And yet we are sky is falling chickens to many even more than a few FReepers.
An event at my grocery store
A severe storm came through my town last night and it knocked out power in my local grocery store for a bit. This was no big deal, as it has happened before. There was, however, a bigger problem we discovered very quickly: The credit and debit no longer worked, and checks couldn’t be used. Foodstamps and WIC did not work either.
Coincidentally, there was a rush of people in the store at this same time, and the lines began to clog very fast. People in line joked about how anyone ever did this 100 years ago, things like that. Everyone figured the glitch would be ironed out momentarily. Since nothing else worked, those people who were stuck were forced to use the store ATM that would charge them to withdraw money. They weren’t happy but they got in line and started to get the cash they needed.
Until the ATM froze up. Now the fake smiles and annoyed chatter had disappeared and reality struck for a lot of people, they had no way to access their money, they had no way to pay for their food. Those who unloaded their carts were completely stuck and the ones waiting in line didn’t want to give up their spot to go to the bank. People became vocal very quickly.
http://sgtreport.com/2012/06/an-event-at-my-grocery-store/