Challenge #04450-L066: Enrichment Activities

The goods in your favourite Big Store get fewer and fewer, so those vital but rarely brought items disappear. -- She Who Knits

If variety was the spice of life, the local branch of MegaGloboCorpoMart was slowly turning into gruel. The variety of options and products, that which drew them all in, was getting spare.

It had taken Jaime months to notice, but after that, the limits were growing clear.

More complaints about clothing not available in someone's size. Counting the thousand flavours of ice cream and noticing how many were based around the phrase, "and cream". How many involved the most popular flavours. How many were variations on Neapolitan.

That wasn't a thousand flavours. That was four with variations of bits in.

Specific gizmos ran out, and what remained were the cheap and nasty ones that lasted for a handful of uses if you treated them carefully. No refunds. No complaints. The manager is in another district.

The beef got rarer and rarer in the refrigerated section. After a few dozen trips, all that was available was chicken. Well, chicken and "I can't believe it's not meat" variations of hummus with flavourings that claimed to be eco-meat[1]. These ones tasted exactly like hummus with flavourings.

Cheap and badly-made. Possibly by someone who had never tasted actual meat before. One taste was enough to drive Jaime away from it for the rest of their life.

The rest of the town thought so, too. The pseudo-beef and faux-pork vanished.

In a year, all that was left was one brand of every essential. People went to MegaGloboCorpoMart because there was nowhere else. People spent money there because they had no choice, and word was that all the MegaGloboCorpoMarts were exactly the same. There was no point in going elsewhere because MegaGloboCorpoMart was the only shop anywhere. You either got it there or did without.

At least, that's what the CEO's thought.

What they didn't see was the return of cottage industries. People had hobbies, which turned to crafts, which turned to skills. People figured out ways to make what they wanted. And when other people wanted them, too... well. People did what people have done since the dawn of civilisation.

They helped each other.

Some taught. Some bought. Some made a living out of it. Some swapped recipes. Some grew things. Hobby farmers became real farmers. People who did repairs became tailors and dressmakers.

And for those who complained about the time and the availability of something, there was one response, "You could always try MegaGloboCorpoMart."

They soon stopped complaining.

[1] I've yet to find any sources regarding the carbon footprint of plant-sourced "impossible meat". Or their nutritional profiles, what potential allergens they contain... what the fuck "plant sourced heme" is... No shade on the vegans, but I like to know if I'm going to have a negative reaction to your meat replacements.

[Photo by Alyssa DeGarde on Unsplash]

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