Parasites

General General Discussion
1

So I recently switched retail management jobs, I used to sell guns now I have to rotate the buns… While the grocery industry might not be as fun as working in a gun shop I no longer have a 3 hour commute to work. My store is now just 15min down the road.

I have a good staff and my customer base is decent. Well decent minus this group of sponges. It’s insane to see people come into the store with 1k on their EBT cards and then turn around and drop $25-$50 on lotto. These same people are in the store at least two times a week.

While I think the concept of helping fellow Americans when the chips are down is great, this just shows how the system is broken and people are taking advantage of it. It’s also kind of sad/funny to see people come in around the middle of the month and their EBT cards are declined because they already blew all the money.

2

My brother always referred to the state lottery as “the tax on the stupid.” Seeing as how most lotto proceeds just go back into the state coffers, I suppose it’s just a matter of “the state giveth and the state taketh away.”

Just out of curiosity, what can be purchased with an EBT card (SNAP/food stamps program) and what items are prohibited?

3

Keep working- millions on welfare are depending on you.

4

That almost makes me want to stop working.

And no it is not the first time I have heard it.

Heck the St. Vincent de Paul Society will not help you after filing forms with them to prove you need it. I found that one out and was happily surprised when I was about to volunteer with them while unemployed once.

Maybe the government can learn from some private charities?

5

Yeah, no kidding….lol

Alcohol, tobacco, lighters, and lotto are the four that I know of.

6

Welfare and other entitlements has the apparatchiks in Democrat Party rubbing their hands together in glee. It adds people to their voters rolls, and has these people on the gubmint teat.

Ever notice in these dire economic times, with talks of cuts to Defense, not a peep is made about slashing entitlements?

Why is that?

7

The FY 2011 budget cut over $500 million from the WIC program (providing infant formula and food to low-income mothers, infants, and children) and $600 million from community health centers.

The Defense Department was allocated $513 billion, $5 billion increase from 2010.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/whats-getting-cut-in-the-fy-2011-budget/2011/04/11/AFMIynLD_blog.html

8

$500 million from a bloated and abused program is an inconsequential amount. It’s akin to saying you’re going to cut 10 cents from your weekly budget to scale back.

The DOD is currently engaged in several wars, therefore our ROI is greater with DOD.

The Washington Post is a Stalinist publication, and I would take anything they say with a huge grain of salt. It isn’t called “Pravda on the Potomac” for nothing.

9

I noticed the same thing when I worked as a cashier at Walmart a few years ago.

I’ve seen:

  1. Numerous EBT “customers” buying nothing but junk food. In fact, I’d say they represented the majority of the EBT buyers.

  2. End of the month card clearing where they bring a half dozen of their friends to buy luxury food items like steak, seafood, etc.

  3. Holiday EBT “customers” who pay cash for several hundred (sometimes thousands) dollars worth of electronics and toys, then “buy” their food with EBT.

  4. EBT “customers” who are wearing very expensive clothing and are encrusted in jewelry with key fobs that go to high dollar cars.

To top it off, the most belligerent and obnoxious “customers” were WIC or EBT. Nasty, foul-mouthed, generally offensive, and very quick to complain. 9 out of 10 WIC customers are also completely incapable of reading their checks and getting the products listed on them. When they get the wrong item and I inform them they act as if it’s my fault they don’t know how to read and can’t get the right products. WIC illiterates are also habitual offenders in that regard.

I was a lot more sympathetic to the “poor” before I worked at Walmart; I’ve now come to the conclusion that being “poor” and the recipient of .gov assistance is a sign of serious character flaws.

ETA: I, like 13MPG, believe in helping people when they are down, but that help should be provided on my terms. I give a lot of my time to volunteer charitable activities, and I’ve donated a significant amount of money and goods over the years. The government sucks at charity. It’s defined by bureaucrats who, without government jobs, are so stupid and ineffectual they’d be unemployed in the ‘real’ world. The programs are riven through with inefficiency and fraud. We’d accomplish more simply burning the money.

montanadave, to answer your question, EBT covers everything considered “food.” For the typical EBT “customer” this appears to be chips, soft drinks, candy, cookies, and lots of prepared meals (TV dinners). WIC is a lot more restrictive. The checks state specifically what can be purchased by food type and packaging size (store brand must be selected unless unavailable). Foods are determined on an individual basis by a dietician.

10

Exactly what I noticed when working as a cashier during high school. I noticed less junk food and more steaks, lobster, crab legs, ribs, chicken wings, etc.

eta: I didn’t wanna be a cashier. They said I was too smart to bag groceries and push carts, wtf did I care I was in hs and the money was the same ??? I didn’t have to go out in the cold for carts and worked my way up into the movie department soon after…althought I did bang a few hot cashiers and 2 other chicks from the movie department so I guess it all worked out in the end :smiley:

11

I really didn’t want to get started on this topic. It is a source of stress that just burns my a$$. I am not in retail, but in my job, I do deal with the lazy and unemployed (by choice), that live off of you and me, all the time.

Did you know, you can get a substantial gov’t disability check every month, if your letter "A"s are’t very legible? If you are an adult, and have taken some form of mental med (that was most likely unnecessary anyway, but just a way for the pharm. co.'s to make more $ from tax payers), and are now “disabled”? If you are a single mother with 3-4 kids, and now unable to work, because you chose to have these kids with a deadbeat(s)? In fact, the more you pop out, the more the govt will pay you a month! If you are 40 some years old, and suffered a hardship from your father’s death??? No kidding, I just heard that one a couple weeks ago, straight from the ‘disabled’ persons mouth! Its no wonder these leaches don’t want to work. Hell, why would they, they have no shame. Afterall, they are ‘entitled’, right? Thats probably what they’ve been taught. The current handout programs have fostered and encouraged this, and it is way out of control now. These turds won’t work for minimum wage, when they are ‘entitled’ to free money and food.

Plus, the above ‘entitlements’ don’t even include the state money that is given to you on the “free food” card every month, most of which is spent on junk…Mt Dew, chips, cookies, Little Debbies, etc.

Apparently, you can be disabled now, and get free money, for practically breaking a nail. What gives? Being disabled sure isn’t what is was 20-30 years ago. Now, instead of saying you are on “disability”, maybe we should just say they are on “lazy”.

Plus, the fed tax system is out of whack and unfair, if you haven’t noticed. I personally know of several, working and otherwise good members of society, that do fairly well financially, that, in the spring, get more tax money back, than they paid in??? Most of these cases are single mothers, that I am familiar with. What the hell? I am for a tax break here and there, but how can this nation afford to refund more than was paid in, to a significant portion of tax payers??? That is simple economics, folks, and its no wonder this nation has the debt it currently has. Damn.

I don’t understand how society, and the crooks in charge of our money, don’t see a problem with any of this??? As a country, we just cannot afford to hand out all this money, to all these people that just don’t want to work! There is a job for almost EVERYBODY…get one. Apparently there is no shame anymore to be dependent on the government. This country sure didn’t become the great nation is once was, from handouts. It became what is was through hardworking folks, that understood rules, had a work ethic and a govt based on principles (primarily Christian, as much as folks try to deny, in recent times) that most of us now feel are not important.

It appears to me, the govt wants more than half of the population dependent on the govt. If not, why would they feel its a good idea to pay people to do nothing, and be lazy and unproductive? That kind of society is not going to be a prosperous one, like we once were. And yes, while the lib dems seem to be the root of this evil, there is blame on both sides of the political realm. Unless people wake up, open their eyes, and force some of society to have some shame, and earn something for once, there is no economic recovery for the US.

God help us.

12

I see the EBT and WIC scammers all the time when I’m in the grocery store. Fill the cart with expensive stuff, junk food, whatever…and then push it out to a brand new Lexus.

But at my job (working at a campground) my absolute favorite customers are the young, fit 20-30 year olds that pull up with a 35 ft, brand new 5th wheel camper and a brand new diesel F350 to pull it…and then they demand their disability discount. (I should add that few things are more more enjoyable than denying them the discount when they aren’t qualified for it…the fuss, oh man the fuss they put up is epic )

True story…I saw the exact above scenario happen one day…and then the customer behind the disability scammer had a prosthetic arm…but said nothing about a discount. Turns out he wasn’t considered disabled by the government.

That is simple economics, folks, and its no wonder this nation has the debt it currently has. Damn.

Well, when the politicians tell you (with a straight face, I might add) that to save money you have to spend money…it’s easy to see why everything is so FUBAR…that’s some fine crack smoking logic…

13

In the state of Missouri if you own a car(let me re-phrase if you make payments on a car) you are basically not entitled to food stamps. Maybe if I had several kids I could have gotten them, but as a single person, I was not. When I first started in my career field I was making 18k a year gross(not net, gross) for 2 years because I got laid off from one company after 9 months and had to go to another and start all over. I applied for food stamps because after I paid rent(not much), car payment(not much), and all my other bills I had about 100 bucks left over for the month to eat on. I wasnt proud that I was applying for them, but it was what it was at the time. I was denied because I owned a car(such as making payments is considered owning a car, but whatever). So I ended up racking up a few thousand bucks in CC debt that I am just now getting paid off 5 years later.

I too have witnessed the trash at Walmart with a cart full of toys and what not and then buying their groceries on either WIC or some other form of food stamps. Every time I see it I want to ask them WTF they are doing. As a whole I guess I am not opposed to food stamps or WIC, but the programs need drastic overhauls. Time limits, exactly what you can buy(fresh foods, whole grain pasta’s, meat, cheese, bread, etc…). no cookies, candy, soda, pop tarts, sugary cereal, frozen meals. Meet with a dietitian when you get into the program and maybe once a month or every other month to monitor what you are doing. Maybe get some cooking classes included in the program(I know a few of my chef friends who have said they would volunteer their time to teach the less fortunate how to cook healthy meals).

My mother volunteers at a place our church sponsors where they take donated furniture, mattresses, and household goods and the needy can come get it(although its not a free for all, they have to be referred by another church or organization) and some of the stories people tell you are just crazy. These are people who are legitimately trying to make it and refuse to sponge off the government. I respect these people and I hope to never be in their shoes. They also get some people who even though they have followed the protocols to be invited to come get some furniture(nasty as most of it is) they get turned away because of the attitude they have when they show up.

14

ah yes…the WIC program. Ive worked in retail grocery for 13 years. A few weeks ago, I had a new baby mama ask where the WIC cheese is. With a Louis bag big enough to stash a Guatemalan family and a shiny new iPhone. Nothing surprises me anymore!

15

In some sick way a reboot of our society gov might be good ?
Everyone can reapply under a new system where most deadbeats would not get anything

16

I doubt it would ever come to that. We’d go completely broke and defund the military before the Section 8 crowd misses a check.

17

I just love watching the avg. hombre pull out the wic or lonestar card for food, then a huge wad of 20’s for the 4-5 cases of bud light.

18

my gov just signed a drug test for free food law. In the words of Dr Evil, “Its a start”.

19

That’s so funny. I was just talking about something along those lines with a friend of mine. Don’t get me wrong in no freaking way do I want the government having that kind of control over us but if you are getting free food and such you should not be getting high.

20

These people vote Democrat.