Complaining about the free stuff you got?

[Mr Slugger]

I've heard a couple of stories about things like this. The first one was around thanksgiving where someone went to the food pantry for a turkey. The day that they got everything he showed up and only after getting home her realized he go a chicken. Now he got a chicken because he was a single person, and turkey's went to families because there was so few of them. So he was complaining in the paper because he didn't want a chicken he wanted a turkey and now had to buy a turkey. And I've heard a couple of more stories since then about people complaining about things they get from the food pantry, the lack of toys they got from toys for tots, etc.

So I'm curious on what you all think. Do you think it's ok to complain about a handout? or should they shut their traps and suck it up?

[drunkenwildmage]

A few years ago when my Wife was a social work major, she interned the Salvation Army Food Pantry, and almost everyday she would come home with stories like that. She said that a overwhelming majority would be grateful but daily she would get people what would go through all the groceries, rejecting curtain items, get mad because it was all generic brands, get pissed off because something they wanted wasn't in the bag they got.

[protege]

So I'm curious on what you all think. Do you think it's ok to complain about a handout? or should they shut their traps and suck it up?

They should thank their fucking lucky stars. Not all poor people are as lucky--in many poor countries, most of the poor get by by eating garbage and living in crumbling shacks. Pisses me off to hear people bitching about getting handouts. Don't want generic foods? Either starve, or work for better items!

[DesignFox]

I'd be seriously tempted to take the bag away from the complainer and tell them that I was going to give it to someone who obviously needed it more than they did. If you've got the energy to complain, you can be buying your goddamn food.

Seriously, I wouldn't be able to deal with that. When it's a handout, you take what you're given and be happy you got. Around my area, the economy is so bad the food pantries are overwhelmed with requests and have started actually running OUT of food. So, I'd have to seriously work hard to squelch the urge not to take it back and give it to someone else...especially knowing that there may not be enough to go around.

I don't know why this surprises me , but regardless, it sure does make me angry to hear.

[KellyHabersham]

I've run into this a few times with the food pantry here at church, - one guy went through the bags I've given him and rejected stuff which he couldn't use/didn't need, but he wasn't sucky about it....said he'd rather have those items go to someone who were able to use them.

The other time it happened, the guy had mentioned that "we" (not sure how many people he was referring to, as he was alone) didn't have anything in the way of food, but he was kind of fussing that we didn't have as many canned pastas as he wanted.

[jackfaire]

When I was 10 I was with my mom getting food from a food bank. Some guy was complaining like that. I shamed him told him we should all be grateful there were people willing to help us out.