Blogger reveals ridiculous reality of toilet paper frenzy

A Mornington Peninsula mum-of-three has detailed the moment she had a run in with a frenzied toilet roll seeker — describing it as a total shocker.

If you thought it wasn’t possible the frenzy over toilet rolls could get any worse, one Mornington Peninsula mum has revealed the ridiculous lengths people are now going to in order to get their hands on the precious paper.

Mother-of-three and blogger Laura Mazza has shared how she went to the supermarket to pick up some toilet paper on her lunchbreak, only to be confronted by “zombie” shoppers and one man who tried to snatch her pack of loo roll.

Shoppers this week have been panic buying up much of the country’s toilet paper supply amid fears a coronavirus outbreak could affect supermarket supplies.

In a hilarious Facebook post, Ms Mazza wrote how she hadn’t “really believed” that there was shortages of toilet paper until she saw it for herself at a supermarket in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill.

“(I) head towards the toilet paper aisle and there is literally a flurry of people scrambling on top of themselves. I look in the aisle and there is no toilet paper on the shelves … I thought, wow, the rumours are really true,” she wrote.

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Laura Mazza shared this selfie after her ordeal. Picture: Facebook.

But her luck changed as she went to leave the supermarket and spotted three brand name packs of toilet paper.

“I picked up one and contemplated grabbing the other ones … it’s flu season in my house and we use it to blow our noses too … and the hoard of people saw what I had found and like zombies to brains, they scrambled over to me,” Ms Mazza wrote.

She said she was “shoved” by the other shoppers and then “felt someone’s hand grab my toilet paper roll and a man was trying to pull it out of my hand”.

I thought he was joking and started laughing but he was f***ing serious and tried to take it out of my hand,” Ms Mazza wrote, adding that the man already had a trolley “full of toilet paper”.

“I turned into Karen who was calling for the manager and looked at this guy and said, ‘Excuse me! Let go!!’”

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Ms Mazza is a mum-of-three and blogger from Melbourne. Picture: Facebook.

Ms Mazza said her yelling got the attention of the manager and the man let go of her prized rolls, adding that she was now “laughing as I’m writing this because it’s f***ing toilet paper”.

“After the commotion settled and the zombies left, the man apologised to me and I was asked if I wanted to call the police but all I could picture was me on a witness stand crying hysterically and saying, ‘He tried to rob me of my toilet paper!’” she wrote.

Ironically, Ms Mazza said that while this commotion was going on the shelves were being restocked with toilet paper but added, “It was home brand and suddenly no one needed to stock up anymore.”

Ms Mazza told news.com.au the man had been elderly and “and couldn’t speak much English”.

“So when I reflect now maybe he thought I had taken his (toilet paper) from his trolley? Who knows,” she said.

Ms Mazza finished her Facebook post by urging anyone reading to not rush out and buy toilet paper as it was unnecessary.

Empty shelves in Coles at Westfield's Parramatta, Sydney. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“Now don’t let this story make you go crazy and run to your local to buy 15 kilos of toilet paper, because when this hysteria is left over, you’re going to be left with a lot of sh*tter sheets (more) than anyone needs,” she said.

“And that’s because (don’t quote me) our Australian toilet paper is mostly made here. Uh South Australia I hear. They are just upping their stock and shipments – so it’s great you’re making these people richer but you’re organising some serious cutting down of trees which is so unnecessary too.”

The panic over toilet paper supplies shows no signs of slowing, despite assurances from toilet paper companies.

Kimberly-Clark, which manufactures Kleenex Toilet Tissue, has now increased its production to 24 hours a day at its South Australia factory.

Earlier today, footage emerged of panicked shoppers pushing and shoving one another to get their hands on toilet paper packs.

Taken inside Woolworths Revesby, in Sydney’s southwest, customers can be seen scrambling to grab packs of toilet paper around 7am on Wednesday.

In response, Woolworths has restricted customers to four packs per person to make it “fair”.