Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 26, 2020

Get a bidet!

Honey , drive here that big truck too .

I don’t have a square to spare…

As a Walmart worker I can confirm rice, corn, and ramen were bought like crazy.

Wow, this strip is REALLY written ahead of time!

Reminds me of a funny comic I saw on Facebook. A family’s house was packed with toilet paper and somebody asked, “Got any food?”

See, there were a number of items of food I couldn’t get for awhile there. (And some people actually almost emptied my store of…cat litter.) So, this is just a leeeetle bit off. Seinfeld reference is nice, though.

Now if I can just find the guy that’s buying up all the rubbing alcohol and vitamin C.

Lest we forget: https://globalnews.ca/news/6827299/coronavirus-toilet-paper/

“A grocery store manager in Australia says he flatly refused to give a coronavirus hoarder a refund, after the shopper tried to return more than $10,000 … worth of toilet paper and other supplies that he’d stockpiled to sell online.”

Seinfeld reference in the last panel.

What those hoarders need most are several smacks upside the head.

Here in Hawaii, people have been stocking up on water for tonight’s hurricane, even though the city topped off the reservoir to assure there’s plenty of it.

“A square to spare”? Pig is a poet and doesn’t know it!

The local grocery store was totally cleaned out of tp, then about a month ago tp was stacked almost to the ceiling!

Poor Elaine… couldn’t get a spare square… not a square to spare.

Ha ha. Silly hyoomans hoarding paper. As long as there’s water in the rivers and bunny rabbits in the woods, I got no issues!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gysu0kgFwT0

Rat you forgot the Bourbon and Beer …. Croc Power !

It could be worse. He could be trying to return the toilet paper after it has been used!

I was in the supermarket one morning when they were bringing in pallets of toilet paper and paper towels. The manager told them not to bother stacking them, just bring the pallets to the front and they would be gone by end of day.

He cannot spare a square

And some locals are still afraid ‘Obama and Hilary coming for their guns’. As if any sane civilian wants one around. Gunny-funnies rarely remember their wrong calls. TP quite useful, wipes away mean thoughts.

Tip of the hat to the Seinfeld Reference Stephan

As a Target employee, we have limits on how much we can buy.

I have what my family calls, the “lot” syndrome ….I’m always stocked up…..regardless of the pandemic…

That’s why they grade on a curve.

Some of the most unexpected things go short: oreo thins, potato patties, hormel beef. . .never had trouble getting fresh fruit and veggies, though. .

A touch out dated, but whateves.

And just like that—everybody became a “prepper”.

Now wipes of any kind are gone, alcohol, betting aloe vera gel too, but haven’t looked. Most disinfectant stuff judging by the vacant shelves everywhere. People are doing DIY wipes. And yes, the unexpected- early on, no Gas-X. (?!) Yesterday, bed sheets looked fairly scarce. What’s THAT about?? Maybe people are using them as a cheap source of fabric for masks.

Interesting note: it was all the stuff that will give you insulin resistance/diabetes that sold out early (flour, sugar, pasta, crackers, cereal), greatly increasing susceptibility to this mess.

Ammo

My wife shops sales, so we’ve always had a 2-6 month supply of non-perishables. Bought a bale of TP just before the pandemic started. Bought another this weekend.

I initially assumed he was stuck with all he’d amassed and was trying to sell it. Now the aisles are LOADED with t.p. Napkins, however…..

This man with the toilet paper knows his sh*t.

You know you can just wash yourself off

Today’s comic is a few months late.

The reason TP left so fast, every time someone sneezed, ten people shit their pants.

The great toilet paper shortage will be used as a teaching tool to illustrate the dangers inherent in our just-in-time, minimum manufacturing capability based on average consumption, all stock up front, minimum workforce supply chain retail system. With no redundancy, eliminated to maximize per employee production and minimize labor costs, there is no resilience in the system, no ability to increase production to meet a sudden increase in demand. That applies to our entire consumer-driven economy. This has been a test and a teachable moment, and I think we’ve failed on both counts.

People don’t eat, don’t poop, or for that matter don’t breathe.

I still don’t why toilet paper was in short supply when the pandemic hit. Rat made a great point in the third panel. And yet hand soap being hard to get made some a little more sense.

What I couldn’t understand was that while Spam and disposable paper products disappeared from our local shelves camp stove fuel and matches were untouched.

It’s Seinfeld all over again! Had Kimberly-Clark, and their kin, had any management skills they would have instantly quadrupled production in March and saved us all a lot of angst. Heck, they probably still think the Wards and Sears dull paper catalogs are available.

Now we’re living through a shortage of quarters, and I need them for my apartment’s laundry room.

Discussion question: At what point does the hoarding-created shortage become so severe that buying a huge bunch of toilet-paper becomes justified?

“I don’t have a square to spare.”

I had to grab literally the last 10# box of oatmeal at Staters…could not find it anywhere Good thing I did, everyone was out for weeks – did everyone go nuts on Oatmeal cookies or what?

My neighbor has stacks and stacks of TP and paper towels stored in his garage. All I’ve got is clean firearms and a heavy stash of ammunition. What should I do if I need TP?

If you have nothing to eat, you won’t need toilet paper!

If only someone had thought to create a futures market in toilet paper before the availability disappeared.

I chuckled when I read that the hoarders were blocked from re-selling T.P., bottled water, etc. online and elsewhere. Those idiots are stuck with all that stuff with probably nowhere to store it all.

The Stall – I Don’t Have a Square to Spare Seinfeld Clip ://youtu.be/Gysu0kgFwT0

We are STILL seeing strange shortages at the grocery store. Mayonnaise?? One brand of crunchy peanut butter? Just the thin corn tortillas? At least the yeast, sugar and flour are back in stock… though not always the brands we were expecting (good on the purchaser for finding SOMETHING!)

Nope! I know at least Costco isn’t letting people return toilet paper or hand sanitizer. To which I say to all the panicky hoarders: HA!

But never a shortage of hand soap. So much for ahandwriting washing,

The toilet paper hoarding shortage is over, and that’s good. But I still can’t find a spray disinfectant anywhere…..

Great Nod to Seinfield