Tongue in Cheek moments

[NateTheChops]

Every so often an opportunity like this comes up and you have to relish it.

Since Wrong Aid took over, we've only been able to take the EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer for those who don't know) cash, not the foodstamps. This is a system problem that the guys from corporate have not gotten around to taking care of. So I'm not certain if this is a company policy only to take EBT cash, or if the store is going to take foostamps eventually. But this has been going on for just barely three months now and people still aren't quite getting it.

Store is full of people, customers, representatives from other stores helping with our overstock, and all of our big managers in various areas. This one guy is giving another cashier a hard time because she can't take his foostamps.

"Don't give me that shit," he says. "It's not the system. It's you. You're the one with the problem."

"Sir," I say. "Would you like a job application?"

I don't know if the guy thought I was basically being sarcastic or not. I kept my tone neutral, so that it if anyone asked me about it later, I could just say that he seemed to be in the job market and I thought I'd offer him an application. Well, he said yes so I gave him one.

I've been saying from day one, that every time a customer whines and moans about how bad things are at this store, I just want to give him a job application and say, "If you can do better, welcome aboard." The opportunity arose and I jumped on it. I feel righteous.

[princess4life]

Good job i like that one. I said to people when they say they can do a better job that we are highering but I have never offered the application.

[Imogene]

Hmm... and here I was ready to jump on you for assuming he didn't have a job because of the foodstamps. I've had friends who were working and didn't make enough to get by, and qualified for foodstamps.

[NateTheChops]

I don't look down on anyone who needs foostamps to get by, or any other government assistance for that matter. I needed them when I was starting out, and when I moved to Burlington I had to live in a shelter for a while because it took me about a month to find a job.

What I get sick of are these people who basically abuse the system and then complain to us about it when it doesn't work out.

I had one guy come to my register. He had plenty of cash to buy two case of Monster energy drinks, a case of beer, and some glow in the dark candle holder or something. But he couldn't buy baby formula with his foodstamps, so he just took the formula off the sale and bought the rest of the stuff.

[princess4life]

I don't look down on anyone who needs foostamps to get by, or any other government assistance for that matter.

I agree I have seen people that live in public housing but drive brand new cars and plasma screen TV's they learn how to work the system and take advantage of the system. Leaving us hard working people to foot the bill.


I have even heard of some people that drive new cars get food stamps, live in public house for free, and get a check from the state to pay there utilities.

[Captain Kidd]

This use to drive me batty back in the paper food stamps days. Kid, around 8 years old or so, comes in, buys a pack of gum or some other cheap item. They pay with a $1 food stamp. So the change I give them back has to be "real" money.

Another kid comes in, repeat above.

Maybe a third kid then comes in.

And just maybe the first kid would come back in.

Then an adult comes in and wants a pack of cigarettes, they pay with a huge handful of change. Bet you can guess where that change was just 5 minutes ago ... yup in my register's drawer.

Drove me bananas. At least most had the decency to attempt to hide what they were doing by staying in the car. One or two would blatantly be in the store during this process.

Technically we could (or should) have refused sale. Heck, legally I think we were in a gray area because we "knew" they were defrauding the system and thus were kinda/sorta aiding and abetting, at least that's what I remember from training. But there really wasn't much we could do. Could you absolutely prove that the kids weren't really in there for gum?

[Sylvia727]

In Missouri, and perhaps the entire USA:

If you sell food, you have to accept EBT food stamps. If your machine is broken, the government offers forms which the cashier can fill out and a phone number for the cashier to call and confirm. It is the store's responsibility to have either the machine or the forms. If your company told you to stop accepting food stamps, then that is illegal.

I know because my mom looked it up after the local grocery store's machine broke and she had to put back $100 worth of groceries for her four kids. The cashier also called her a liar and a thief, but that's a rant for another thread.

[smileyeagle1021]

In Missouri, and perhaps the entire USA:

If you sell food, you have to accept EBT food stamps. If your machine is broken, the government offers forms which the cashier can fill out and a phone number for the cashier to call and confirm. It is the store's responsibility to have either the machine or the forms. If your company told you to stop accepting food stamps, then that is illegal.

i may be mistaken, but my understanding of the OPs post is that the store has the EBT machine, and people are upset because they want to use the paper food stamps rather than EBT.

[Captain Kidd]

No, there's two versions of EBT: foodstamps and cash. Cash has something to do with child support (and more maybe), e.g. diapers, cloths, bills, non-food items basically.

[Sylvia727]

Since Wrong Aid took over, we've only been able to take the EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer for those who don't know) cash, not the foodstamps. This is a system problem that the guys from corporate have not gotten around to taking care of. So I'm not certain if this is a company policy only to take EBT cash, or if the store is going to take foostamps eventually. But this has been going on for just barely three months now and people still aren't quite getting it.

Sounds to me like their machine is glinchy and taking EBT cash but not EBT Foodstamps. EBT Cash is all-purpose money, it can be used for food but it's more intended for toilet paper, soap, and other non-food essentials. So if one had both EBT Cash and EBT Foodstamps, one should pay for food with the money that only be spent on food, not the EBT Cash which should be saved for non-food items. So if their machine is not accepting foodstamps, I'd be pissed too. Though of course I would politely and calmly ask to speak with a manager instead of ranting at the cashier, because I try not to be a SC.

[PhotoChick]

I would think that at Nate's store being that they are a pharmacy (that sells a little food, mostly snacks) and not a grocery store they don't have to take foodstamps. But I could be horribly wrong.

[Sliceanddice]

In Missouri, and perhaps the entire USA:

If you sell food, you have to accept EBT food stamps. If your machine is broken, the government offers forms which the cashier can fill out and a phone number for the cashier to call and confirm. It is the store's responsibility to have either the machine or the forms. If your company told you to stop accepting food stamps, then that is illegal.

I know because my mom looked it up after the local grocery store's machine broke and she had to put back $100 worth of groceries for her four kids. The cashier also called her a liar and a thief, but that's a rant for another thread.

here, AZ, we have a few places that have some food stuff that dont have to accept EBT, if they do its because they want the business.

oh and i have to hear that story about your mom. Because as some whos family has need assestance in the past im pissed off at the implication.

[Captain Kidd]

From what I've looked into previously, the EBT program is voluntary for companies, including in Mo. They have to apply to the USDA to be allowed to accept it, and can be turned down actually. That's actually a threat used, help somebody defraud the EBT system, loose your right to accept it. Some of the grocery stores around here don't accept it.

[Sylvia727]

here, AZ, we have a few places that have some food stuff that dont have to accept EBT, if they do its because they want the business.

oh and i have to hear that story about your mom. Because as some whos family has need assestance in the past im pissed off at the implication.

Here goes:

We originally lived in a very nice neighborhood, before my mom learned that her addict husband had gambled away all three mortgages on the house. She kicked him out and went on foodstamps while she went back to college. I can't remember if we were still living in the foreclosed house or if this was after we moved in with my grandma, but either way we were still living in the nice part of town. I actually went to high school half-time so I could work full-time to pay rent, buy clothes, all those things foodstamps doesn't cover.

My mom picked up all four kids from school and dropped me off at work. On the way home, she stopped at a national chain of supercenter/grocery stores. She was shopping with a 16-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 7-year-old. They picked up about $100 worth of groceries and about $40-50 of winter clothes. My mom paid cash for the clothes, but the EBT reader was broken; the cashier absolutely could not make it work. So she called a co-worker to open another register and closed the line behind my mom while she called the EBT people. She also let my mom send the fidgety kids out to the car with the clothes and the groceries. I'm not sure why she let the groceries leave the store, but she did sign off on it.

Eventually, the cashier walked my mom over to the manager at the customer service desk. Another cashier overheard their conversation and started telling my mom how she had screwed it up with her clothing purchases. Both my mom and the other cashier kept telling her that the order had been rung up in the correct way, but she wouldn't believe them, going on about people trying to buy non-food items with foodstamps. The nice cashier was giving her this look. Finally, the sucky cashier told my mom that 'they didn't serve her kind' and flounced off. My mom turns to the manager, expecting him to apologize or at least return to the problem at hand, but he told her she would have to drive 45 minutes to [low-rent, crime-ridden neighborhood] branch if she wanted to redeem her foodstamps. As if we could afford that much gas money every week.

My mom saw red and went out to the car to bring in her groceries. The manager followed right behind her, as if to make sure she wouldn't drive off with his product in the trunk. He also tried to dissuade her from returning the clothes, but she told him if she wasn't a customer, then she wanted her money back. Then he made a crack about having money to buy jackets but not food. When I got home from work, Mom was in tears and all three kids were scared. I took the foodstamps card and bought our groceries at a different store while Mom typed a letter to his boss and copied the boss's boss on it. The first thing she pointed out was how politely everyone had treated her when she was well-off, but temporary circumstances put her in the red and now they treated her like dirt. She also copied a page of the MO EBT guidelines with the relevant passage highlighted.

Corporate sent her an apology and $30 in giftcards, but a month later sucky cashier and rude manager were still there, so we shop at different branches now. I still can't believe how rude they were. Even if they couldn't accept EBT there was no reason to accuse her of lying and act like she was trying to steal from them.

[Shengirl]

Sylvia, wow. As an FES, I promise I would never, EVER treat an EBT customer like that! We do have some jerks and suspicious EBT people, but there's a difference! And I wouldn't treat even the jerks that poorly. Sorry that had to happen.