Empty Shelves

LA is a massive city, and Ranell had never been to this part of town. He used his car's GPS to guide him to the nearest supermarket. Once again, traffic snarled to a halt. As he neared the supermarket parking lot, he waited for the lights to change three times before he made it across the street. Vehicles were jammed bumper-to-bumper, and the supermarket parking lot appeared to be filled to capacity. Ranell rechecked his watch and groaned. Now I'm going to be standing in line forever behind the checkout counter. He gunned his motor and made a hasty lane change that earned him an angry honk from another driver.

Ranell flipped his middle finger towards the rearview mirror as he sped away. There’s got to be another store around here somewhere.

Three markets later, Ranell finally found one he could pull into. In fact, the parking lot was nearly empty, and he wondered if it was closed. He walked up to check the store’s hours, saw a few people shopping inside, and went in.

His stomach growled as he grabbed a shopping cart. He stared at the place where they should have been stacked neatly. It looks like a bomb went off here! The carts were haphazardly shoved throughout the room, with many even tipped over. Ranell glanced around cautiously. He wondered what kind of neighborhood he'd wandered into. Am I safe?

Determined to get in and out as quickly as possible, Ranell looked first at the signs to orient himself and then made a beeline straight for the seafood department. He thought he could whip up some shrimp scampi. He was pretty sure they had noodles at home, and he was certain they had plenty of wine. It’s going to be a nice evening.

Pushing his cart towards the back of the store, a vague sense of something wrong crystallized into a sharp sensation of shock. What’s going on here? All the shelves are empty!

He increased his pace, practically sprinting to the back wall where the refrigerated items were supposed to be stored. Again, empty.

Panicked, he looked across the deli counter and called out to an employee moving something in the back room. “Excuse me. Excuse me! Yes, could you please tell me what’s going on? Why’s the store empty?”

“Why is the store empty?” The man was young and gruff with a greasy-looking apron and a hairnet worn over a bearded chin. “Haven’t you been watching the news?”

“No, I was on a business trip. What’s going on?”

With an exasperated look, the deli worker grunted. “Farm strike. Google it. It’s all over the news. The farmers are blocking all the roads to protest.”

“Protest what?”

The man looked exasperated, but Ranell had no sympathy for him. It’s not like you have a lot of other customers to deal with right now.

“I don't know,” the deli guy objected. But even though he appeared irritated, he couldn't help adding a little of his own analysis, “I guess they're mad at the government for forcing them to use the new digital currency. The farmers don't want it, and the government's threatened to cut off their crop insurance or something…”

“Is that why all the tractors were on the freeway?”

“Yep. Bastards are intentionally disrupting the supply chain.”

Ranell pursed his lips together thoughtfully. Finally, he said, “When did this start?”

“Just this morning,” the man turned back to his work. “The strike panicked everybody, and they descended on us like locusts. Cleared us out!”