And no this is not a political statement.

Far from it. This is more a statement on how our society is spoiled, and privileged.

Over the past week there have been hundreds, most likely thousands acts of kindness and compassion to the victims of Hurricane Irma. That is the way that it should be. People helping people. People being aware of the suffering of their neighbors and friends and helping ease that suffering through money, food, service, and just being there.

I wish that would have carried over to the businesses that are still struggling to get back up and running.

I have been working in a store that lost power for 3 days. No refrigeration for 3 days. This store had to throw away all of its frozen food…which had thawed and had sat in hot freezers for 3 days. All of the meat had sat in 80+ degrees for 3 days. All of the dairy….you get the picture.

Everything had to be thrown into a dumpster and carted off.

When the electricity was restored all of those cases had to be cleaned and re-stocked. Piece by piece. With this one store taking its turn with all of the other stores that had been in the path of Irma. The re-stocking of a store does not happen by a blink of your eye, or a wiggle of your nose. It requires people, such as myself, to touch each piece of product and put it in its proper location.

I have spent that last few days being the brunt of customers frustration that they cannot come in and get their favorite coffee creamer, or their favorite ice cream. The managers in this store have taken it on the chin much worse.

And I understand that it is all based in frustration on the part of the buying public. But a little awareness that a business is not unlike your own food storage units at home is definitely in order here.

Grocery stores are not nameless, faceless entities. Your local store, no matter what company it is owned by, is made up of your friends, neighbors, possibly your own kids. These people are doing the best that they can to get your neighborhood stores back up and running. They want to have all of the products and services that they advertise as offering. Unfortunately, at times, circumstances don’t always allow that to happen.

The point is, give them a break. It isn’t personal, folks. Expand your awareness.

And chill the hell out.

Your choice between 1000 types of yogurt will be available as soon as it can be. The same with your 100 types, and brands of ice cream, tv dinners, entrees, whatever.

Appreciate that we live in an incredibly rich country that allows us to be fat, and spoiled by walking into a store and usually being able to pick from aisles and aisles of food. Not all countries have this capability.

Rant over.