I see people abuse WIC / food stamps far too often... I work in the bakery, and it is just sickening what these people who are "struggling to get by" can get away with...
You can buy flowers with food stamps?! You can buy lobster and prime cuts of beef! Mmm! You can buy your $180 WEDDING CAKE!
Far too often these people come in, "how much is this? how much is that? how much- how much?" They want a cake. If I was dirt poor and I needed to get my child a birthday cake, I would take one of those 8.99 little cakes from the case, or better yet- I'd bake one at home for Far less... But no, these people have about 6 or 7 people to serve, so they need... AT LEAST HALF A SHEET. (no lie, this happens all the time) Great, big, obeise people... looking at a quarter sheet cake (which can easily be cut and serve upward 20 people) and think it is Far Too Small. So they usually end up going with a half sheet cake, then they want to go Balls to the Muther Truckin Walls with their orders. Obviously it needs a picture of lil jimmy on it, AmIRight?! And some action figure kit- Heck- MAKE IT TWO KITS! (But the kits are 5$ each...) Doesn't matter! FOOD STAMPS PAY MY LIFE! Oh, and what birthday cake would be good if it was just Regular cake? Let's get fancy- GO TRES LECHES, OH YEAH! Normal whipped icing too boring? DUH, WE NEED TO GET THAT CAKE COVERED IN CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. And Roses on EVERY corner! Oh- oh- And what about INSIDE the cake? C'mon... just cause we're dirt poor doesn't mean we can't have MULTIPLE FILLINGS IN OUR CAKE.
I am not even kidding here, at least once a week we get a customer who orders one of these outrageous $70~ range half sheet cakes loaded with garbage and pay for it with american tax dollars. Makes me sick.
What OTHER horrendously outrageous items can people purchase with their food stamps? I think it would be best if they were cut back to the bare necessities... Water, canned beans, basic white sliced bread, mustard, condoms and other methods of birth control.
You sound mad. I'm thankful I don't qualify for food stamps so I can't complain about what they do. If the government cuts food stamps they'll just give it to the military or tax breaks to wealthy so either way it's going to be wasted. At least this way, kroger profits from it.
You sound mad. I'm thankful I don't qualify for food stamps so I can't complain about what they do. If the government cuts food stamps they'll just give it to the military or tax breaks to wealthy so either way it's going to be wasted. At least this way, kroger profits from it.
Twenty years ago, the only things you could get with food stamps was government subsidised generic items. I.E.: We'll pay to keep you alive, but NO WAY are you going to live like a Rockefeller or a Vanderbilt.
Here we go again. I work in the bakery and have no problems with someone pays with foodstamps. The more cakes orders = more profit for our department. :D
sorry but as a cashier I rarely see fancy food on ebt orders. I see lots and lots of manager specials and kroger "value" items. sometimes you can tell though. Once or twice a month I'll see the crab legs and so on.
Twenty years ago, the only things you could get with food stamps was government subsidised generic items. I.E.: We'll pay to keep you alive, but NO WAY are you going to live like a Rockefeller or a Vanderbilt.
The goverment studied the costs associated with those limits and there was just too much administrative overhead. The net benefit to not having such strict limits is more people get help who actually need it.
Just think about WIC. What if every ebt/food stamp customer was that complicated? You and the customers would lose your minds and the stores would lose business.
People can get whatever they want with their food stamps. What business is it of yours? They get the same amount of money on their card whether or not they get fancy food. If they get fancy food, they get the same exact amount of money, only they use it up faster. Why do they have to get crappy food just because they're poor and on food stamps? Because you don't approve of them getting lobster?
When I was a kid, our family was on food stamps for a while. After only eating mostly damaged food from the food pantry most of my life, food stamps were a blessing. Suddenly my family was able to afford a lot of good food, food I never would have been able to try without food stamps. Some of the things were fancier than others. I'm grateful to the card, and for the experience it gave me. I'm so sorry we didn't just stick to buying gruel with it.
Oh god no! They ordered a filled cake?! The horror. Don't they know they should be celebrating their children's birthday with a loaf of white bread and a candle stuck in it?
They're not doing anything wrong. They're entitled to use their food stamps as they see fit. If you have a problem with it, whine about the government for allowing it instead, not about the customers who aren't breaking any rules by buying a nice cake.
Had a guy try to buy Bud Light on food stamps through the U-Scan by scanning a bar-code for Mug Root Beer, but he got caught because of the weight difference. He ended up not getting it.
Had a guy try to buy Bud Light on food stamps through the U-Scan by scanning a bar-code for Mug Root Beer, but he got caught because of the weight difference. He ended up not getting it.
To the OP....
There is a good example of trying to beat the system.
The other stuff? Meh. Whatever. It's their money. That's not the majority from what I've seen. I've seen a lot of people with EBT stretch the dollars more than other people do. It's just like anything else, some people blow their wad on junk food, others don't. EBT or not. Get over it...it's not your money. Really.
YES: Everyone, regardless of race, age or sex, deserves some form of public assistance to get through hard times. That is what it was originally intended for, and it has kept many good people from starving and/or being homeless. However........
If you are fed, housed and other wise rewarded through public assistance as if you were a rock star or some kind of royalty, where is your motivation to better your life? What reason do you have to seek education, or simply a better job by which you earn the best of food, clothing, a nice house, etc.? The answer is sickeningly obvious: You have no motivation. You find it far easier to believe you are entitled to the very best that other peoples' money can buy....and worse: even breed more children to perpetuate that cycle. And I will NOT APOLOGISE for being completely disgusted to my core, at this very rotten, twisted ethic that is growing like a malignant cancer in this once fine country that was built by hard working people who were ashamed at the very idea of sucking off the system. When any society is besieged by free loaders who only take, and never give back, it becomes a math problem---not a racist or prejudiced or judgemental problem, which are great buzz-word excuses to continue this crap.
Since I know I will be flamed for this post, I'll close with two thoughts in advance:
Everything I above described is exactly why I am hiding exponentially more and more cash money. No way is the currency I bust my ass to make going to support jag-off free loaders who aren't worth my words to personally address. It's bad enough my income taxes rise that much higher every year.
And two: Going full circle back to the top of this post, I genuinely care about and support all the decent human beings who truly need that extra help from time to time. I know many of them personally. Not one of them intend to make this system a life long vocation....Nor do they 'buy' ridiculously expensive food with their government assistance, then flash out a gangster roll for all the toys and goodies that are not (at least YET) covered by that very money that I, and all hard-working tax payers, provide.
Nocturnia...I know SO MANY people who agree with you. Even considering my above post, I agree also. HOWEVER. Right now? Nothing to be done about it. It's a broken system that gets abused. But if they want to spend their money on crap, then fine. Eat like crap, get diabetes they won't take care of and move along. I don't get myself in knots about it because there are so many other things that I can do something about that I can get myself all tangled up about.
EBT? Just not worth it. It is what it is right now until something better is in place. I'm not a politician so it sure as hell won't be me who puts something better in place.
@ SayWhat: I know....It just gets very frustrating, especially when you work in retail and are surrounded by this stuff every day.------Same thing with health care, which I also worked in for a number of years.
sorry but as a cashier I rarely see fancy food on ebt orders. I see lots and lots of manager specials and kroger "value" items. sometimes you can tell though. Once or twice a month I'll see the crab legs and so on.
I also am a cashier and I see fancy food paid for by ebt all the time. I would say that only about 1/4 of our ebt customers are buying responsibly and trying to stretch their benefit dollar.
A woman argued with me about how she "always gets lucky charms" on her WIC when I told her it wasn't allowed. Sometimes they will even try to pass diapers through their transactions. They always lose that fight.
About EBT: I don't care about people using EBT...I'm usually just bothered by the people who load up their cart while they knowingly have a much smaller amount of foodstamps with which to pay. Then they make you ring it all up and then spend forever taking items off and then you're stuck with a bunch of crap that they didn't want.
The other night a woman had to choose between three bags of Cheetos and a few boxes of hamburger helper...I don't know what's wrong with people, but I'll be damned if they don't usually choose the junk food to take home and the food they NEED to be put back.
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Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
nocturnia wrote:Everything I above described is exactly why I am hiding exponentially more and more cash money. No way is the currency I bust my ass to make going to support jag-off free loaders who aren't worth my words to personally address. It's bad enough my income taxes rise that much higher every year.
It would be fine to hold on to your cash money if the economy wasn't about to collapse. When that happens that cash money will not be worth the paper it is written on. And 401? That won't help either if/when the economy collapses. Retirement? Buy land & precious metals, stock up on food, water, guns & ammo...
my sister is on WIC and pretty much homeless with 2 teens (17 &15). she lives in a hotel with a weekly rate. she can't cook anything not even a cake. only a microwave in the room. please don't judge
my sister is on WIC and pretty much homeless with 2 teens (17 &15). she lives in a hotel with a weekly rate. she can't cook anything not even a cake. only a microwave in the room. please don't judge
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Yes, my sister works, but her hours (like everyone else's) has been reduced. She is a victim of spousal abuse and domestic violence and that is why she is in a hotel room. She is trying to get a divorce with free legal aid and child support for the kids. It costs a lot of money to get her own place with 1st month rent, sec deposit, utilities. Now she doesn't even have a car. the one she was driving was in her husband's name and he did not renew the tags. she was pulled over during a routine license check and the car impounded. he will not get it out and will not renew the plates. he told the cops to keep it. He has since moved, but cannot be found to be served with legal papers. my nephews are looking for work after school, but it must be within walking distance, as she cannot get them there. she worries about them walking. the younger one had a bike, but it was stolen from the bike rack. the tire was still locked to it, but the bike was gone. I try to help, but her needs are extensive and my hours have been cut, too. I am only working 2-4hr days this week.
I don't really have much of a problem with WIC. It's harder to abuse, and typically covers some very specific basic healthy food. I don't think it should cover fruit juice, but that is about it.
A bigger problem is that in my state, we still use physical paper checks and it is a massive pain in the ass.
Anyways, those are some very sad stories.
Some people need help, and some people aren't getting enough help. Fine, I understand that, and it is tragic.
The problem is that as far as I can tell, most people on food stamps have it confused with Unkie Sam's Silly Super Shopping Spree.
I could not agree more. All that the assistance handed out without limits is to eliminate any motivation to do better. For me, it is not about controlling what others eat or do. If I can't afford something, I do without. These days, I am "blessed" (through my own hard work and that of my HUSBAND) to be able to afford most of my needs. There was a time, however, that I survived on canned soup and sandwiches. I shopped at goodwill and yardsales. I survived just fine. I went to work every day. Where is the motivation to improve if the culture is to forever keep needy people as children, waiting on th next handout? I do believe that there should be programs designed to give folks a hand. This, however, is not working. When I run the register, I am forever ringing up orders that are filled with snacks, convenience foods, food for a party, expensive cuts of meat, and limitless sodas. These folks obviously do not need assistance.
"The other stuff? Meh. Whatever. It's their money. That's not the majority from what I've seen. I've seen a lot of people with EBT stretch the dollars more than other people do. It's just like anything else, some people blow their wad on junk food, others don't. EBT or not. Get over it...it's not your money. Really."
Except....that it IS our money. It's our income tax, property tax, sales tax, etc. In my opinion, those people should spend more time searching for jobs and finding better ways to feed their family, rather than spending that much time thinking about what fancy cake they'll get their obese 2 year-old kid.
I agree. As a cashier, I have seen people buy all kinds of high end food. Most of the time in our kroger store, we see people take out lobster, fillets, anything with a high price tag. I dont understand why they can get so many high priced things on EBT.
so...just because they're poor means they cant enjoy life? what if it's for their child's birthday and all they can afford is cake? i don't know if you believe in God, but we shouldn't judge others. i am not on food stamps or wic, but if i was, it would only make it harder when people judged me. you never know, maybe they also got donations from a church that month and could therefore afford this one splurge.
remember, even though they're poor they are STILL HUMAN!
Food stamps are our tax dollars at work. Why should we be forced to buy fancy cakes for the poor? Do you bust out your wallet to pay for their birthday cakes if you suspect they are poor?
Besides, cake mix is actually quite cheap. Especially if you get generic. Flour, sugar, and eggs are also quite affordable.
Almost always, food stamps are used for a once a month $300 spending spree of junk food punctuated by the occasional lobster, steak, and birthday cake. Is that really how it should be?
how is she on wic with 2 teenagers WIC only goes up to age 5 in all states and to the bitter jaged kroger employees bitching about how ppl on Snap spend their money god forbid one of you actually ends up homeless or jobless even and need assistance I dare you not to plurge even once using your card because you hypocrites know damn well you would do the same damn thing
hey moron if their were actual jobs to have for those on assistance that would be great but only if your name is Juan or Jose and want to do field labor or a chick with several kids working for 6 bucks for 4 hours in a drive thru window sure there are all these so called job fairs but unless you look like a porn star or graduated top of your class from some second rate online or tech school theres not much around
