Before they initiated a one-hour senior head start at the groceries when toilet paper disappeared, all I wanted was Gatorade. Shelves were cleared of almost everything, even things like “get-the-wrinkles-out” spray starch … gone.

There were only a few Gatorade bottles left, so I grabbed 10 of them. (You had to buy 10 to get the “special” price.)

That’s all I had in my cart, but as I was heading to the checkout line, a female customer asked if I needed water and volunteered to give me some from the full cart she pushed around. I declined and thanked her.

At checkout, a gentleman six feet behind me asked if I wanted some bottles of fruit juice from his cart. Nope. I thanked him, then checked out.

When I got home, I told my wife how friendly people were at the store and how compliant they were standing six feet apart. “They even offered me their water and fruit juice.” Thinking for a moment, she laughingly clarified their kindness: “Of course. They thought you were old!”

If only I could find the person who got the can of “get-the-wrinkles-out” spray starch.

I could use it now.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.