and find it empty in less than 15 minutes. At another store, the manager commented they too had set record sales, but that was not the point. “Everyone is exhausted,” he said. “People are overreacting.” After one woman insisted on buying all the gallons of water for herself, they had to place a limit. Employees are smiling but looked weary. No one is looking forward to working in the morning. They fear a repeat of the same overreaction behavior.
The bakery worker offered me 8 bagels for $1.99, since they were closing early. Another woman in line insisted I get ahead of her since I only had one item. The boy helping bag items saw her kindness and yelled to the whole store: “Civilization is back.”
Everyone was nice this evening – the opposite of an entire day of panic and pandemonium.
> A message from ColoradoBoulevard.net:
- Please don’t panic.
- Practice social distancing. It will help containing the spread of the virus and won’t overwhelm our health workers.
- Read this article about 10 Reasons Why You Ought to NOT Panic. (#3 is our favorite: “Science is on it, Globally”).
- Keep checking our live article for the latest updates.
- Stay safe, and help your neighbors: (click to read).
They need to set limits on items from the start not after the fact.
I’m afraid the Internet has invaded our nervous systems. We are like cyborgs wired to outside stimuli. Fear and panic overpower common sense
Calm, toilet paper and hand sanitizer!!!