WIC problems

[hotpinkpride]

I had a customer come in with WIC (Women Infants Children program) today..

So she comes in my line, and I say hi followed by a grunt. She hands me a WIC check and as I am running it through, her multi-grain cheerios says "Non-WIC item" on my register. She tells me she gets them all the time on WIC. I say okay, check the WIC pamphlet and yeah they are on there.

SO I call over a supervisor, and she tells her the reason she can't get it is because all WIC approved cereals had to be 12oz or more when you get a cereal. Her cereal was 9oz. I see this at the top of the pamphlet, and I show it to her and say sorry for not realizing that.

She flips out, grabs all her WIC stuff we already bagged and then throws it on my register very rudely. We were all like . She then says "I'M GOING TO FOODLAND!!!!!" and rips the WIC check out of my hand.

If WIC customers are being rude to cashiers, they tell us to tell a manager because WIC does not tolerate people in their program being rude. They might get their privileges taken away. I did tell my manager about her, and I'm pretty sure he is giving them a call.

[Zoom]

Nice; our store's WIC program accepts Plain and Multi-Grain Cheerios, and only doesn't approve of Honey Nut. Also, the cereals may be of any size so long as they add up to the amount on the form. Your state must have a more restrictive program.

I've gotten used to people being rude where WICs are concerned. It's a very frustrating process that causes delays for paying customers who, when told the reason for the delay, might launch into a tirade about how they don't want their taxes paying for this.

And the WIC-wielders aren't exempt from rudeness either, obviously.

[LillFilly]

Too bad our workplaces don't have such a rule in-effect!

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith, but our list shows you were rude to the cashier last week and are no longer welcome in our store!"

Heeheehee.

[hobbitt97]

Hi there! Florida gives a EBT/Debit card for food only. Only restrictions are on hot prepared food (Chicken, Buffalo Wings, Meatballs). If those items are sold cold they are ok. You can even purchase sushi and sub sandwiches.

[blas]

In all fairness, WIC is a huge pain to BOTH parties involved.

Working at a grocery store before, I completely understand how frustrating it is when a customer takes out their frustration on you or gets the wrong item and blames it on you, especially when they knowingly grab the wrong item and hope you don't notice, but it's also a huge pain for the WIC recipient as well.

Now, this woman was just a bitch for no reason, but please bear in mind that there are people on WIC who are very confused about their benefits or sometimes just make a simple mistake, so always remember to not take your frustration out on the good ones

[Sliceanddice]

i have nothing to say about the thread it self but this
MMMMMMM multi-grain cheerios....

[bhskittykatt]

Ugh, I got stuck behind someone like that in line at the grocery store the other day. Everything was either the wrong cereal or the wrong size...eventually she just decided to leave everything and take her check back. It took forever and all the other lines were completely packed.

[bubblelittlepally]

If WIC customers are being rude to cashiers, they tell us to tell a manager because WIC does not tolerate people in their program being rude. They might get their privileges taken away. I did tell my manager about her, and I'm pretty sure he is giving them a call.

They have to make a physical threat or assualt someone, otherwise they're allowed to be complete douchebags who assume they are entitled to any variation on the voucher.

[Zellie Crescent]

When I was training for cashier I had one of those people, she was loud and mean and made a comment that I couldn't understand. (I don't speak spanish) I told Dawn, the woman training me that I hope I never see her again, she told me to look out the window. She got into a f'ing Mercades-Benz!

[Der Cute]

Remember please - the car may not matter - it may have been someone authorized to use the checks for the mother or child.

I use WIC. Right now I'm 8.5 mos along, unemployed and really really trying to squeeze blood out of turnips. (not working so well).

I make every effort to help the cashiers with the checks. I follow the list of foods, I put them in order same as the checks, and I try to have smaller checks instead of huge ones. And when doing multiples, I make sure to keep the correct check with the correct pile of foods and put barriers between them.

It's also been noted lately that people who hadn't needed assistance before the recession - middle class- have been using it more and more.

I'm sorry someone using WIC has been poopy - and I promise I will never be poopy when using WIC or FS.

Cutenoob

[hotpinkpride]

My trainers just told me anyone who is being excessively rude like that, there doesn't need to be assault.

[Sapphire Silk]

It's a shame some people have to be real jerks when using programs like WIC.

WIC is really helpful to folks like Cutenoob. Good nutrition is crucial to a healthy pregnancy, and to breast feeding mothers (breast milk is best for baby).

Folks like this SC hurt a lot of people with their childish behavior: it's the kind of thing that fuels the cries against "entitilement programs" (not meaning to get political, just pointing out consequences).

I hope the call got made, and that SC gets spanked by her social worker.

[PCGameGuy]

I was behind a young woman using WIC just the other night. Took a very long time, but I was fine with it because I know why. Fraud runs rampant through all social service programs, as it is the closest that disreputable peple can get to the drem of 'money for nothing'. To combat this, they put a huge number of checks and verifications in place to try and combat this. Unfortunately, it often ends up frustrating the honest users/vendors who are being required to jump through the hoops.

The example I had was here in California, and they had to take each coupon, verify that the items and amounts were correct, imprint the coupon, print a tag for both themselves and the customer, and repeat for every individual coupon for different items. Basically turned checking out with milk, baby food, and formula into four seperate transactions worth of effort.

I was consoled only by the fact that she was getting decent food for her child, and that with such checks in place they will refuse a large number of the fraudulent. Oh, and that I was buying some delicious herb roasted chicken breast for sandwiches.

[Zoom]

Latest suckitude from the WIC Witch of the West.

Only... it's not a witch this time, it's a guy, with no spell power whatsoever.

He strutted into the line, plopped three boxes and handed me the WIC form.

Seriously, what is this? He isn't a woman, he isn't a child; I'm not sure I should even take this one. Unless the woman is giving birth or something and can't physically be there... but, it IS for his family... all right, we'll do this one, even though "FAIL-Os" can be seen on the boxes a mile away.

Actually, it's CHEERIOS... and he scored a trifecta! We take Plain and Multi-Grain; he has chosen Banana Nut, Honey Nut and Chocolate Cheerios. (The last one is just ridiculous.)

Of course I tell him "None of these are on the list, you'll have to get Plain or Multi-Grain..."

He, barely speaking English, doesn't even know what list we are talking about!

This isn't the first time this has happened either. We have gotten a lot of people who claim they never got a list. Supposedly, the WIC store where they somehow got approved for WICs in the first place, has been very lax in explaining the concept of the list to them.

They should have a drill sergeant that goes like this: "You will sleep with the list! You will eat with the list! You will come to love and respect this list and treat it like your mother!"

But instead, they have a monkey wrench private who goes, "Here's your WIC forms, have a good day!" Armies never won wars by having a good day. They travel on their stomachs, and those stomachs need to buy the right varieties of Cheerios!

But here's the new wrinkle. He walks away, obviously intending to get the right cereal. But he's taking quite a long time. A very very long time. Customers start to get the ol' itchy feet and complainy mouth.

I could void out the order or suspend it, but then I would have to wait anyway for Mr. Beleaguered Desk to approve the override. By the time he got there, Slowpoke would evolve into Slowbro and I'd have to switch to Gyarados to deal with the other customers.

Finally he comes back, with-- wait for it-- oh what the heck, why bother waiting for it?-- two entirely different and wrong cereals!

"You really need the list, man," I respond glumly. "We take that one, but not Honey Nut, just regular; and we don't take that other one at all."

Obediently, he starts to walk away, and I get to see the horrified faces of the customers who realize they will be left waiting far too long some more.

"Wait!" I hurriedly interject. "I thought you were going to get Plain or Multi-Grain Cheerios."

Which, thankfully, he does, and only takes an extremely long time this time.

Our store's WIC-edness has reached saturation point to the extent that we could probably have a WIC-only checkout line, and it would be full all day. Certainly the Mrs. Waity McQueues would like that.

[Shalom]

I work in a small pharmacy which has turned half of the store into a small grocery. Basically the kind of stuff you might find in a 7-11, except that all of it is certified kosher. We have milk, cheese, avocados and so on in the big open fridge in the front. So one day a woman comes over to the counter with some groceries. "You take WIC, right?" "No, we don't." (and probably never will; that's just one more layer of paperwork, regulations, and headaches which my boss doesn't need right now.) She gets all angry at me. "Whaddaya mean you don't take WIC?! You have WIC cheese!"

So I'm What in the hell is WIC cheese?

One of the other customers explained. Apparently the WIC program around here only pays for the 16-slice stack of American cheese, even though it's quite a bit more expensive per slice than the 108-slice stack, so the only people who normally buy that size are the ones on WIC, and it's become known in the community as "WIC cheese"... Of course we didn't know this when we stocked the store, given that we never had any intention of participating in the program; we simply stocked it because we figured that it's a good size for a convenience store to carry.

This customer must have seen the "WIC cheese", ASSumed we accepted WIC, and gone on to waste her time shopping for stuff that she then had no way to pay for, or at least no reason to pay out of pocket when she could get it subsidized at another store. I have no problem with that; you want something we don't have, it's not gonna bother me when you go somewhere that does. This is still no reason to come and be angry at me for fooling you into thinking we accept WIC by stocking that size cheese.