This past weekend I decided to do a few errands around town to get ready for the week ahead. We had been busy during Christmas and had not had much time for prepping activities.
I went to Sam’s Club to buy a few staples and was passing by the prepared foods section when I heard a commotion. I looked over to see what was going on and found out a few people were upset that the rotisserie chickens had run out. They were muttering angrily among themselves. One of the customers asked to speak to the supervisor. The lady came out and tried to explain there were no cooked chickens available, and they won’t be ready for another hour. The crowd could not believe there were no barbecue chickens available, and were beginning to show their outrage.
“HOW CAN YOU LET THIS HAPPEN, YOU **#%*** ?!!!” You can imagine some of the rude comments. I was a bit of a distance away but by now I can really hear what was being said. Voices were getting louder: these people were getting angrier by the minute, and the supervisor was getting heated as well. She said, “I am sorry we had run out of chicken, you will just have to cook your own food today!” This did not help the angry crowd and people started pushing their shopping carts even closer. Mob behavior was starting to take over, which attracted even more people to push and shove. By now the store manager showed up to try and appease the mob.
I opted to get out of there in a hurry. I am not sure what happened afterwards but seeing the crowd’s behavior over rotisserie chicken was almost unbelievable except that I witnessed it. They were surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of food options, yet these people were outraged because their one choice could not be fulfilled.
If people get this riled up in the middle of plenty, imagine how people will react when shelves really are empty and even the undesired foods are gone. This showed me up close that people have become lazy and expect everything to be ready for them in an instant. They are not used to being denied anything. In a disaster, when stores run out of food or water, things are going to get ugly very quickly.
Whether you have taken a break from prepping or just starting out, don’t put it off any longer. It was unpleasant to see this side of people up close, but it has reminded me once more of the real need to prepare.
© Apartment Prepper 2014
Vote for Me!
Please click here to vote for me at Top Prepper Websites!
People always amaze me! Yet I feel I am missing out on something I might need to try lol
It seems that I recently read that you only keep weeks of food on hand, but I wanted to remind you and others that the one year per person minimums recommended by LDS is 400 pounds of wheat per person, 60 lbs of sugar, 60 lbs of beans, 9 pounds of salt and 8 quarts of oil. I think thats right. So my hundreds of pounds of food really wouldn’t go far.
I’ve also been in a prepping low, but this reminder and reading the A. American books, has been a good boost to reapply myself for a little while.
Hi countrygirl,
I started with just a few weeks, now grown to a few months but not nearly enough. Trying to work up to a year’s worth now, but space is still a challenge. I hope to increase the stored food a bit more in the weeks to come. Thanks for stopping by!
I am just jumping into prepping. Our area had this bad cold snap, and yesterday there were three main water breaks in our township. Luckily, our house was spared, but our neighbors on the next street were affected. I realized just how unready I am. I stopped at the grocery for milk that we needed, and picked up two of the very few jugs of water that were left on the shelf, just in case. It’s my first real prep purchase. The grocery was not as bad as I expected it to be with empty shelves, but people were quite pushy and seemed put out to have to be shopping. I would definately have hightailed it out of Sams with my children if I had been witness to that scene. I am not about to get trampled over a chicken!
Hi Beth,
Glad you got started! Welcome aboard!
I think we are about to see a repeat of this scenario in West Virginia. People in 9 counties have been told not to use their tap water for anything but flushing the toilet, due to a big chemical spill. They have been rushing to buy bottled water and there is none left on the shelves. The governor has declared a state of emergency and the federal government has directed FEMA to step in to provide bottled water. How long will it take people to start killing each other over that last bottle. Also, they say it is safe to flush your toilet with it, but don’t breath it in. Just think about how much areal spray a toilet or urinal produces when flushed. I am not sure I would be wanting to flush with it either.
One point on the West Virginia water situation is that there is at this time no way to filter the chemical out of water source. This brings up the need to have stored water on hand and not to rely totally on a filtration system. Layers, layers, layers is the key to preparedness….in this case stored water is golden, in some other case filtration may be .
Stay Safe
~Dairy
They said there was no way to remove this from the water system. This is one case where you will not even be able to use your hot water tank as a reserve, because you won’t know if it is contaminated. If people have filters and can get water from other sources, such as rain water or melted snow they will still be able to filter it and have water. If they have not prepared, I guess you go stand in line at a FEMA station and hope to get a bottle. The governor just announced that the water ban will be indefinitely. Makes me wonder how they are going to get it out of the water system. Just let it flush out for ever how long it takes.
I hope this problem finds a speedy resolution. Just goes to show the need to have lots of water storage. Thanks for the comment.
That is terrible that a water filter won’t even take out the chemicals. Scary what might be in that river. Need to add to the water storage as this can happen anywhere. Thanks for the comment.