Supermarket Report from Minnesota [View all]

[MineralMan]

I went to my local Cub supermarket at 9:15 this Saturday morning. No crowds, and plenty of parking close to the store. I was wearing a blue dust mask, a drywaller's type of mask, not a medical mask. I have a stack of those I bought at Harbor Freight a couple of years ago that have been waiting in my closet to be used. No gloves, though, since I sanitize my hands more than once. The store had plenty of disinfectant wipes for the shopping carts, so I didn't have to use the ones I brought.

Drywaller's masks are a PITA. They tend to creep up on your face, and get quite warm from your breath. I would not like to wear one all day long, for sure. Next time, I'll try one of the rectangular surgical-style fabric masks we have, with the ear elastic bands. That might be more comfortable. We have a box of those, purchased during a flu season while my wife's mother was still alive, to protect her during our visits with her. There are probably still 20 of those left.

Stocks in the store were almost at 100%, except for paper goods. There was toilet paper, one pack per customer, in opened boxes on pallets. I didn't need any, though.

About 50% of customers were wearing masks of one sort or another. About 20% had gloves on, too. People were being careful about distancing, and almost everyone I encountered was polite and cooperative. A lot of people were lined up at the self-check area, which has four terminals. Nobody was in line at the regular checkout aisles, so I went through one of those. Plexiglas shields are in place, and it's a self-bagging store, so no problems there. The checkers are using gloves and hand sanitizer between customers. I had my normal conversation with the checker, who I know from many, many trips to that store. She seemed pretty cheerful today, and asked how I was feeling, which was "fine." I sanitized my hands after putting my bags in the car, but before getting my keys and getting back into the car.

Since I'm still a smoker, to my embarrassment, I swung by the tobacco store, which was open and empty. I got what I needed in there, with my mask, on and then sanitized again before getting in the car.

Got home, unloaded the car, put everything away, and then thoroughly washed my hands. I'm good for another week without going out, now.