Buy all the salt
This is hilarious.
Seattle hears snow forecast, descends on grocery stores like the apocalypse is coming
The weatherman said that, worst-case scenario, 14 inches of snow might blanket Seattle over the weekend.
Hearing this, Seattle made like Supermarket Sweep and bought, literally, all the things.
Cue photo of empty shelves.
I can confirm. I went (on foot) up to the shopping street of my neighborhood a couple of hours ago (when the snow was well under way) because I needed milk and orange juice. Safeway: no milk, no orange juice, bare shelves all over the place! Trader Joe’s: one last carton of orange juice, which I grappled to my soul with hoops of steel; no milk, empty shelves! Bartell Drugs: milk at last! But gallons when I wanted a half gallon, but never mind, I got the gallon. Also: traffic at a complete standstill. A line of cars stretching as far as I could see, not moving.
People, come on. This is a city, not the prairie. We’re not going to be pinned helplessly inside for weeks. It will be ok.
(Granted it is a little tougher where I am, because the delivery trucks can’t get up the hill, as the guy at Trader Joe’s explained to me. There might be more milk on Sunday but don’t count on it. I’m glad I remembered Bartell carries milk.)
At the Trader Joe’s in the University District a few hours earlier, lines stretched to the back of the store. Produce was still doing fine around 5 p.m., we heard, but sweet yums were out. We see you, college students.
At the Fred Meyer in Greenwood, shoppers vying to get into the parking lot caused a small traffic jam around 7 p.m.
At the Safeway in the University District, salt was completely sold out. “And it’s not just the rock salt,” said Steve Bailey, who was stocking shelves. “What was weird is that every single table salt was bought in one day.”
That makes me laugh and laugh.
Swung by the U District Safeway.
Employee tells me they completely sold out of salt yesterday. Every shaker in the building.
The other hot item: soups. #SeattleSnow pic.twitter.com/5GBJdSkwCY
— Casey Martin (@caseyworks) February 8, 2019
Soup! Soup!! Snow is on the way, we have to have plenty of soup!!!
Although it really is silly to be rushing out to bulk-buy the essentials (and I can understand people wanting salt in icy conditions) when they live in well-supplied towns and cities, I do laugh when the media (but not our esteemed host) refers to it as ‘panic buying’. Buying a load of bread, miilk, juices and canned goods isn’t panic buying, it’s sensible, if over-the-top. Buying an elephant, a gross of fidget spinners, two gallons of Tip-ex and assorted framed prints of Grumpy Cat – that would be panic buying.
Jack London would be proud.
I’ve heard worse. I hear Costco sells boxes of non-perishable goods in case asteroids hit.
I live in Seattle, and not one freaking onion is to be had in the city. Nor one carrot, on its own (though I still saw five pound bags). Cat food was plentiful enough where I went, so we are safe for now.
A Twitter thread that encompasses the horror: https://www.facebook.com/howie.cohen/posts/10217698092659151
Makes me think of this cartoon
http://www.davegranlund.com/cartoons/wp-content/uploads/noreaster-web.jpg
Geez, people, when we get a prediction of a huge snow, I might have to stand in line behind 5 people; I grumble. (We are also within walking distance of two supermarkets). That’s our idea of “panic-buying”. And never have to worry about the normal things being sold out – though I must admit, I could not buy a small bottle of skim milk today, but that has nothing to do with the predicted snow on Sunday.
Guess it makes a difference what you’re used to, huh? People here just put the chains on the car, hitch the snow plow to the front of the monster truck, and head out like it’s a sunny day.
This is awfully silly. Surely a healthy majority of people living within the city limits have a grocery store within a doable walking distance. I have five that I can think of; six at a stretch if you count Walgreens (it’s about a mile, and they probably have milk; they sure as hell have booze). I mean, it wouldn’t be a FUN walk in the snow and ice,* but better that than fighting the crowds for the last onion.
Also [pedant hat on]: Thank you for not adding a possessive to Bartell! I think we might have lost that battle, but I’m not conceding yet.
*Yes, I know not everyone can walk two miles. But lots of people can, so, we should be the ones who figure we’ll be OK and who therefore should NOT mob and clean out the grocery store at the very time that people who really don’t have much choice about when and how often they shop, and who might have been caught off guard by the weather, should be allowed some space and selection.** Like Ophelia said, it’s a city. We’ll be fine.
**That was a godawful sentence, sorry; I hope my meaning came across.
At least you all get proper snow. I can understand getting some extra supplies in if you know there’s going to be enough to build a snowman (it’s how I measure snow, okay?) We just need a hint of the possibility of snow over higher ground and every damn shop looks like the day before a bread-and-milk prohibition comes into force. “Keep calm and carry on”, my arse.
Hmmmm Cressida…not really true about people living within the city limits having a grocery store within a doable walking distance. Go a couple of blocks west of me for instance and it becomes considerably less doable, especially for instance for people with small children in tow: they have to go either up or down a very steep hill and then walk a considerable distance. And that’s Queen Anne, near downtown – farther out it gets worse. Seattle just is a very low-density sprawling city, and plenty of places are not near either a bus stop or a grocery store. I lived in two back in the days when I had a car – I wouldn’t have lived there without a car.
You’re welcome about Bartell pedantry. Heh. I’ve noticed that they themselves call it Bartell’s in advertising so I say it freely, but when typing, well, I’ll opt for precision. Mind you, people in the UK call Safeway “Safeway’s.” For real.
That Twitter thread (clamboy @ 4) is hilarious.
Hills … yeah, good point. I mean, my neighborhood *is* extremely hilly, but I’m pretty able-bodied and I’m not wrangling kids.