There are three situations when you see people fill their cart with food and toilet papers in supermarkets: One, the end of the year sales; Two, the closing sales; Three, a virus outbreak that causes the country to lockdown.
Our country is amid a Covid-19 pandemic which around 100 cases popping out like mushrooms every day. The increasing number had caused people to start panicking and treating it as if a zombie apocalypse is approaching. They began to buy everything they can for their survival, especially goods that can sustain the household for a year. The truth is, buying groceries at this time is not easy. It is a competition between buyers to get as many basic supplies as they can.
On Monday, we went to an Aeon Mall at Cheras Selatan to get our groceries. We knew that it was a 30 minutes journey to reach there from our campus, but we were simply tired of going to the same store we had been for the past few months. Despite my mom urged me to shop as early as possible, we left campus at 4.20 p.m. as Eemaau only finished her class at four. Getting two trolleys, we were ready to join in the crowd and gran whenever necessities available.
Whenever you enter a Malaysian supermarket the first section you reach is the fruits section. Even so, people would just walk pass through it and straightaway start their rampage at the veggie section. Forget about those Vitamin Cs and fiber, all they wanted were the protein, carbo, and fat. As a fruit fanatic, I took a quarter of watermelon, mangoes and a discounted tray of berries. I could have taken the oranges and apples, but I realized I need some space for the other essentials.
Even before we started the race, we had already lost. There were only polyester boxes with residual liquid of water and meat juice, but no sight of greens or meat left. Tiffany was frantically searching for any remainder broccolis or pork, but she only got some tofus and kimchi. I could not find any chicken breast or good-looking and fresh salmon. The only hope I could put on was the sausages which could be a replacement for the protein.
The real battle started when we got to the dry food area where people were frantically crossing between the aisle to get whatever their hands laid on. Moving the trolley on the lane required great skill on navigation and piloting, as many shoppers would park their trolley in the middle of the road, blocking the path when they were looking out for the items. Some of the department were almost out of stock, there was barely any generous leftovers of rice, milk, instant noodles, pasta sauce, and toilet rolls. I could not even get any sausages from the freezer, except for one packet of chicken nuggets. At the same time, I discovered that certain items were remained untouched. Nobody was purchasing ice cream, fruit juices, snacks, dairy products (other than milk), wine or organic food. The next wave of buyers would probably take them away once they saw there was no necessities left.
After getting what we wanted, the next challenge would be queuing to pay at the cashier. We already saw that coming when you have about 200 customers per wave and there were only 10 counters available. Each line was pretty long, reaching to the end of one aisle. As we waited, we looked through the items in the cart, sorting out the less important ones. Then I looked around, noting what sort of items people were filling their carts. Most aunties and uncles had at least one pack of toilet rolls and instant noodles in their cart; younger consumers had a variety of basic supplies that could last for at least two weeks; there was a line serving customers who only bought less than 10 items, quite rare for a situation like this. (I should clarify that this is not a basic generalization of consumerism based on age group, but purely my observations.)
The total payment for my purchase was RM150, which consisted of two boxes of milk, one packet of penne, one box of cereal, one box of veggie biscuits, two small cups of yogurts, one jar of tomato pasta sauce and a few other items that were mentioned above. Eemaau got herself two big plastic bottle of drinking water and a few other items, while Tiffany only got several packets of food which she felt that it was not enough. They were planning to visit Tesco the next day to get more items, which at this time the stock was all cleared by the university students as well.
After having a simple dinner, we hailed a Grab to go back to our campus. The driver (I will just call him Mr. K) already knew we were shopping, so he gave us time to slowly place our bags into the trunk. Tiffany began to talk to Mr. K in Chinese, which he was quite an opinionated person about the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia.
"Why did you guys come here all the way from Semenyih?"
"We were sick of Tesco, so we thought it would be a good idea to come here."
"Still the same. Cheras Selatan is dominated by Chinese people. They tend to buy things more compulsively than other races."
Mr. K went on rambling about the lack of awareness among Malaysian as they still attended mass gatherings without considering the risks of getting infected or spreading the virus to others. He just came back from Taiwan, which he believed that the state was doing an excellent job of protecting the people. All we had to do now was to wait for our Prime Minister's announcement tonight for any updates on the safety measures of the country.
"Are you guys going back?"
"I'm from Sabah, she's from Penang and the other is from the Maldives," Tiffany said. "No, we aren't going back. Cases in my state are increasing."
"Mine too," I added. "It's better for us to stay wherever we were now."
Mr. K agreed. He continued to tell us that food was not a problem for him. He usually purchases his food in a bundle, enough to feed him for two months. For that food that cannot contain for a long period like vegetables and meat, he would visit the wet market near his home. He also recommended us wet markets in Semenyih town that we did not know before. We managed to reach the campus at 8.30 after surviving a minor traffic jam.
Around 10 p.m., the Prime Minister made a Livestream announcement which our country would go for a 14 days lockdown. I did not listen to the full broadcast, but just simply waiting for a full statement to be released. I was imagining the next day there would be people trying to leave the city or shopping malls bombarded with last-minute buyers. We used to laugh at the idiocy performed by Mainlanders and Singaporeans, now we were all pulling the same stunt.
Within a few minutes after the full announcement, I received a phone call for my paranoid mom who kept begging me to return. I had to tell her that it was not safe for anyone to move around, and there would be a lot of people seizing this chance to return to their hometown. I even called Dad to ask him not to come over and fetch me, which he instantly complied with. A few minutes later, Mom called again and she was giving those million reasons to convince me to come home. She thought we would be separated for eternity, which was not the case. The conversation ended with me angrily asking her to stop worrying about everything, causing her to hang up without saying goodbye.
The next few hours until midnight was going to be chaotic. The best way to counter this chaos was to stay calm and wait for any additional announcement to be released, even though I only had two toilet rolls in my dorm.
Finished by 18th March 2020
Author's Notes: Please stay at your home and use well of the 14 days.