Yr. Of The Plague

Supermarkets

The Ralphs parking lot in Koreatown on Friday morning looked like a crowded DMV office.

Though parking spots were available, gridlock reigned as motorists drove in the wrong direction, blocked pathways and eased slowly around pedestrians walking every which way.

Inside, the supermarket off 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue was a hive of activity.

As three cashiers rang up purchases, dozens of customers waited in long queues that snaked through the market, past the fruit and vegetables displays and down the condiment and milk aisles. Many of them pushed shopping carts loaded with gallon jugs of water, stacks of frozen meat and cases of ramen noodles.

“I’ve been here, to Vons across the street, we’ve been to Target,” said Monica Boyd, 30, whose teenage son will be one of thousands across the county staying home Monday. “I had friends ask me to get them food because they’re in the Valley and they’re saying everything is kind of cleaned out down there. So this is a combination of me getting groceries for friends and mostly for my kid.”

Boyd’s friend, Shulanda Rush, 28, joined her for the trip. A property manager in Koreatown, Rush said her 5-year-old daughter may have to stay with the girl’s father for the next few weeks because he has more family support to care for her during the workweek.

The friends knew that people were cleaning out store shelves, but it still surprised them to see it in person.

Most of the ramen in the store was gone. So was the powdered milk, most of the water, toilet paper, dried pasta, rice and allergy medication. It was more packed than a pre-Super Bowl, Cinco de Mayo, Thanksgiving or July 4 weekend shopping rush.

“I’m not really worried about what’s going on, I think it scares me more that people are panicking, so it’s not business as usual,” Boyd said. “They’re just like, ‘Let’s come and buy every ... thing.’”

“I walked here last night to get allergy medicine and it was all gone. Allergy medicine does not block viruses. What is happening here?” she said in exasperation. “I just think it’s ridiculous in a general sense. The fact that there’s no toilet paper is insane. I don’t understand how that is going to save you from anything.”

Rush saw how tense things can get when she visited Vons recently and the toilet paper shelves were empty. “They had people yelling at them two days ago at the counter. ‘When you going to have more tissue?!’ I’m like, why are you yelling at them? They just work here, bro.”

Last night I actually entered the very Ralphs where the above took place, only to leave. Didn't even bother w/ the also-mentioned Vons across the street, its parking lot was full. Because I actually am short on toilet paper, & wanted other food, I then tried my luck at a Ralphs farther away, which shares an intersection w/ a Trader Joe's. Didn't bother w/ either, based on parking lot occupancy alone.

So I went to yet another Ralphs (all of this on the disease-ridden public transit system) & was able to buy some food. No t.p. there either.

Tonight I returned to Third & Vermont, & left after wasting mins. looking for a goddam handbasket. Tried yet a fourth Ralphs, farther west in more moneyed territory, & found toilet paper, maybe 20 pkgs. on two carts sitting in the otherwise bare paper products aisle. Limit three per customer, & I was screwed again because I had to buy two six-packs rather than the less expensive twelve-pack I'd usually get.

Other developments: The newest Dave's Hot Chicken is not letting you in to eat, but you can still pick up.

Bet the wage-slaves dig having all that space in which to work.

[L.A. Paywall]