Philly and suburbs: 3 INCHES OF SNOW!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!
Look, I get it. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and went to school in upstate New York. I know that snow and ice in volume can be dangerous, I know that ice underneath snow, no matter how little, is dangerous, I know that you have to be prepared to handle driving and functioning in snow or you need to stay home. Believe me, I get it.
But the incessant fear-mongering, as though the apocalypse is around the corner for every “snow event” as they call it now, no matter how trivial, it’s just absurd. I understand why schools sometimes need to be canceled in advance due to insurance issues involving transportation, but what it really is is a TV ratings grab and in this market, the supermarkets start advertising so that you go for what we call the French toast brigade which is: People en masse buy eggs, bread, milk, and butter. The shelves are emptied almost completely. First of all people in this area could stand to lose a couple pounds if they missed a carbohydrate meal and it wouldn’t kill them. Second of all, when we had the 35 inch snowstorm back in the early 90s, The grocery stores were closed for 2 to 3 whole days(!) at most and no one, and I mean, no one starved to death. Almost unbelievably, the lines in the stores are just ridiculous when these snow events are forecast, and it really is amusing.
Which leads me to post a story from many many years ago, which I know I have told before here, but is worth retelling I think. In the early 1980s A 15 to 18 inch storm was forecast so I went into my office, made a few phone calls saw a couple of people early in the morning, and left. As I was driving home, I realized that in fact, I had no food in my house at all whatsoever so I stopped at the Acme market on City Avenue, threw some ground meat, pasta, spaghetti sauce, and a few TV dinners into a cart and got into the predictably long line. Ahead of me was a late middle-age black couple, where clearly he was involved in construction of some sort and she was wearing a uniform which would be the garb in a hospital or nursing home. They look extremely tired and worn out, as though they had both gotten off shift after a long night. Over time, we began nearing the register and I noticed an older, well-dressed caucasian fellow, his basket on the floor, edging into the line in front of the couple in front of me. The man in line said”Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” The older fellow said, “I was here the whole time in front of you.” I could see the man draw a deep breath and I piped up, “The hell you were. I saw you move in from the side. You need to go back, I don’t care where as long as it’s behind us here.” The guy picked up his basket, defeated.
The fellow in line and his wife turned around, “Thanks, man…”. I cut him off, “You’re quite welcome -none of us needed what was going to happen.” And I winked at him. “He replied, “My wife and I just got off double shifts and can barely stand here.” I said, “I know. I could tell you’re tired and didn’t need this guy to make your day worse. After he bagged his groceries, and I was bagging mine, he came back and shook my hand. We both smiled at each other.
I will never forget that moment.
Be careful out there if you’re inundated with snow and ice.
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Any time the weather people on TV came on with “Winter Weather Advisory” for two inches of snow all the stores were inundated with people expecting the apocalypse! My middle son who worked in the store bakery said people went crazy demanding Italian bread and would come back behind the counter to grab it off the trays he was taking out of the ovens.
Thank you for sharing your nice story, PCIntern.
In Colorado the bananas are the first thing to run out.
