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To think the Armed Forces should be manning supermarkets already?

58 replies

Worried01 · 19/03/2020 21:38

I think the chaos and lack of goods in the supermarkets is a bigger worry for most people than the actual virus at the moment.

Why haven’t the forced been deployed to keep the calm.

They could only let an amount of people in at any one time so the staff could better manage the maximum items people take and restock, keep the peace and deter the greedy panic stockers from keeping on returning to get more. Give prefer to the elderly and infirm.

Surely this is necessary before all the supermarkets reserves are all piled into peoples sitting rooms?

This panic buying is unlikely to abate now the schools are closing and we are being told it’ll be 12 weeks before the government know more about the spread of the disease.

OP posts:
ButtWormHole · 19/03/2020 21:43

Is this serious?

Leaannb · 19/03/2020 21:44

You want to live under Martial Law?

Worried01 · 19/03/2020 21:45

If it what it’s going to take so people don’t have to worry about finding enough food to feed their families yesHmm.

When is it going to stop then?

People don’t seem to be able to make that decision for themselves at the moment.

OP posts:
catwithnohat · 19/03/2020 22:26

Oh ffs, get a grip.

Worried01 · 19/03/2020 22:28

Really!

OP posts:
Caselgarcia · 19/03/2020 22:29

All calm in my local supermarket

EL8888 · 19/03/2020 22:32

Can’t we just regulate it ourselves like sane human beings?!

RuggerHug · 19/03/2020 22:33

Shop security can do it before armed forces are called in. Shops here are limiting the amount of people inside at any time, limiting how many of each item can be purchased and have social distancing in place, along with protection for staff. That first would make more sense.

MovingBriskyOn · 19/03/2020 22:34

Or maybe we should just behave better as a species!

RuggerHug · 19/03/2020 22:38

MovingBrisklyOn I agree, but unfortunately you have to account for the fact that there's always at least one arsehole who spoils things for everyone else/acts like a dick.

PlomBear · 19/03/2020 22:41

The UK armed forces have no power of arrest and they can’t detain or shoot people.

Ohtherewearethen · 19/03/2020 22:43

The Army doesn't actually have any authority over civilians though does it?

Ohtherewearethen · 19/03/2020 22:44

Sorry, cross post

PlomBear · 19/03/2020 22:44

146,000 military personnel.

87,141 grocery stores.

Plus most of the personnel have full time day jobs that still need doing. DH is currently working a desk job in HQ but is a military pilot.

Olliephaunt4eyes · 19/03/2020 22:45

We have nowhere near enough soldiers to do this. The British army could maybe establish martial law in a small town. Not across the UK.

TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 · 19/03/2020 22:59

I was in a massive Tesco this morning, from one end to the other and even upstairs you could hear the vile customers screaming abuse at each other, at checkout staff and at security guards.

Some people needed to be escorted out by police.

Now I'm not going to lie, some shelves were stripped bare, and the choice wasn't amazing but there was plenty of food available, it just wasn't necessarily people first or second choice.

I helped an old fella who was looking a bit befuddled find enough things he would and could eat to make a weeks worth of meals, none of it was the stuff on his list but it was fine.

People really need to get themselves into the mindset that they just need to get on with it and make the best of the situation. No tinned tomatoes, ok well they have tomato paste and stock cubes, make up the stock, add in some paste and some veg and you have a pasta sauce. Not the same as you usually make but still fine.

No loo roll, again not the end of the world, potentially a bit offputting, but chop up a towel, use that and hot wash it.

No san pro, again an old towel chopped up will do and if you have a sewing machine and an old T-shirt, you can make some really nice reuseable pads.

If people can't get past this panic response and start acting more sensibly then yes, an army presence will be the only option, but it's us as a society that will force that decision.

SarahAndQuack · 19/03/2020 23:22

Are you kidding?

I have read that in some places people have gone nuts. OP, ask yourself if you were really in the supermarket just for your regular shop - or were you stocking up too?

Otherwise, just calm the fuck down.

Where I am, in North Yorkshire, there's been mild dismay at people stocking up on all the Yorkshire teabags. But, we have accepted that buying PG Tips is not the end of the world.

Yes, people are being utterly daft.

But why does it matter? If someone gets the tea/rice/pasta before you, just cook something else!

Pentium85 · 19/03/2020 23:24

Had this in my local Boots today.
Only 5 people in at a time. Worked brilliantly

Dogsaresomucheasier · 19/03/2020 23:28

Dd works in a supermarket at weekends. Her last two shifts she has been genuinely scared by the abuse she’s received and the behaviour of some customers I think a military presence on the streets and a form of rationing are both inevitable and, actually, desirable at the moment.

Worried01 · 19/03/2020 23:31

Well that may be happening where you are Quack, where I am the supermarkets are literally empty of stock and people are not able to even buy formula milk for their babies. Have you not seen the pictures of elderly people standing in front of empty shelves in the news. Talk about it’s not affecting me so it’s not happening Hmm.

How long can this continue?

It would probably only need a week or two of military presence in affected areas to make people calm down as they see they can continue to buy food. The poor shop staff have been put into a terrible situation.

OP posts:
InsideOfEmptiness · 19/03/2020 23:41

And what powers would you like them to have? To detain those who buy too much toilet roll? To shoot anyone buying too much bread? To just stand around looking intimidating?

I'm honestly not taking the piss, but think it through to it's logical conclusion. Deploy the armed forces. Then what?

Worried01 · 19/03/2020 23:44

Err Citizens arrest?

Just their presence will deter a lot of the behaviours I’ve been seeing and make the shop staff feel less vulnerable probably Hmm.

OP posts:
SarahAndQuack · 19/03/2020 23:47

Well that may be happening where you are Quack, where I am the supermarkets are literally empty of stock and people are not able to even buy formula milk for their babies. Have you not seen the pictures of elderly people standing in front of empty shelves in the news. Talk about it’s not affecting me so it’s not happening

Are you personally in need of formula milk?

nitgel · 19/03/2020 23:47

We had police at our tesco. It's out of control at times.

Drpeppered · 19/03/2020 23:51

Citizens arrest? For what? What laws have people broken?

We still live in a democracy, and I would rather die than give that up.

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