Come with me if you want to live

[evilhomer]

You must read the thread title in Arnold's "Terminator" voice (or in Casper's if that's more your style).

A local grocery store has a pretty good sale on bottled water. The floor was cleared out but it was leaked that a fresh pallett was on it's way out. I was right in the area so I figured I'd wait and grab a couple, this put me at the front of the line. You'd think we were on the dawn of an apocolypse by the way the crowd gathered and got frenzied as the dude brought it out. While I'm not a giant by any means, I was far and away the biggest guy in the area, and most definately the meanest, so when pushing started, an "EXCUSE ME!!! Wait your turn!" command from me was somewhat respected. I was able to get my two, then the swarm started. The poor clerk was busy trying to finish cutting the wrap off the pallett and I had to talk him out of it:

Me: Dude, you're going to get trampled here.
Clerk: I just have to get this cut.
Me: Dude, fuck these idiots, let them be animals if they want to be
Clerk: How do I get out of here?
Me: Just stay behind me.

I took a quick look to make sure there were no elderly or children in my path, then literally bulldozed my way through the swarm. The clerk thanked me and I told him that people like this aren't worth it, if they want to behave like that just save yourself and get away from them.

I swear it was a scene right out of The Walking Dead, people ripping and tearing away at the pallett and getting whatever piece they could reach. The stack of 80 or so cases was gone in under a minute.

[MoonCat]

Geez, is there a water shortage in your town or what??

I mean, booze, chocolate, naked pics of Maurice Lombardo (google it) I could understand, but bottled water??

[fireheart]

I heard this in Elizabeth Banks's voice...."Come with me if you wanna not die."

[evilhomer]

Geez, is there a water shortage in your town or what??

I mean, booze, chocolate, naked pics of Maurice Lombardo (google it) I could understand, but bottled water??

Nope, just a ridiculous over-abundance of cheap people. Knock 50 cents off the price of something and you start a riot.

[Gilhelmi]

Strange people. Makes me worried what would happen in a real disaster.

(also, this is most of the reason why I no longer openly tell people that I am a prepper.)

[WishfulSpirit]

Strange people. Makes me worried what would happen in a real disaster.

In general, people behave BETTER in disasters than they do at sales. You might have a frenzy if you knew something was coming (like before a major snowstorm) but sudden disasters bring out the best in people. After the floods here in Colorado, I was really touched by the way people pulled together. People who had very little to spare for themselves were handing out their own blankets and clothes to those whose houses got washed away.

[EricKei]

The best part is, the frenzied masses seem to prepare for a forewarned disaster by stocking up on perishables like milk and ice cream...when the expectation is that the power will be out for some time >_<

[WishfulSpirit]

The best part is, the frenzied masses seem to prepare for a forewarned disaster by stocking up on perishables like milk and ice cream...when the expectation is that the power will be out for some time >_<

Lots of people in the mountain communities around here have generators. In that kind of situation, not having access to grocery stores food would be the issue, not power. Lots of them are also hunters and have a chest freezer full of deer meat. I wouldn't want to lose several hundred pounds of that.

[Antisocial_Worker]

My hotel gives out bottled water, and people are constantly requesting bottles as they pass by the front desk. As someone who was born and raised in this area though, drinking water from a bottle is a mystifying phenomenon. I finally asked one lady who wanted three bottles why she needed it.

Her reaction: "You can drink the tapwater here?" As though it was an alien concept. I explained that you can do more than just drink it; eighteen breweries and counting have come to town specifically to use it. Apparently we have some of the best water in the country. She was duly impressed and noted that where she was from, the water tastes like sulfer.

That must be awful. Here, the only reason you'd ever need a bottle of water is to have something to refill throughout the day from the sink or the drinking fountain.

[WishfulSpirit]

Was she from Cali? Not only does tap water there taste like sulfer, it is noticeably yellow. I'm glad to be back in Colorado, where the water tastes descent.

[wolfie]

Her reaction: "You can drink the tapwater here?" As though it was an alien concept. I explained that you can do more than just drink it; eighteen breweries and counting have come to town specifically to use it. Apparently we have some of the best water in the country.

I'm glad to be back in Colorado, where the water tastes descent.

And in Colorado, there's at least one community with water so good that the brewery there boasts about it in their national advertising.

[AccountingDrone]

Was she from Cali? Not only does tap water there taste like sulfer, it is noticeably yellow. I'm glad to be back in Colorado, where the water tastes descent.

*snicker* I startled a few Germans when I ordered Gerolsteiner water - it is noticeably sulphury. Our summer house had a well that was sulphury and tinted reddish brown from the iron in the ground. I am certain it was loaded with other minerals as well =) We had it tested every spring, and it was perfectly safe to drink, just oddly flavored. But it is a taste from the past, so whenever I get a chance I will order it. Most Americans want unflavored water.

I will agree, some areas have heavily chlorinated water and salt softened water that makes it unpalatable to me. I will do bottled water there, but sulphur never bothered me =)

[morgana]

Ah, naturally-flavored tap water . . . Used to live in a house in the country. Place had a whole-house water filter: it needed it. We gauged when to change the filters by turning on the shower in the downstairs bathroom.

If the house suddenly smelled like rotten eggs, turn the shower back off and change the filters.

Even WITH the whole-house filter, we used a Britta pitcher for the drinking water.

[notalwaysright]

I grew up drinking well-water, which was great. Amazing. Seriously the best water I've ever had. It wasn't sulfuric at all, though I suppose it had a very slight mineral-ish taste. However Tacoma water tastes like drinking a swimming pool. Can we say chlorine? We never drank it. The water here seems to vary. I have a Brita pitcher, and that makes it taste decent. But there are huge areas in the US were it is completely unheard of to drink tap water. Some people are just snobs, of course. In this area it's like the "cool" thing to have some sort of reusable water bottle with you. This one is popular. Very trendy. Oh god. I have two of them...

And as for acting better during a disaster. Well, I remember one year when we had a big ice storm. Our power was out for seven days. The town itself was out for three. The locally owned stores were price gouging terribly. Think $10 for a taper candle. $20 for a gallon of water. At the time I think we only had two grocery stores, and only one was a bigger national one, which did not mark up prices. So yeah. Maybe individuals were being neighborly, but certainly not those local businesses. Which are all gone now, btw.

[WishfulSpirit]

And in Colorado, there's at least one community with water so good that the brewery there boasts about it in their national advertising.

Oh yes, Coors. We actually have the highest number of breweries per capita. I'm not a drinker but Hubby much prefers a local microbrew to any of the big beers (and there's a Bud brewery here too).