Today has reduced me to tears 😢

[missmeg3leg]

A polite request to all stockpilers of the UK, I’m sure I speak for the thousands in my position but as a frontline NHS worker part of a dedicated & very tired team looking after increasingly numbers of CV patients please leave something on the shelves for us as we head home after 12hr shifts, just called in my local Sainsburys for a few bits to find all shelves/fridges/freezers bare/1 or 2 of some items.....lets share the love (or loo roll or pasta)! 🤗

Yes, I think people have a stronger sense of social responsibility when shopping in their local corner shop - psychologically it's different when you're in a big faceless supermarket where people don't know you and your actions are less likely to be judged/questioned.

Our local corner shop was far busier than usual today and they're now limiting loo paper to 1 pack per customer, but it was a very calm and civilised affair, with well-stocked shelves and everyone being able to buy what they need.

I can't face the shops , I went Sunday to get what I need but found it stressful and ended up forgetting/ not being able to get stuff . I'm low and will need to get tomorrow cat food , milk , bread oh and wine to get me through all this stress .

I echo those saying find a smaller, local shop - ours are quite well stocked. The bigger supermarkets seem to have been ravaged by people filling trollies with loo roll.

I haven't been able to buy any hand sanitiser - but i have plenty of soap at home, so it's manageable.

Hope you can find what you need - these are strange and scary times

I think that the government need to get their act together and put some temporary rationing in place immediately.

I feel for people who are working in supermarkets. I imagine they're getting lots of abuse, having to deal with awful behaviour and no matter how much they want to stop people being arseholes there's only so far they can go. The government needs to take the weight off them and start doing something right now.

DS2 is a nurse in A&E and said the other day if he wasn't living with his girlfriend's (also a nurse) parents he wouldn't be eating atm because he's been doing nights and she's been doing long days and the shops are empty.

Some people are being selfish otherwise shops wouldn't be empty like they're closing down. DS1 just text me to say he went to his local Tesco and it's like an empty warehouse. It's complete madness. None of us would go without food if we just bought what we needed. Even if we had to self isolate the vast majority of us could ask someone to drop a few essentials off on our doorstep.

Every time you turn the telly on they say "we'll get through this because we've got the Blitz spirit and a strong sense of community." Like he'll have we. If we did the supermarkets wouldn't be bare.

If anyone’s in Leeds and needs help shopping let me know, I’m happy to help.

Local sites are definitely your friend. In our area we have a whole action group set up and have been making grocery deliveries to the hospitals so the staff don't have to visit shops.

@missmeg3leg Sending a virtual hug. Today was tough. My supermarket said come in first thing if you can when they have more stock (apparently).

Also still at work and nothing left after about 11am.
However I notice many farm shops and local places are doing deliveries.
Time to rethink shopping habits.
However short term it is a bloody nightmare.
I don’t think we’ll starve as such but a Pot Noodles we’re still available which is a bit grim.

People are stocking up because they are aware that they may have to self-isolate without warning and want to have two weeks worth of stuff in in case that happens. This is IMO entirely understandable and more reasonable than going to the shops after being told to self-isolate.

I suspect that if you were to approach your local covid mutual aid group and explain that you are an NHS worker and need some help shopping because of your shift patterns, people would queue up to help you. At the moment, people are realising just how important you NHS staff are.

Except due to the panic, the 24hr supermarkets are all closing their doors before 12am. Every night.

My local 24hr store is closing at night because staff are off sick or self isolating and they cannot fill the shifts. Is this what you mean by 'panic'?

What about your local milkman? Ours delivers virtually everything.

The local village shops are totally stocked near us. Tesco, morrison etc empty in minutes. Also nhs but ahp who might be redistrubed tomorrow from community to hospital

Our local shop closed at 5.30 today! It's usually open til 10 so no idea there but it's not a given you can shop from there.

Also, with the prospect of 14 days self isolation, many people do need more than usual... we usually do 2 small shops per week, which wouldn't see us through an isolation period

I work in aviation and routinely do one big supermarket shop per month. Have done for years. When I am away flying I leave a pantry full of stuff like pasta, risotto rice, tins of beans and tomatoes, frozen peas, bacon, cheese, etc for my kids and husband, and then restock when I am home. I’m currently busy flying - my flights are all to bring people back home who might get stuck overseas when countries go into lockdown. The way things currently are we get on a flight and don’t know whether we will be back when we expect to be due to more countries shutting their borders and airports on a daily basis. In some locations we are kept in our rooms under armed guard - not quite sure if this is to prevent us from spreading infection or to protect us from locals angry we are taking infection to them! It’s fairly tough out there in aviation atm, and we are not able to get to the shops for a lot longer than a 12hr shift!

Since I don’t know for sure when I will get home, and have only been home for short periods recently, my opportunities to get to the shops have been limited. I was gobsmacked to see how empty the shelves were last week, and just bought what I could. My mother (in the over 70 age bracket) went to the shops today to buy bread and said there was nothing on the shelves at all. I have no idea where people are putting all this stuff they are buying! This sort of behaviour isn’t sustainable. People’s true nature is becoming evident under pressure, and certain shopping habits reveal there are a lot of arses out there. A lot of the people I work with leave children behind at home, and are worried about what they will find (or not) in the shops when they get home.

OP, your post has made me so sad. There is a petition going for shops to set aside essential items for NHS workers and have dedicated shopping times for the most at-risk groups if anyone would like to sign it:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/304781/sponsors/new?token=vwfdbEhycLN0vIfkbepT

Thankyou to you and all your colleagues missmeg, you're our real heroes

As to people who are still stockpiling FFS just take what you need, and leave the rest for everyone else. There's enough to go round. Supermarkets will stay open when we lockdown and there are plenty of (lovely) people who are volunteering to take food to anyone who needs it.

ilovecakeandwine
I also forgot items when trying to do a normal shop, as it was all so chaotic and lots to process at the moment. I found myself going to try and find toilet roll even though we have some at home. Felt panicky but still haven't panic- bought. Worrying about little old ladies and men trying to buy their loo roll, paracetamol etc.

If you see someone doing this take their photo and put it on fb.
Show the selfish fuckers, up.

Our local shop has a sign asking people to remember that the elderly especially can’t go too far afield and to try and leave stock on the shelf for them

Which I thought was a nice idea

I did see that some supermarkets are shutting at 12 am to restock the shelves...I don’t know how true that is

Yes yes to checking local corner shops.

We're in Westminster. Even our corner shop had plenty of loo roll today.

My ma has been letting her staff nip out during the day so they can get something to eat - prompted by one of them not finding anything to eat for dinner the day before. People have gone too far, they're trying to serve the community but the community isn't giving them a second thought.

Oh, bless you :( Try small/obscure little shops - my DH came home from work yesterday triumphantly bearing a bottle of Icelandic beer and a four-pack of Andrex that he'd scored in a wildly overpriced off-licence.

Thank you