Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › Rant: Person paying with EBT Card in QFC.
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January 22, 2011 at 6:40 am #597706
TheHouseMemberYou didn’t thank me for your groceries since I’m a taxpayer and paid for them.
You’re welcome though…I know you and the dude you were with are working hard to get off those bennys!
January 22, 2011 at 6:59 am #714756
HunterGParticipantWow…really?
January 22, 2011 at 7:39 am #714757
RarelyEverParticipantmust be the full moon, it draws the trolls. avert your eyes and they will disappear.
January 22, 2011 at 9:01 am #714758
JanSParticipanthouse..isn’t it wonderful that we live in a country that would afford you the same benefits if you needed them? Wow…have you thanked me lately for the upkeep on the street in front of your home?
January 22, 2011 at 9:02 am #714759
JanSParticipantoh, and by the way…per the rules..did you discuss this with the person before you posted your rant? What was their response?
January 22, 2011 at 11:30 am #714760
miwsParticipantSucks that the person didn’t kiss yer feet, huh House?
Maybe you and hooper should get together over a beer, and discuss how the po’ folk ’round here have been the ruination of Society.
Mike
January 22, 2011 at 3:27 pm #714761
TDeParticipantRight in there with RarelyEver
January 22, 2011 at 3:35 pm #714762
GinaParticipantWhat is an EBT card?
January 22, 2011 at 3:54 pm #714763
TheHouseMember@Gina – They are Electronic Benefit Cards, typically known as “food stamps”.
@RarelyEver – You may disagree, but I posted this under Rants and you aren’t obligated to respond if you disagree. So, who’s a “troll” now? Besides, the term “troll” is a subjective term that certain people like to use to vilify someone. Pointless in a discussion.
@JanS – no violation here. This is like complaining about speeders on Admiral or 35th (which is done at least every other week).
I am not critical of people who legitimately need EBT benefits, but the people that I saw (and by the way, I worked in grocery stores for 8 years) do not fall under this classification. They fall under the classification of abusers.
And yes, I do feel that people on food stamps should be thanking the rest of us. After what I witnessed in my grocery days, many of you hopefully would be appalled of what goes on out there. I have stood behind multiple people in lines using EBT cards to pay for steak, lobsters, crabs, etc while I was behind them purchasing a can of soup for dinner (mind you, I was employed and working).
When government is looking for ways to save $$$, I would hope that one thing being looked at is the abuse in that system.
January 22, 2011 at 3:56 pm #714764
TDeParticipantElectronic Benefits Transfer card. The upgradeded version of food stamps.
January 22, 2011 at 5:13 pm #714765
JoBParticipanttheHouse…
i am just curious. What qualified them as an abuser?
Did you disapprove of their food choices?
Were they too well dressed?
Was it the non-food items they paid for with actual cash?
And.. out of all of the taxpayers in the store…
why on earth should they have turned around and thanked you?
January 22, 2011 at 5:52 pm #714766
RarelyEverParticipanthttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Trollface.png
yeah, with a post like that you sure weren’t trying to elicit an emotional response from the folks who frequent this blog. you must be dismayed that instead of all the posts in support of your rant you were expecting, you’re getting people actually disagreeing with your premise!
January 22, 2011 at 6:18 pm #714767
datamuseParticipantSlow night, House?
January 22, 2011 at 7:09 pm #714768
luckymom30ParticipantI too have paid for groceries afew times for someone who is down and out but I did not expect a thank you, the mere jesture was enough for me as it felt good to offer someone help. I would hope that someone would do that for me if I needed the help.
January 22, 2011 at 8:19 pm #714769
redblackParticipantluckymom: i think house is accusing them of theft via “wealth redistribution.” not helping people in need.
but if someone can get the basics through a food bank or other means, then use state-provided benefits to buy meat, fish, vegetables, and dairy – why not? just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have to eat everything from a can like some kind of hobo.
maybe it bothers house that freedom of choice also applies to people he doesn’t agree with.
January 22, 2011 at 8:33 pm #714770
elikapekaParticipantWow, it must be great to be so omniscient that you can make snap judgments about people.
The house’s post reminds me of a letter I read a loooonnnng time ago in Dear Abby or Ann Landers or one of those columns. It was from a mother who was on food stamps. She was on food stamps because she was the caregiver for her severely disabled teenaged son. She couldn’t work because she took care of him. The husband/father had left, so it was just the two of them. So she got food stamps. For her son’s birthday, she went to the store and bought his favorite junk foods – chips and dip, and a cake and I think she mentioned steak, but I don’t remember the particulars. She had scrimped on things in the weeks leading up to this to give him a special birthday. While she checked out, someone in line made a snide remark about her (not to her, just about her in a loud enough voice for her to hear.) She had written in just to remind others that things may not be what they seem.
My brother in law was in the same boat – he was terminally ill and his wife stayed home as his primary caregiver. They got disability and other assistance to enable him to stay at home instead of a nursing home, including food stamps. Towards the end of his life, all he wanted was sweet stuff – candy, cookies, cake – the doctors didn’t care what he ate at that point, just wanted him to eat. So that’s the stuff she bought. With food stamps.
Then there was the time that I parked in a handicapped spot (with a handicapped placard)right by the front door at the mall, and jumped out of the car to run inside. I could sense the nasty looks and outrage from the people around me. I’m certainly not handicapped. Nobody said anything. If they had asked, or if they were there long enough, they would have found that I was actually going just inside the door to the seating area to escort my mother with her walker to the car.
So maybe you ought to think twice before you make snarky comments about people you don’t know.
And I’m not naive – I know there are certainly people that abuse the system. But in any system that’s going to happen sometimes. I’d rather have a system that ensures everybody who needs it is covered, and if somebody slips through that really shouldn’t be there once while, that’s something I can live with. I’d rather do it that way than make things so difficult that truly needy people are denied help just to make sure you catch all the cheaters.
If you want to look at government abuse, look at the banksters and the war profiteers, for goodness sakes. Your jobs are going overseas, we’ve given billions to bail out banks that were operating like casinos, companies like Blackwater have robbed the taxpayer blind with no bid contracts and then moved offshore so they can pay no taxes at all, but you’re upset because somebody ate a lobster? I think your priorities are a bit out of balance.
January 22, 2011 at 9:59 pm #714771
DianeParticipantChase 4th quarter profits almost $5 billion; big bucks from contracts with state’s food stamps and unemployment; and outsourcing Chase jobs to India
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JP Morgan Makes Big Bucks from Food Stamp Growth, Then Hires Workers in India with Our Tax Dollars
~
January 22, 2011 at 10:01 pm #714772
RarelyEverParticipant*applauds elikapeka*
January 22, 2011 at 10:07 pm #714773
dawsonctParticipantI shouldn’t add anything elikapeka; excellent post.
But I will, ’cause that’s my nature.
—
It won’t cross my mind to scorn another American who is struggling financially until I start seeing some contrition for the destruction of American society from the mega-corporations and the billionaires that have demonstrably benefited astronomically over the last 30+ years because of Republican conceived fiscal and trade policies. Salaries of the average American worker has stagnated, while our productivity continually increases.
We are working harder and longer, but all the capital generated by all that labor has disappeared up the ladder, and the only sign I see is that it isn’t enough, and they want more. We are working harder and longer, but our standard of living is beyond slipping, it is plummeting.
And the top 1% keep on getting wealthier and wealthier.
Yet, it is still not enough for them, so they purchase a whole Party of legislators, who do whatever America’s neo-royalists want them to do, and their job in government is to grease the wheels and continue that gusher of money from our government, which they mostly stash away off-shore and in “foundations” and other tax shelter so they the very tiny amount they contribute back to society is mostly written off anyway.
Of course, the ONLY way we can keep funneling OUR tax dollars into THEIR pockets, is if we cut services that affect POSITIVELY the overwhelming majority of America’s citizens, even if indirectly.
When the handlers cut rations to the rats, they attack each other, not the creators of their suffering, so we get angry asses like the OP, who misdirects their ire at the people THEY HAVE BEEN TOLD are the problem, and COMPLETELY ignore the perpetrators of the destruction of the American Dream.
Congratulations dupe, they couldn’t/can’t continue to do it (to us) without you.
January 22, 2011 at 11:26 pm #714774
miwsParticipantIt’s always easier, and to be frank, quite cowardly, to go after the “weaker” in Society.
It’s very hard, in many, various aspects, to stand up to those with all the wealth and power.
We can rant and rave about how their greed, to make every last penny they can, whether through honest, hard work, or, in what I believe many people, including myself perceive as becoming more the norm nowadays; in at a minimum, an unethical manner, all the way up to outright deception, and scamming (think Bernie Madoff).
We can call, write, E-Mail, our Politicians, and express our disgust at all of the breaks the big corps and wealthy get, only to have it fall on deaf ears, whether that be because the wealthy are lining those Pols’ pockets, or the Pols try to represent and fight for the “little guy”, but are powerless, whether in reality, or perception, to stand up to the more powerful.
It seems about the only way to fight the greed, would be to have a nearly equal, or greater amount of power (money), and to try to change peoples’ way of thinking.
If that doesn’t make sense, then what I’m trying to say, in more (hopefully) simple terms, is if those that choose not to follow the path of greed, and invest monetarily in, and purchase the goods and services of, companies that operate ethically; treating the Environment and their employees, and customers with respect, pay a living wage, and keep the jobs from going Offshore, our Society would be a lot better off.
Getting back to the part about going after the weaker, I compare it to the abusive parent that hits their child. The child isn’t strong enough to fight back, for fear of suffering harsher abuse, so they, in turn, abuse the family pet. They go after the “weaker” one.
Okay, now some might think my analogy is full of holes, and I certainly don’t mean to diminish the suffering abused children and animals experience, but, I think it get’s my point across.
So, yeah, all this bitching and moaning about how the less fortunate in our Society are such a detriment and burden, while ignoring, or only casually acknowledging the impact that those amongst the wealthy that choose to be unethical, have on our Society, is simply a sign of cowardice, and insecurity in oneself, by those that choose to take the easier path of blame.
Mike
January 22, 2011 at 11:34 pm #714775
funkietooParticipant@ dawsonct and @ miws: You are both Spot on! Thank you for saving me a lot of typing as you stated what I was thinking.
Will say that I am disgusted with the UPWARD wealth redistribution theft that keeps making the top 1-2% richest, wealthier…on the backs of the poor, working poor, working class and middle class.
@House–just curious, were you leaning over these individuals’ shoulders, watching them pay for their items?
The EBT card is so much more respectful than the old method of physical food stamps which publically stamped ‘welfare’ on people’s forehead.
January 23, 2011 at 1:35 am #714776
MrJTMemberGotta back The House on this one. If you stand in the checkstand long enough, you can spot em a mile away.
At least now they do not have the opportunity to line their 4 kids and their 3 friends up with penny candy and a $1.00 food stamp. They get their 97 cents back, and then Mom who is behind them all has plenty of cash for a pack of smokes or booze.
The sad part was seeing people that really needed them, and would make the most of what little they got. It always burned me that they struggled so hard to make it work, while the others were using what they “deserved” so callously.
January 23, 2011 at 1:51 am #714777
acemotelParticipant+funkietoo +miws +dawsonct !! And the people in WA state STILL can’t bring themselves to tax the rich. That’s the real shame. The # of people who abuse social services is nothing more than a blip on the screen compared to the SCREWING being given to the “middle class.”
January 23, 2011 at 1:59 am #714778
funkietooParticipantAcemotel…you are so accurate
January 23, 2011 at 2:06 am #714779
JanSParticipantgeneralizations…not everyone on food stamps is out to game the system. I wish people would stop with that assumption. If you saw me at the grocery store, you’d not know that I qualify for food stamps (but don’t get them). You all who are ranting may need to use them some day – you have no idea what might come down the pike. And then…see how it feels to have people say nasty, discriminatory things about you.
Yes, I’ll admit that there are people who abuse the system. When you are perfect in your life, come back and bitch. But until then..thank you because you’re a taxpayer? Oh, please. We all are..even those on food stamps!
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailers/eligible.htm
alcohol, smokes, not on the eligible list. And , I understand that they are not supposed to get cash back, since they now use a card, just like a debit card, that simply records the transaction. The alcohol, smokes are on their own dime. The candy? Eligible, since it technically is listed as a food.
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