With all the threads on this forum about panic buying, hoarding, gouging, free enterprise, etc of late I thought I would pass on this true story from sometime late in the last millenium.
I was serving in the US Navy aboard a ballistic missile submarine (USS Henry L. Stimson, SSBN-655 if anyone is interested) and we were loading stores to go on patrol. The Supply Officer had ordered too much toilet paper (hereafter referred to as TP) which could not be returned and had run out of space to store it. Now submariners (sometimes referred to as bubbleheads) all know that space aboard a submarine is very tight and cramped. Heck, a typical coffin probably has more room in it than your rack.
So, the Supply Officer (Chop) goes to the Goat Locker and tells the Chief of the Boat (COB) about the problem who then informs the Chop that he will take care of it. The COB then sent another Chief across the passageway to the crews mess and the COB follows him there about a minute later. With several ships company present, the COB tells the other Chief to let all the other Chiefs and Officers know that there isn't enough TP to last through the patrol and to go topside to obtain as much as they needed for their personal use. Within a matter of minutes, the entire TP storage problem was magically resolved.
The moral of the story; Buying in a panic and hoarding is often a solution to a problem that may not be real.
I was serving in the US Navy aboard a ballistic missile submarine (USS Henry L. Stimson, SSBN-655 if anyone is interested) and we were loading stores to go on patrol. The Supply Officer had ordered too much toilet paper (hereafter referred to as TP) which could not be returned and had run out of space to store it. Now submariners (sometimes referred to as bubbleheads) all know that space aboard a submarine is very tight and cramped. Heck, a typical coffin probably has more room in it than your rack.
So, the Supply Officer (Chop) goes to the Goat Locker and tells the Chief of the Boat (COB) about the problem who then informs the Chop that he will take care of it. The COB then sent another Chief across the passageway to the crews mess and the COB follows him there about a minute later. With several ships company present, the COB tells the other Chief to let all the other Chiefs and Officers know that there isn't enough TP to last through the patrol and to go topside to obtain as much as they needed for their personal use. Within a matter of minutes, the entire TP storage problem was magically resolved.
The moral of the story; Buying in a panic and hoarding is often a solution to a problem that may not be real.
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