Really? I have to explain THAT?

[Trixie]

I had a lady come through my line with a bottle of gripe water (not really sure what it does, just know it's something to do with kids). Says the box in open and the cap has a crack in it. I look at it and the plastic is sorta pulled back and the cap is indeed cracked. Doesn't look like it was tampered with the plastic is still mostly around the cap and it's closed up tight.

She kept asking if we had any in the back (we don't, not popular enough to keep overstock on) and also asking if I thought it was good. Would I buy it from my store? Probably I know enough how we get things in and whatever. Am I going to tell someone else to buy something that's iffy, especially a children's product? Oh hell no.

She finally decides against it and pays for the rest of purchases (diapers and some random stuff I forget now). I'm not really looking at the card she's swiping but it doesn't go through. I watch her the second time and it's an EBT card.

So we go through it step by step and when the screen comes asking to make a choice between EBT Food and EBT Cash she asks me what the difference is. I so brillantly answer "One is for food." She tries the cash option and it doesn't go through. She ended up paying with another card.

Now I've ever had to use an EBT card but I would think that there would be some kind of instructions given and what is and what isn't covered so people would know. Oh yeah, forgot where I was.

After that brain stopping moment I went to lunch to reboot.

[Nemesis44UK]

Gripe water helps to settle young babies with stomach complaints, normally colic. It actually tastes pretty nice, but no way in hell would I buy it with a damaged/tampered cap.

As for the EBT card, that just sounds bizarre.

[Cai1987]

As a broke parent, I wish diapers were covered under EBT food stamps, but no. And yeah, they make they pretty clear. I have a packet somewhere that lists all of the potentially confusing items and whether or not they're covered. The difference between "food" and "cash" though...that should be pretty obvious.

Actually, based on what I know from that packet, I don't think gripe water would have been covered anyway - that would probably fall under "medication" or "supplement".

[bainsidhe]

I've had customers who assume that if EBT has a cash option, that they must qualify for it. These customers aren't usually sucky, just unawares. Most EBT I saw would print with zero cash dollars available (it would print remaining value on the receipt). My guess is she was just new to using EBT.

[notlovinit]

I recently had someone come through the drive thru and AFTER ordering everything and pulling forward asks if we accept the food stamps... uhmm no.
"But it had cash on it."
"Still no"
Ran the card to make her happy, guess what? "Card type not accepted. Try another card."
Did she have back up payment? Of course not.