my son just got home from work.

[barbtries]

he works in the meat department in a grocery. he's home about 3 hours early and as he walked in the door the first thing I said to him was, "Are you well?"

he's fine. he didn't have anything to do. no truck on Saturdays and all the meat is all gone. nothing to stock. it's the first time it's happened since life changed. afraid it won't be the last. sigh.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Bil is also a meat cutter. Similar experiences.

[MissB]

2. Maybe I should padlock the coop

[elleng]

3. But it will pass,

and think of how appreciative we all will be, for all the things we've taken for granted.

[blm]

8. ✔️

[barbtries]

9. this is true.

this child of mine has a JD. I've been so disappointed that after failing the bar only one time, he gave up on being a lawyer and instead chose this low-paying menial job. well, guess what? now he's a hero. he's standing between a public health crisis and the crisis itself. he's going to work every day and doing his best to keep stock on the shelves.

people are thanking him daily for doing his job. the things we take for granted...

[StarryNite]

12. Not all heroes wear capes.

[barbtries]

15. you got that right.

life has changed now. priorities are reconsidered. it's very basic now.

[tblue37]

20. Even Hillary clinton failed the first time she took the bar exam. It is so common a thing that

no one should be discouraged by it.

[barbtries]

23. i know that,

he knows that. but there it is. he's a grown man and i can't make him do anything. so, i just try to get over it because all i want in the final analysis for him to be happy. i have to trust him to make his decisions about what that means to him.

[PaulRevere08]

22. I so hope that when the nation comes out the other end

that we can fix some of the structural issues within our society.

[barbtries]

31. that's a must.

we're collapsing now though. i weep when i think how long it will be to recover; i know i'll be dead by then.

[Blue_true]

38. Very good point. I have that same hope. nt

[proud patriot]

51. I've been feeling pretty Grateful

I'm an hourly worker and my job just suspended biz through April .. the unemployment
website in being swamped as shutting down so haven't been able to file a claim 5 days later

But

I live in Hawaii Grateful

Freezer fully stocked Grateful

Avocado trees full of Avocados Grateful

Apple Banana trees with 2 big bunches Grateful

Citrus trees full Grateful

Cisterns full (no city water here) Grateful

Mortgage paid Grateful

zero Debt Grateful

[BeckyDem]

4. It seems even with limits the demand is intense. Has this store seen a number of employees

become sick? It seems to me these workers are at risk, no work for others but people can go food shopping and I'm not sure there is enough precautions for them. All of a sudden they're the equivalent of emergency personnel, I worry about them too.

[barbtries]

10. Since this began

we have both been pretty fatalistic in the sense that we stand a greater than average chance of catching coronavirus. I'm 64, female and in reasonably good health and he's a 35-year-old male.

We're in NC which has been adding cases more or less exponentially for the last week or 2. Our county is 2nd in the state for cases. Still no reported deaths. There was 1 case in a sister store, but none in his yet.

[BeckyDem]

11. That is good news and I'm sure he is using precautions. I would like to see them receive help

with protective clothing and all but we have nothing adequate for hospital staff.

Best to you and your son.

[barbtries]

13. and to you as well,

and all of us.

[Demonaut]

5. don't let your cats out

[zackymilly]

29. Who let the cats out..mew mew mew mew mew...who let the cats out...n/t

[efhmc]

45. Why?

[barbtries]

54. my interpretation:

so they don't get hunted for food.

[efhmc]

55. Thanks. Sort of figured that out after I posted.

[Hortensis]

6. Supply chain. Where's and what's happening to all that meat?

Did your son, or Bil, have any idea what might be happening up the chain?

Btw, I read that following the president's first rational, semiresponsible address on the pandemic, a lot of very slow learners swarmed the markets. So we're seeing effects of that.

Yet another wave of late awakening was generated by the stock market crash(es).

320 million mouths, 250 million shoppers all realizing they need at least 2 weeks instead of 2 days of food in their cupboards.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

41. Selfish people are hoarding everything, stripping the supply chain.

Some are stuffing their freezer full (I'll bet freezer sales are out the roof), and packing every cabinet, closet, shed and garage with doomsday supplies.

That has to be it because people are not eating and shitting more than six months ago and the population sure as hell has not exploded.

Seems about 75% of the country has gone prepper.

KY

[luvtheGWN]

46. Grocery stores could put a stop to all the hoarding

by putting signs up "Limit of Two to a customer" and ensuring that cashiers only ring up two per customer. That is what my local grocer has done. No ifs, ands or buts UNLESS you are shopping for someone in quarantine.

We have many thousands of folks returning from their US winter abodes. They are told at the border that they must self-isolate for 14 days. Our local mayors are letting them know of a roster of good people who will do their shopping for them. Also, our local grocery stores have a special app that you can use to order groceries by phone and either they will be delivered OR you can drive to the store and staff will bring your groceries to you. Credit card only.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

[Chellee]

49. I was at the store today and I watched a woman put 10 frozen pizzas in her cart.

When I got to that section, all of the pizzas of that brand were gone. She took every pizza on the shelf. Luckily, I wasn't in the mood for frozen pizza.

[Hortensis]

58. I believe that's a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of

what's happening. Every nation's wellbeing has always first depending on its people taking proper care of themselves. It's the first duty of everyone who is capable so that others don't have to add it to their lists. Everyone capable in this case being well over a hundred million, caring for more double their numbers, for whom there don't begin to be enough "others."

That's why competent crisis managers depend heavily on telling people what to do to take care of themselves. And they told us all to go shop to prepare ourselves for what they knew was coming.

Also, you're focusing hostility against victims of the Republican Party leadership, who have all too obviously set our nation up for genocide of, mainly, elderly benefits recipients, but far from only them.

Are you sure unidentified people who buy more toilet paper than you would approve if you knew them is where you anger should be directed?

[Mariana]

7. My daughter works in the produce department.

She's been coming home early all week, as the produce gets sold out and there's nothing to replace it with. They have two produce trucks today, but no idea what is on them. Her supermarket chain has stopped taking orders from individual stores. They just load and send whatever they have to all the stores as quick as they can.

[cstanleytech]

26. Same for my brothers produce department. Things should start to improve though once people stop

panicking so much over this we simply have to weather it out.

[Blue_true]

40. With Trump in charge, people have at least one new reason to panic each day. ny

[RKP5637]

56. K&R!!!!!! n/t

[efhmc]

14. Rancher friend say the cattle market follows the stock market downward.

He cannot hold his stock as it is too expensive to keep them so they are are going/gone to market. So where is the meat?

[barbtries]

16. logistics.

it will get to the market. people's freezers will be filled and the rush will subside. the demand at the moment outstrips the supply.

[milestogo]

17. Not all of us have deep freezes.

I live in an apartment, and I've never been so aware of the size of my refrigerator freezer. I can't stock up for months. Also, I'm a vegetarian. I head toward the produce section. Yesterday it was pretty picked over.

So, I will have to go out foraging for food a couple of times a week.

[barbtries]

18. we don't have a deep freezer either

but do have the freezer we have well stocked for the moment.

requiring fresh veggies must be difficult. Can you stock up on canned/frozen for the time being? I mean, if you can find it.

i just wish we could know if this gets worse still, or is this the worst time for supplies and food chains. the illness itself is going to be plenty to cope with for so many of us very soon.

[efhmc]

24. Actually the local market had no fresh meat but lots of fresh produce.

[Blue_true]

42. Yesterday on my way home, I went to Publix, Wally's and a Health Food Grocer.

The meat in Publix and Wally's was 99% gone. The produce was more abundant, but heavily picked over. I only was looking for produce at the health food grocer, the produce cooler had produce in it, but some things were wiped out. Not a drop of chlorox bleach to be found in either of the joints, which sadly was confirmed at CVS and Dollar General this morning, no bleach, no toilet paper.

[efhmc]

44. What was weird was that a week ago HEB and Walmart in this small town had no tp but huge amounts of

paper towels. Now all are gone.

[Blue_true]

47. Yes, I noticed that paper towels were in the process of vanishing.

But, if you get past wondering about why people are hoarding stuff and simply think about what people are estimating, in a pinch, paper towels can be used as toilet paper. I have another backup, we have plenty of fresh spring-grow Spanish moss now in Florida, I became proficient at using that as a boy growing up in a dirt poor family.

[smirkymonkey]

57. Same here. I live in a studio with a tiny kitchen and an even tinier fridge/freezer.

There just isn't room to store a lot of food. And I can't give up my beloved ice cube trays. I can only drink ice cold drinks. I envy those with large pantries and huge storage freezers in their basements, but we don't all have that luxury.

I wish markets would put limits on how much people could buy of any particular item at a time. I went shopping yesterday and certain grocery sections were completely wiped out, and the freezer section was completely bare w/ the exception of a few items that nobody wanted.

[cstanleytech]

30. That does not make much though as cattle can live for years so shouldnt he be able to simply wait it

out for a bit until things settle down or is it an issue of the cost to feed the cattle without significant income coming in?

[efhmc]

39. If you look at the cattle auction prices, there are different prices for

different feeder animals. https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/lswtxrecap.pdf Plus in Texas, most have been supplement feeding through the winter months when there is little grass available. It is a delicate balance but this a family which has been in the business for years so aren't going anywhere.

[I_have_had_enough]

19. thanx...

The workers at my local market look like 'prisoners of war'.
They have been getting slammed for weeks now.
I just make sure to let them know I am glad they are there for us all, even when it really sucks.

[barbtries]

21. thank you for that.

my son reports that many people are going out of their way to thank him as well.

[appalachiablue]

25. Appreciate the report and many thanx to your son. Any more

news on skunk Sen. Burr?

[barbtries]

36. he's requested an ethics investigation,

which is disingenuous because he knows damn well he'll be exonerated by mcconnell's senate.

[appalachiablue]

37. Yes of course with this group, thanks for the update.

[Baltimike]

28. Tell him to take a shower at once, and remove and launder everything he had on at work. nt

[barbtries]

32. that is good advice,

which we hadn't thought of. i will ask him to do that.

[Baltimike]

35. If he you (all) can neti pot after being in public

all the better.

[Blue_true]

33. I must have saw your son at Publix yesterday.

There was a meat department guy holding onto an empty supply cart, looking at the almost completely empty meat cooler with a shocked look on his face. I tell you, that massive meat cooler was almost empty and shoppers were eying what was left like buzzards.

[Stonepounder]

34. Our son is the meat manager for a (name deleted) well-known brand store.

He is responsible for daily ordering of meat for his store. However, he can only order 'X' amount of meat per day due to availability of truck to deliver the meat. He says the meat case is usually sold out by about 9:00 am and the amount of meat he can order daily isn't even enough to fully restock the cases.

[erlewyne]

43. My nephew has his own "pig market".

It's nasty. They butcher from scratch. He makes good money
in a tough business skinning deer. He keeps the hides and sells them
to another market. The pigs and guts, yuck. But he makes a living
and has employees, like himself, no minimum wage but I am sure he
pays more than 15$ an hour to his few employees who are covered
by their spouses.
If the prices go up at the stores he will become over-loaded with
business. He struggles, life is tough.
He gets his hogs from people that raise pigs on the side. He has
daily government inspections. The deer sidelight is the hunters dropping
off the their "tagged" game, "already gutted" so he make the trail baloney
and meat cuts.

[hellno45]

48. I just picked up a 16" deluxe prebake pizza from my local pizza shop, been eating there for

decades, the best pizza, they have the pre-bake option for half price & now its the only "fast food or restaurant food" I will eat because I bake it myself. I think I have enough meats for a few weeks, plan one going shopping next week to see what I can find but food right now, for me, isn't a problem plus I'm rationing the hard to get stuff.

[Traildogbob]

50. Lots of bird seed and carrots

Trap songbirds in your feeders, really good with brown rice. I have hundreds of rabbits, need to bait and eat em. Oh, and just wait until the reintroduced Elk in Cataloochee go missing. Inner cities, trap those wolf rats. They are fattened up fron street trash pizza. In field cow poaching is next. Uh oh, Devin, your huge cow herd is in danger from librul meat eaters. Keep your pets inside. All sarcasm. People can live without a rack of ribs 4 days a week. My concern is losing the fried chicken between two donuts at KFC. Now I am really pissed at the Jinuh Virus.

[sheshe2]

52. Sad times...

That it was the first question you asked him.

*sigh*

[rownesheck]

53. After your first question,

you should have asked, "Why didn't you go help in the produce section?"

Just kidding! I'm in grocery as well. When my relief gets here, I'm bolting for the door! It's crazy right now!