I went to Costco today. They had the normal entrance blocked off and routed people through the cart entrance. (T-W-Th 8-9am are old people hours). They had the walk along the side of the building partitioned with pallets and carts. We had to walk down the sidewalk, around the end and back to the entrance. We got our carts but had to wait in line because they were limiting how many people could be in the store. They had TVs playing a PSA loop featuring Drs. Fauci and Birx, and Dr. Jerome Adams, the US Surgeon General, explaining why we have to keep six feet (or one alligator) distance between us.
We got to go in when some number of people exited. The meat counter was pretty much empty. No ground beef, save for a few packages of “organic” stuff: 4lbs that was going for about $21. Two packages of stew beef. High end beef going for $30/lb. Five six-packs of boneless chicken breasts. No thighs, no whole chickens. There was plenty of salmon and tilapia as fish doesn’t have the same processing plant issues (and likely because it’s too healthy for some people).
They had plenty of fresh Italian sausage in the pork section. I suspect they ground up what little pork they had left to stretch it out. I also saw a lot of the Kirkland bratwurst (which I think is better and bigger than Johnsonville’s brats). The freezer section had a lot of prepackaged stuff like beer battered cod, pulled pork, sirloin burgers and half a pound of blackened mahi-mahi for $20. Ouch.
Most people kept their distance, pausing at aisle intersections like 4-way stops, but some wandered aimlessly, oblivious to their surroundings and crowding the rest of us. One poor older woman was asking if Costco was handing out masks; the staffer said, “It’s OK for now; you don’t have to wear a mask until May 1.”
One Costco staffer directed people to the checkouts as they became available. The cashiers were behind 2×6 ft acrylic barriers and everything seemed to go smoothly. But everyone looked grim. As Walter would say, “Get your shit and get out!”
We are fortunate there are only two of us. We aren’t waiting for an unemployment check that won’t come anytime soon because the unemployment website is overwhelmed, and no one can apply (or was deliberately sabotaged by a cruel governor). We don’t have a houseful of kids that we have to home school while also working at home and THEN have to worry about feeding after a long day. We’re not in unimaginably long lines at food banks.
We’re the richest country in the world and our government is wasting $8,000 and 1,200 gallons of fuel per hour per jet flying twelve F-16s over cities filled with people who can’t go out of their apartments. If they do, they’re ignoring social distancing, so why bother mandating something people can conveniently ignore? It’s more of a tribute to a feckless leader than to the people risking – or taking – their lives. Bread and circuses.
Soon, we may have no bread, only circuses.
© Can Stock Photo / kvkirillov