Elaine is in the bathroom, and finds her stall out of toilet paper. She asks the woman in the next stall if she can spare a square, but the woman says no. The woman turns out to be Jerry's date, and eventually he defends her by likening the scarce toilet paper to water in the desert: "You wouldn't ask a dying man in the desert for his canteen, would you?"
Elaine's birth control sponge has been pulled off the market, and she's carefully hoarding her stash. So is the man she's dating "spongeworthy?" If she uses a sponge for him, she won't have it if a better opportunity comes along.
Harold, a tax auditor, visits Miss Pascal at her store to audit her because she paid only 78% of her taxes for the year. She gives him a hard time and states that she intentionally did not pay taxes for spending that she does not support. Miss Pascal mentions some ways that the government spends taxes.
Charlie's father gets laid off from his job because a new robot at the toothpaste factory can perform his job more cheaply and efficiently. His job has been made obsolete by technology.