Yup, full moon...

[Dreamstalker]

This woman was crazy on a few levels.

Card Crazy
She zooms up to my register (and immediately starts throwing crap on the belt). Blurts out "I don't have a card!" and before I could tell her I'll put one in, she starts rattling off a phone number. We don't do phone-number lookups at the register; only the service desk can do that. I'm not sure why we can't, just that we can't. Then she cranes her beady eyes over the pinpad "I don't see you putting in my phone number! Why aren't you putting in my phone number?!" (I was waiting for her to say something about I was stealing the gas points for myself)

Me: "We can't look it up by phone number, I'll put in a store card."
SC: "What?!"
Cashier B (she has a thick African accent): "She can use a store card."
SC: "That's what I'm trying to tell her, I don't have my card!"
B: "We can put one in for you."
SC: "I don't understand a word you're saying, don't talk to me."
MOD: "She put a store courtesy card in."
SC: "I don't need a card, I have one but not with me."
Me (resisting the urge to talk to her like she was a misbehaving toddler): "I put the store courtesy card in. We cannot look up phone numbers."
SC: "Well why not?!"
MOD: "Someone complained about us doing that."
SC: "I don't believe this. This is ridiculous. Everyone else can look up phone numbers!"
Me and MOD: "If you feel that strongly about it, ask the company why they stopped."

We used to sell our store-made Italian bread for 99 cents on Fridays. A few months ago, Corporate put an end to that for whatever reason. Her purchases also included a loaf of said bread.
SC cranes her neck at the monitor, and grabs the bread back from me (causing it to scan twice). "It should be 99 cents!"
Me: *must...not....kill...* "The company's not doing that anymore. It's $1.79."
SC: "But there's a sign for 99 cents!" (no there isn't, I can see all the bake shop displays from here)
Me: "The bread is $1.79."
SC: "Get a manager! You don't know what you're talking about!"
MOD: "The bread is $1.79. The company stopped that deal a few months ago, I don't know if it's a seasonal thing."
SC: (wait for it...) "This is ridiculous!"

Chicken Crazy
Among her purchases are two hot rotisserie chickens. She pays with EBT. As hot prepared food is not (and never has been to my knowledge) covered by EBT, the system kicks back "Balance due: $10.00"

Me: "You owe $10."
SC: "Whhhyyyyy? I have enough on my card!"
Me: "You can get the cold prepared chickens on EBT, but not the hot ones. Those are the state rules."
SC: "But I get hot chickens with my card allllllll the tiiiiime here!"
Hmmm....not here you didn't.
SC: "You guys must have changed the policy! I've always been able to get hot chickens!"
Me: "Store policy has nothing to do with it, it's the EBT program policy. Feel free to take it up with DTA if you feel there's been a mistake." I'm sure they'd love to hear which store is letting hot food go through, or that she is somehow playing the system.
SC: (nearly throwing said chickens at me) "I don't want them! You're cheating your customers!"
After she flounces off, myself, MOD, cashier B, and the next customer all look at each other with "What was that about?!"

[NateTheChops]

The worst part is, the full moon is supposed to be larger on Sunday due to the moon being closer to the Earth than before. The time and a half had better make it worth it is all I can say.

[Dreamstalker]

Apparently this one's called a "monster moon" too...

[EricKei]

I swear that at least one local grocery doesn't have their EBT item list set up correctly x.x As in, some non-food/non-qualified items show up as eligible foods automatically, and they don't seem to be caught. Some places even openly advertise allowing hot food to be purchased with EBT.

At least one convenience store back in my old town had a way to get around it -- if you wanted to buy a "hot" prepared po-boy (sandwich) on EBT, they did it this way (with signage up explaining it in detail) : Buy cold sammich, take it up to register (still wrapped in butcher paper), pay with EBT card, hang on to receipt. Then, go back to the deli and have them heat it up for you/add hot gravy/etc.

[Aethian]

I really wish I had the funds to do this but I would open a store that ONLY sold EBT accepted items.

[cashierbex]

Great, I get to work tomorrow night. I sure hope I don't have to deal with people that crazy.

[Trixie]

Monster moon? Fan-flipping-tastic. There's been a few this week that only lead me to believe they're just leading up to tonight. And I have an extra half-hour on my shift tonight. Damn it!

[Dreamstalker]

For a very short period, I do remember that the hot chickens were showing up as covered by EBT (system error somewhere); maybe that's what she was referring to?

[DerangedHermit]

For a very short period, I do remember that the hot chickens were showing up as covered by EBT (system error somewhere); maybe that's what she was referring to?

I know that down in NY, prepared foods were temporarily allowed to be purchased post-Sandy.

[Dreamstalker]

That must have been it, now I remember the timeframe. It was either post-Sandy, or post-blizzard, or both. Very short window IIRC.

Still, her claim of "I ALWAYS get hot chickens on foodstamps!" is suspect...we've had a few SCs who bragged about getting ineligible items with WIC at a store in another town.

[EricKei]

Hermit -- Same thing on the Gulf Coast whenever there's a hurricane bad enough to mandate giving EBT cards out to all comers (Katrina, Isaac, etc)

[Dreamstalker]

Sadly, some EWs think that just because they were able to get it once or twice on an emergency basis means they can now get it forever. It would be great if DTA could notify cardholders/accepting businesses when something like that arises ("Due to the hurricane/blizzard/etc, for the next X days only hot prepared foods will be covered")...but you know SCs never pay attention to the "X days only" part.

[EricKei]

Yup -- on the Coast, they do -- Big honkin' neon signs WITH DATES ON THEM, newscasts both before and after, ads in the newspaper, the works. Stores, to their credit, enforce those dates. Note, also, that emergency cards are generally one-payment-only, and the window for the exceptions on food is as much as three months. They're still usable on non-prepared food once the window elapses.

[Dreamstalker]

I think what happened in our case post-$disaster was that the regular EBT system was changed for a few days to allow hot food (I wasn't even aware that could be done).

[Food Lady]

I don't know; it's wonky. One month muffins in our bakery area are covered, and the next they aren't. But generally deli items aren't allowed.