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So why the mad rush?
Posted by Jeff Bailey, Executive Producer on February 9th, 2010 at 01:10:19 pm
Our friend and co-worker Chris Velardi sent a Tweet out a little while ago with a picture from a grocery store and the disclaimer "Tuesday is just my normal shopping day. Everyone else is in pre-snow panic mode!"
Shoppers at a grocery store, Feb. 9, 2010. Photo: Chris Velardi/WTNH
Funny, I was thinking to myself how I need to stop and get a few things before going home.
No, not because there's a big storm coming, but because I go shopping every couple of days and it's time. The casual observer might think I'm in "panic mode" because there's milk and bread and OJ in my shopping cart, but no, it's because we actually need those staples in our pantry and fridge.
Are people shopping? Yeah. Are there people in a "panic"? I doubt that's the proper characterization. If someone wants to get an extra gallon of milk so they feel more at ease during the storm and resulting clean up, I'm not going to fault or mock them. We all have our own comfort levels when a storm approaches. C'est la vie.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mel just walked through the newsroom a bit ago singing. If you're a fan of snow and winter weather like he is, this is a good barometer of what's ahead.
28 comments
Comment from: Ellen in Bethel [Visitor]
If Dr. Mel is singing, you know we're in for a hell of a storm! People are funny. It's not like you are going to be snowed in for a week and its not like you are going to miss your usual shopping day. Everyone will be out bright and early on thursday morning, but they still do it all the time.
What I would also like to know... All those people who run to Home Depot to buy shovels. What did they use last time it snowed?
02/09/10 @ 13:28
Comment from: mbreen [Visitor]
I have a feeling you might be sorry you put this up for comment. I sometimes wonder if Dr Mel and Geoff Fox get kickbacks from the grocery stores. :)Actually though, as you look at those with 4 gallons of milk and 5 loaves of bread you have to wonder. The longest I remember being stuck by a storm was a day and a half during the blizzard of 78. So what do they do with all the extra stuff they buy?
02/09/10 @ 13:36
It's funny that people actually DO think that. Sorry, but no, we don't get any kickbacks. If we did, I'd mention DUNKIN DONUTS, DUNKIN DONUTS, DUNKIN DONUTS, a lot more often in the blogs. [Note to HR Dept: That's a joke. I'm not soliciting kickbacks from DUNKIN DONUTS.]
02/09/10 @ 13:44
Comment from: sav [Visitor]
I changed a vet appointment from Thursday to Tuesday in case I couldn't get out and my cat needs stitches taken out. Got enough food - Sunday is my grocery day.Learning to shop for a week at a time was hard. Before I retired I drove past the grocery every day, so I only bought for a day or two as I could always get more. When I retired it took ahile to convince myself it was better to stock up for a week at a time, every week.
02/09/10 @ 14:18
Comment from: Hosed by the system [Visitor]
Tues is one of my days off too.....the Stop & Shop in Branford had more people this morning than usual...........people will always "panic" ...........
02/09/10 @ 14:37
Comment from: mom [Visitor]
I sure hope Dr. Mel's singing is a good omen. We are truly in need of a good, big snowstorm, not the piddly little ones we have been having.Think SNOW!!!!!!!!!!
02/09/10 @ 14:46
Comment from: Mary [Visitor]
I was going to stop and pick up some cold cuts for the kids, since I'm sure school will be closed tomorrow. But looked at the grocery store lot and though..."Nah".I have no choice but to be out driving in the storm...I was told by my employer that I HAD to be at work tomorrow. They will not accept call outs due to weather. Say a prayer for me...
02/09/10 @ 15:17
Comment from: vikette [Visitor]
I'm whistling too! I love the snow. I'd be happy not to see the grass all winter. I'm shocked by how people freak with a little snow. It's not like we live somewhere that it doesn't snow regularly...
02/09/10 @ 15:23
Comment from: Flower Boy [Visitor]
My week-ends are Wednesday and Thursday. Gonna strip the wall paper off in our spare room. Cook up a big pot of beef stew and settle in.
02/09/10 @ 15:47
Comment from: debbie [Visitor]
Well,if you get hurt driving to work because the roads were to bad ,he will have to live with that.I wounder if your boss will let his own loved one's drive in it.Becareful!!!
02/09/10 @ 17:16
Let it snow...Let it snow...Let it snow
Comment from: Heather [Visitor]
Funny, I was in that same grocery store at 5:15pm today and thought it was much less crowded that it normally would be at that time of day and particularly for the day before a big storm. I guess we missed the rush. But they were oddly out of things like pre-cut veggies for stew, so we'll have to actually wash and cut the celery and carrots ourselves.
02/09/10 @ 21:26
Comment from: Kristen K [Visitor]
I agree! We don't live in a place where it doesn't snow regularly, so why all the fuss? Geez people, this is Connecticut and it's WINTER! :)
02/09/10 @ 21:30
Comment from: Jazzy [Visitor]
Sorry to hear your boss is such a jerk. I iwll be working from home tomorrow. Modern Technology is great!
02/09/10 @ 21:31
Comment from: hunny [Visitor]
funny I'm not sure we got this fired up over a storm when we were kids, but we didn't have the technology then. . we're watching the school closings. (New Haven hasn't announced yet), and I already told my boss "see ya Thursday". . the kids and I will walk to Walmart tomorrow, just for the heck of it! an adventure. . HAVE FUN!!!
02/09/10 @ 21:46
Comment from: St.N/eno Glenna MacDonald [Visitor]
I like to avoid the roads during clean up and cars slideing in the slush,And my milk carton was empty. So prep? Yep!~Peace Glenna~
02/10/10 @ 01:44
I was in a supermarket at the same time, and thought the same thing. Then I later heard one of the women at the checkout counter say she expected it to be crazy around 7:00 p.m. I didn't go back to see if she was correct.
02/10/10 @ 04:24
Comment from: a [Visitor]
with the anticipated snow fall to bad the Gov. didnt shut down the state and the roads. Now that we are at work we will have to drive home thru the thick of it. Some of us dont have the luxury of working from home on days like this.
02/10/10 @ 08:02
Comment from: Gerry [Visitor]
In the Tri-State area there is a food store every few miles. Think about the people up in the snowbelts of the Great lakes/Upper Midwest in rural areas. They are really the ones who need to be prepared. We have it easy down on the East coast - lol.
02/10/10 @ 09:07
Comment from: Jon in Higganum [Visitor]
Before one of the last storms blew in on a Saturday I headed to the store to do my weekly shopping. The parking lot was completely full. I could only assume the store was full of panic-mode shoppers. I didn't even get out of the car and went straight home. On Sunday I went back and shopped in a nearly empty store. One of my best shopping experiences ever. Seriously, the roads are fine within 24 hours, yet people act like it's going to be a week.
02/10/10 @ 09:08
Comment from: visitor [Visitor]
Based on observations at the supermarkets the day before a storm: It's becoming increasingly obvious that when it snow's, people sit at home and eat bread and drink milk.
02/10/10 @ 09:08
Comment from: Rob Lewis [Visitor]
Well, once you get past the irritation of seeing grown men and women frantically grabbing their family size bag of doritos and cases of toilet paper to last them through Thursday morning,you go home and clutch your 10 lb. bag of potatoes and hope for the best....
02/10/10 @ 10:22
Comment from: Alice [Visitor]
Maybe all that buying just before a storm is wishful thinking . . . hoping to actually be snowed in for days and days. What do you think?
02/10/10 @ 10:49
Comment from: Emma [Visitor]
People stripped the shelves last Friday for the snow we didn’t get on Saturday. What happened to that stuff? The longest we’ve been snowed in was about 3-4 days when Gov. Grasso closed the roads in the 1978. What was panic all about? It’s not like Connecticut never gets a lot of snow.
02/10/10 @ 14:41
Comment from: jim [Visitor]
your weather dept needs a makeover! i hope people stop taking these clowns seriously.... hire good help for once
02/10/10 @ 17:10
Comment from: jeff [Visitor] 
like you, i shop a little every couple of days... the other day i needed (an addiction need) COFFEE... i even went to the grocery store early and chaos had set in...
02/11/10 @ 09:03
Comment from: Rob Lewis [Visitor]
I know the "storm" is over but does anybody recall that seminal moment in TV metrological history when Willard Scott on the Today show dressed up like Carmen Miranda? I don't think these people have been the same since...
02/11/10 @ 10:58
Comment from: David N [Visitor]
Hello...people of CT...they aren't storms of the century (despite the hype they get from the on-air "talent").You can live a day w/o milk and bread.
Even southerners don't freak out like this in the grocery stores!
02/16/10 @ 14:52
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