Um...do you know what you're doing?

[SecurityWench]

Well, I was working an express lane tonight and I ran into this lady who clearly did not know what the hell she was doing with her WIC card.

She told me like three times, 'The milk is on WIC.' I heard you the first time, the milk is on WIC. After I ring her up, she hands me two $5 bills. I go, 'Don't we need to do the WIC first?'

She pulls out the card, and she puts it in the wrong way. Several times. I finally just flip it over and slide it in for her. She immediately takes it out. I go, 'No, you need to keep it in. Put it back in.' She puts it back in and takes it out again. I go, 'No, you need to keep it in and follow the instructions.'

She looks at me like I'm speaking Klingon. (Just to clarify, no offense intended, she spoke perfect English.) She just gives me the money again and I ring her up with the cash. She leaves with her purchases.

So, it could be any one of these:

-She's new to WIC and doesn't know what she's doing
-She borrowed it from a friend and didn't get all the info from her
-She stole it
-She's on some sort of substance (and from the red eyes I wouldn't rule it out)

I hate working nights.

[blas]

WIC has cards now? Back in my day at the grocery store, all they had were pamphlets. First you had to verify ID (there were usually multiple signatures on them, the mama, the baby daddy, and usually a grandparent) which was just absolutely fun (notice sarcasm there) and then you had to see which coupons they were using and most of the time, they didn't seperate their WIC items from their other items, so you had to do that part....and to hell if you dare told them that they had the wrong size cereal or wrong type (No, cocoa puffs is NOT WIC approved).

[SecurityWench]

WIC has cards now? Back in my day at the grocery store, all they had were pamphlets. First you had to verify ID (there were usually multiple signatures on them, the mama, the baby daddy, and usually a grandparent) which was just absolutely fun (notice sarcasm there) and then you had to see which coupons they were using and most of the time, they didn't seperate their WIC items from their other items, so you had to do that part....and to hell if you dare told them that they had the wrong size cereal or wrong type (No, cocoa puffs is NOT WIC approved).

Yeah, they've completely switched from vouchers to cards now. However, we did cover vouchers in the job training.

[MoxisPilot]

WIC has cards now? Back in my day at the grocery store, all they had were pamphlets. First you had to verify ID (there were usually multiple signatures on them, the mama, the baby daddy, and usually a grandparent) which was just absolutely fun (notice sarcasm there) and then you had to see which coupons they were using and most of the time, they didn't seperate their WIC items from their other items, so you had to do that part....and to hell if you dare told them that they had the wrong size cereal or wrong type (No, cocoa puffs is NOT WIC approved).

Honestly, I'm glad they switched to the cards. Dealing with the vouchers seems like a total bummer.

And it's nice they've made the program more user-friendly...sort of.

[tehtech]

Here in MD we still have the vouchers and the folder for WIC. Hopefully cards are in our immediate future.

[VComps]

Quick question - what's WIC stand for?

[taurinejunkie]

Wikipedia Is Cool. :P

[Salted Grump]

Women-Infants-Children. Think Food Stamps for the less-monetarily advantaged of the XX-Chromosome with Infants or Children under the age of 6ish.

[Seraph]

Over where I am, we still have vouchers. Nothing like haing to stand there with your tail between your legs as the cashier looks at a 3 vouchers...each for 1 can of juice.

Frustrates me to no end that they waste vouchers, ergo paper, with printing 1 single item on them. Wish they'd just either convert to the cards or combine items.

[prb]

Quick question - what's WIC stand for?

Windows Imaging Component

Actually, it's part of the US social assistance system - "The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (known as WIC) is a Federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service" Wiki

[bainsidhe]

Cards...oh how I would love cards. ~stares in jealousy~

[bean]

Yeah, they've completely switched from vouchers to cards now. However, we did cover vouchers in the job training.

They didn't cover vouchers at all in my training, even though there's a button for them when you bring up the tender screen. Texas sent out notices to grocery stores a few weeks ago saying vouchers/stamps will expire at the end of June and can no longer be turned in for credit after the end of July.

I had no idea they still existed.

The cards are pretty easy to deal with, and a lot less embarrassing for the customer - they slide their card like a credit card, enter their PIN, and "Electronic Foodstamps" shows up on my tender screen. The register automatically figures out what does and doesn't qualify (I was shocked when I found out steaks do qualify in Texas). We actually have a couple of cashiers that have foodstamp cards too. One kind of neat thing about the way we process them is our registers will print the receipt, then 2 copies of a small statement showing how much is left on the card and how much was charged (I keep 1 copy and turn it in with my credit card receipts).

[SG15Z]

They didn't cover vouchers at all in my training, even though there's a button for them when you bring up the tender screen. Texas sent out notices to grocery stores a few weeks ago saying vouchers/stamps will expire at the end of June and can no longer be turned in for credit after the end of July.

I had no idea they still existed.

The cards are pretty easy to deal with, and a lot less embarrassing for the customer - they slide their card like a credit card, enter their PIN, and "Electronic Foodstamps" shows up on my tender screen. The register automatically figures out what does and doesn't qualify (I was shocked when I found out steaks do qualify in Texas). We actually have a couple of cashiers that have foodstamp cards too. One kind of neat thing about the way we process them is our registers will print the receipt, then 2 copies of a small statement showing how much is left on the card and how much was charged (I keep 1 copy and turn it in with my credit card receipts).

Well they only started introducing the cards last year. Slowly. My county was one of the very last. We still have at least one voucher every once in a while. I can't wait for the day I'll never see those vouchers again!

BTW I think you're confusing WIC with Foodstamps. The cards look similar but are very different. And paper foodstamps haven't been around in over a decade.

[PepperElf]

i don't know if ny is on cards yet but i do know they use vouchers, because i was behind someone in line using a voucher a month or two ago.

not sure why she was getting milk @ wilson's and not wegmans (personally i think wegmans has better prices) but hey it's her life. & maybe wilson's was closer

[SG15Z]

i don't know if ny is on cards yet but i do know they use vouchers, because i was behind someone in line using a voucher a month or two ago.

not sure why she was getting milk @ wilson's and not wegmans (personally i think wegmans has better prices) but hey it's her life. & maybe wilson's was closer

Texas is on cards now, and NM is not far behind. I think a couple of other states are trying out cards, but Texas is the only one to go state wide as far as I know.

And who cares about prices when the government is paying for it!