Let me tell you about my crazy day yesterday. I did my once-a-week grocery shopping and had that much-needed time outside. I don't really go out that much lately except for my daily walk for fresh air around the neighborhood. My self-imposed isolation is not really because of my fear of the virus. It's more because of my fear to run out of money. Like going out for me means eating out, visiting some nice places, drinking with friends, etc., which typically involves spending money.
By lunchtime, I was not done yet running errands so I decided that I was just gonna eat out. I was too hungry to go home and cook. Luckily you can already dine in some of the restaurants here provided that you are willing to go through a few annoyances. Some of these safety measures are pretty stupid actually and are probably only happening on this side of the world. Like another temperature check at the restaurant after going through a temperature check at the mall entrance. And manually logging in your temperature on some small piece of paper with your personal information and all, like oh my Gawd. I was hungry you know and there I was writing some name of a random actress (simply because I am a misfit) and nobody even bothered to check. That's just how stupid it is. I mean, if you are going full draconian then might as well check each customer's ID or install a microchip right there and then. Just to make sure everyone is being traced and the establishments stay virus-free.
I was desperately hungry for something unhealthy so I found myself waiting in line at some fast-food joint. When it was finally my turn, the cashier told me that the food that I wanted to order was not available. Like what the eff, since when did people start hoarding fried chickens? So it was my bad that I didn't even bother to ask before going through all the hell. I should have known that this happens all the time here, pandemic or no pandemic.
I was utterly disappointed and walked out. So I went to another restaurant with high hopes. This time I was craving for spring rolls and soup. I went through all that stupid check again as if my body temperature was going to change from one restaurant to another in the same vicinity. And guess what after all that hassle, Not Available. This is the reason why good people do bad things.
I went to the next restaurant only to be told the same thing - Not Freaking Available. Like would you believe? Is this even possible in other parts of the world? At this point, I had enough of this patience test from the universe. Like what have I done really?
I ended up at the food court and pretty much just ate anything edible available. What I really wanted to eat in this once-a-week eating out didn't matter anymore. I was starving and ready to murder.
All the misery didn't end there. At the grocery store, almost everything that I needed was not available, like who would have thought people would hoard even weird and totally unnecessary stuff. I mean, the shelves were not empty and were probably kept replenished just to make it look like people were not panic buying for Doritos. The weird thing was that there were just certain brands that were hoarded like this particular brand of junk food, and instant noodles, and pasta.
Sure, this pandemic brings out the worse in human beings. But no matter how much we want to shame or verbally abuse these hoarders for not leaving enough toilet papers for us (there's a thing called bidet now), we got to understand the reason behind this irrational behavior. Hoarding is people's adaptive response to shortage. Even squirrels and ants do that too. Our survival instincts kick in during uncertain times telling us we must take care of ourselves first, we must take care of ourselves first, we must take care of ourselves first, never mind the rest. Okay, that's fine, just make sure to leave one sanitizer for me even if it's only gonna kill 99% of my germs. I have one that already made it out there... cough, cough cough.
img src: @unsplash
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My family's overseas experience sounds a lot like what you are describing. We currently live in the US, so I can only imagine that it is even more challenging now that with Covid.
One of the most 'hilarious' examples is when we order Fish and Chips, and the chips were not available. We asked if they could substitute something for the missing fries and they said no. We asked if they were going to discount the meal since there was missing food, and they said no.
Keep pressing forward friend. I hope you next errand day runs smoother!
So it's just "Fish" haha.
I rather just have a few beers with a friend down but the river. As much as I do like to support local business I wont do at the risk of my privacy. I know I know they know all about me but if we conform to this whats next? 💯🐒
So true, this is why I don't want to give my info.
Wise who know where it'll end up 💯🐒
😊
I'm gonna do a little test in the following weeks...see how it goes
https://peakd.com/canned/@santigs/canned-fish-for-hive
I think this is a cool idea. Should replace the name of the brand with Hive.