LIFE DURING THE TIME OF COVID-19

Sartre In Hell

April XX , 2020 — XX Days After Who Declares a Pandemic

(Corner grocery store. Day. A customer approaches a cashier with two boxes of tea under one arm, and a parmesan chicken breast which the customer carries in a small produce bag.)

Cashier:: Give me that.

Customer:: What?

Cashier:: That's a produce bag. You can't wrap meat from the butcher in a produce bag. Give it to me.

Customer:: Well, I didn't get a bag from the butcher, so I just grabbed a produce bag on my way to...

Cashier:: You can't use produce bags for meat. Give me the bag.

Customer:: It has raw meat in it. Wrapped in butcher paper, but still...

Cashier:: Give me the bag.

Customer:: Can you charge me for it?

Cashier:: The city isn't allowing us to charge for bags right now. Give me the bag.

Customer:: Ok.

(The customer hands over the bag to the cashier. The cashier balls it up and throws it in a garbage can under register. More bemused than anything, the customer inserts a credit card and pays for the tea. The cashier hands the customer a receipt.)

Cashier:: Do you want a bag?