Food Stamps, Etc

[KabeRinnaul]

This came up in a CS thread of mine a while ago, and it basically nosedived into Fratching in about a half-dozen posts. So, I figured I might as well bring it up here.

I'll go ahead and say that I'm not out to offend those who actually rely on food stamps or other aid programs, but there are a couple things that always manage to irritate me when I see them.

The first is people who use food stamps for Nothing. But. Junk.

This one is so common, I start the order expecting an EBT card to be paying for it as soon as I see the buggy. It's always the same. Frozen chicken nuggets. A pile of Lunchables. A month's supply of Hungry Man or similar TV dinners. Enough chips and soda for a frat party. Pop-Tarts. Donuts. Cookies. Candy. Maybe - MAYBE, if we're lucky, a package of hamburger meat. Sometimes just frozen patties, but at least that's something.

No vegetables or fruit. Ever. Not even canned. Nothing fresh. Milk is a rarity, and was even before WIC got started.

Is it surprising that every time I see one of these buggies, the people on the other end are obese?

The other one is people who make it clear they don't need the help. That comes in two forms.

First, the ones who spend more than the EBT order on their bad habits. How does a $100 food stamp purchase followed by four cartons of cigarettes sound? That's about $160 of tobacco right there.

Second, the ones who spend their food stamps on blatant luxury items. If you can afford to buy $200 worth of lobster, steak, and crab legs on a food stamp card, you can probably afford to get by without one. I've even seen this from a coworker. She used one of her CVV vouchers - intended to supplement WIC and food stamps by providing fresh fruit and vegetables - to buy a bag of our $7/lb cherries. Which she was just going to eat for her lunch.

Sometimes I think I see more of these than people who seem to have a legitimate need...

[Peppergirl]

Good thread! I'm probably gonna get torn to shreds for this, but I'm gonna say it anyway...

Its been many years since I've worked in a grocery store, but the VAST majority of the food stamp users that *I* dealt with were rude, entitled and defensive.

They also talked down to me, and treated me as if I were beneath them.

My experience as a customer when I'm *behind* a food stamp user has been much the same, I'm afraid.

I have no problem with people using them who have a genuine need, I simply don't like the attitudes that many of them bring with them to the store.

Then again, I'm willing to concede that it very well could be a typical case of 'a few bad apples' souring the whole barrel. I am an imperfect person, and I realize my judgement could very well be clouded. Perhaps I've only encountered the worst of the worst.

[muses_nightmare]

I have a serious problem with people complaining about money issues, and being smokers. Especially if they are on some sort of assistance. My MIL is a fairly heavy smoker, and she lives on a fixed income, She spends something like $95 - $100 per carton on her cigarettes, and she often goes through like 2-3 a month, possibly more. I mean, that's $200-300+ right there. I get that quitting is hard, but really, if someone is actually hurting for money then they could even just cut back a carton or something if they don't have the willpower or resources to quit.

Also, people buying junk aren't usually buying it because it's cheaper, or rather, it's not actually cheaper if you know how to budget and such, it just seems like it is because most of it is sold in 2 for $X amounts or some such. Also, unfortunately junk food tastes good most of the time, at least if you're used to it. Vegetables and fruits are not that expensive, and you don't need to be buying the organic crap either, I've gotten four oranges for under $1, 4 or 5 apples for $2, three or four crowns of broccoli for under $3, and this is usually at regular grocery stores, or farm markets (not like a regular farm market, it's basically like a grocery store that only sells fruit and vegetables and a few other random items.) People are lazy, and they like to get something for nothing. It frustrates me that a lot of the time when people are actually in need, and they plan to only be on assistance for a limited amount of time (like when my boyfriend was sick) people get refused, yet you see people who waste the money still getting it.

I don't really have experience with food stamps, I'm not entirely sure if we have them in BC? (does anyone else know?), but I feel this way about any type of assistance. I don't expect people to give up everything they enjoy, but wasting assistance money like that is not right.

[BlaqueKatt]

Also, people buying junk aren't usually buying it because it's cheaper, or rather, it's not actually cheaper if you know how to budget and such, it just seems like it is because most of it is sold in 2 for $X amounts or some such.

and sadly, I've been running into quite a few people that have no idea how to cook an actual meal. If you gave them some meat, pans, fresh veggies and seasonings-they would have no clue what to do with it. And I'm talking about people with college degrees, that never learned how to cook, because their parents didn't know how to either. When I was in school we had home-ec classes that were mandatory, as was industrial arts. We had 14 year-old kids in my classes that didn't know how to cook oatmeal or boil/poach/scramble/fry an egg. Heck most of them couldn't make pancakes from a mix.(this was an urban/city school the school where most of the kids were farm kids-yeah no troubles with cooking skills there. I think it's more a symptom of our consumer society. Why bother learning how to cook when you can buy pre made food at the store or from a restaurant. We even have stores called "my menu" that specializes in frozen pre-cooked meals, based off the M&M meat shops in Canada.

[AdminAssistant]

Even growing up as a farm kid, my mom is just now starting to teach me how to make some of her best recipes. She wouldn't even let me near the stove until I was in High School...heaven forbid that I screw up dinner or something. So, yeah, a lot of my cooking I just had to figure out on my own.

[Kheldarson]

I'll admit I'm not a cook, and cooking's not my favorite thing (thank God Kabe likes to experiment). But if we ever end up needing food stamps, I'm going to be learning how to real quick so I make that money go as far as humanly possible.

I'll say we have a mixed bag at my store. Sure, I can usually tell who's buying with food stamps, but I've been surprised occasionally. I think the best one was this nicely dressed lady who had a buggy full of good food. Like she was going to be cooking for a while. Had several young boys with her from elementary to middle school age. Turned out they were her boys, and she had a few more at home. She was shopping smart. I was impressed.

And she was polite as well!

[KabeRinnaul]

Its been many years since I've worked in a grocery store, but the VAST majority of the food stamp users that *I* dealt with were rude, entitled and defensive.

That's something else I see a lot. I don't think I've ever had anyone go EW on me quite as hard as food stamp customers can. And this being West Virginia, this frequently manifests as a bizarre blend of redneck + paranoia + entitlement + persecution complex.

Gravekeeper has Nunavut, I have "up tha holler".

and sadly, I've been running into quite a few people that have no idea how to cook an actual meal. If you gave them some meat, pans, fresh veggies and seasonings-they would have no clue what to do with it.

More people need to be introduced to slow cookers.

Pour in a can of soup, some water, meat, whatever vegetables you have on hand, and a pretty much random selection of spices. Come back in 7 hours. Congratulations, you have stew.

[crashhelmet]

My son's mother abused the system like this. She'd use her EBT card to get what ever food or toiletries she needed and then get $100 cash back from the card to go and buy cigarettes and alcohol. She never spent a single dime of the money on our son. All food, diapers, and other necessities were bought either by me or some other family member.

CH

[Plaidman]

When I was working, I could tell exactly who was paying with a food stamp card. People that pay cash will get one or two candy bars. People with food stamps get ten-twenty, several bottles of soda, ice cream, etc. They then try to bride me into letting them buy cartons of cigs on their food stamp card. Which I can't. System won't let me. Won't stop them though. They come back later with another foodstamp card that has cash on it, and buy beer and cigs.

I hate those assholes.

People that NEED foodstamp/ebt cash get refused.
People that don't need it, and abuse it, get it renewed alot, and the offices don't bother to even check half the time if they already have an acccount, so people come in with several different foodstamp cards. My personal /favorite/ was the fucking family when each member had their own fucking card, even the little girl that couldn't be much older then 5 had her own card to get her own crap food.

[smileyeagle1021]

Plaid, you touched on one of my big problems with EBT rules in Utah.
If you are enrolled in any educational institution you are inelegible for foodstamps in Utah.
You could be on a full ride need based scholarship (be it from a private entity, the school itself, or pell grants) and the state will still tell you "if you can afford to go to school, then you can afford to buy food". Umm, no...
And yes, they do have a point for people like me who do pay a lot for school that if I dind't pay for school I would be able to use that money for food... but, as it is that I would be eligible anyway for food stamps, you'd think that it would be in the state's best interest to give a little bit more help now to get people like me through school so we won't need state assistence anymore rather than do things to hinder completing education and making us dependant on the state.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I've been on food assistance. It's not fun. It is not fun to say "I can't pull in enough money to feed my family because there are no jobs in my field in this area."

But I was never the entitlement whores that y'all are talking about and that I have seen myself.

What REALLY sucked ass was the fact that the people who were acting like that made it that more uncomfortable for me when I was using it to buy food for my family.

Because some twit tried to get the program to pay for their cigarettes or three tons of junk food, I would get the evil look and glare when I would buy a cake as a treat for us.

Because of some twit who would pull out the card for the food assistance from a wallet that had a wad of cash so thick you could use it to bludgeon a whale to death, I would get hateful comments when I would pay for the cake mix and icing with the $5 dollar bill (the only folding money I had BTW) I had left over after paying my bills and putting gas in the car.

Because someone would proudly proclaim that food assistance was @#$%ing awesome since he didn't have to spend his money for food, I got yelled at for using the system when I finally got a job that paid well since I wanted to run out the month of benefits to give myself a buffer in my savings account.

In short, those assholes and entitlement whores make thousands of people like me who used it when we needed it and were damn thankful for it all look like the same twats they are and gives us a bad name.

[AdminAssistant]

Smiley, the state purposefully pays TA's just enough that we can't qualify for food stamps or any other kind of assistance. It's sickening.

[Peppergirl]

In short, those assholes and entitlement whores make thousands of people like me who used it when we needed it and were damn thankful for it all look like the same twats they are and gives us a bad name.

Thank you for posting this. Sometimes I need a swift kick in the ass in the form of someone like you posting their experience with foodstamps.

And for all my preaching against people who generalize (they make me ), I found myself feeling that prejudice a bit, just because a few of the bad ones were the ones *I* was exposed to. So here I was, generalizing...which I claim to despise.

So thanks, Mongo. And I'm really glad you're back on your feet

[blas87]

It's hard to remember the decent, honest people on assistance when so many people abuse it. I'm afraid more peopel abuse it than use it for what it's intended for.

And I don't just mean foodstamps, I mean free college and insurance for popping out kids, when people whose jobs don't offer insurance or they make just dollars too much can't afford insurance or get fianancial aid, etc etc etc.

[the_std]

It's hard to remember the decent, honest people on assistance when so many people abuse it. I'm afraid more peopel abuse it than use it for what it's intended for.

I really doubt that the majority of people enrolled in the programs you mentioned are abusing it. The stories here, the ones that stick out in your head, are the visible minority. We do not see or remember those who are using the system properly because there is nothing to note, nothing to be outraged over, nothing to offend us and force us to create memories. The people who are making valid use of what is offered to them generally fly under the radar and do not make waves.

Yes, the ones who abuse the system suck. They suck pretty damn hard. But saying that they're the majority is like saying that most of all customers suck just because of the ones we post about on CS. They're just the ones we remember.