One, two, three-ply: Might just be sticking with the good stuff
Don’t miss Adam Green and Megan Banks on The Hits Hawke’s Bay from 6am to 9am, Monday to Friday
There we all were. Peacefully going about our days, routine ticking along when all of a sudden like a wet fish to the face, SLAP.
Covid has us all wishing we had a few extra rolls of loo paper in the cupboard. In fact, the day the Covid lockdown hit, we were on our last roll. I’d put off purchasing until we needed a few more things, so slunk into the supermarket feeling like a criminal.
I stood, looking harder at a loo paper section than I ever had, contemplating my choices. Do I buy the regular, jumbo 18 pack of 2ply I usually get, lest I be judged as a paper hoarder on my way to the counter, maybe a smaller pack would look less like a panic buyer and more just like a man doing his normal weekday shop.
Perhaps I could buy a whole heap of other items, and use them as a kind of barrier around the large pack to make it look less conspicuous, like some sort of supermarket Trump. “Believe me I could build a wall, many people are saying it, the best food camouflage wall, to block the huge paper pack.”
I decided to go with the grab and run, looking down at the floor and announcing loudly at purchase time “Oh what a time to need toilet paper for my household of 17 people. They’ll all be relieved as we had run out.” Okay, I didn’t say that, but I thought about it.
However, on a subsequent trip across level 4 I was forced into an option I’d never considered in a household of five, glancing across the paper and feeling confident I wouldn’t look like a mega pack hoarder I reached the spot where my regular would be to be confronted with bare shelves.
And only the good stuff left. The 3ply. A whole ’nother ply to buy. Not wanting to cause a fuss I threw it in my trolley and took it home.
Game changer. The delighted yells of my children reminding me what a cheapskate I had been. “Dad! Whoa, we’ve got the flash stuff!” they exclaimed as I loaded the shelves in the bathroom.
“Yep,” I exclaimed. “A special level 4 treat, because you’ve been so good.” (They didn’t have to know I’d been forced to grab it minutes before). Now as New Zealand makes its way to level 3 we might just stick with our own level 3 at home — level 3ply is a go.