A friend of mine saw someone using food stamps to pay for ice cream bars.

[wellstone dem]

Last edited Mon Sep 3, 2012, 09:48 PM - Edit history (1)

She was in line behind the woman in the grocery store. As she stood there waiting her turn, the two women behind my friend said in a very loud voice, "Must be nice to have food stamps to pay for ice cream bars." As my friend tried to think what to say, the woman ahead of her turned and said, "Yes, it is wonderful to have food stamps to pay for ice cream bars. And tonight when your kids get to go to the football game, you think about my kids, we can't afford to go to the football game. And tomorrow, on Saturday, when your kids get to go to the movies, my kids will be at the park, because we can't afford to go to the movies. And on Sunday, when you go to brunch, or for a ride in the country, or shopping, think of my kids, because that's the day we will be eating the ice cream bars. All weekend I will be saying to them, 'On Sunday we get ice cream bars.' Yes, I certainly am lucky to be able to buy ice cream bars with my food stamps."


I just wanted to edit this to make it clear that this was "food stamps" it was about 10 years ago or so, before the EBT cards. Though I agree with the posters below that I can still sometimes tell when people use EBT cards for the food stamp program because they need to use two forms of payment.

[slackmaster]

1. As long as they were real ice cream bars and not Tofutti Cuties, I have no problem with it

[jillan]

4. Hey - for people that are lactose intolerant, those tofutti treats let them have ice cream too.

[slackmaster]

8. Trust Tofutti products to be dairy-free at your own risk

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/34306/ALERT+-+Vanilla+

[jillan]

61. That was in 2009. The lactose intolerant person in my house has had no reactions to these & loves

the mint ones.

[Lucinda]

66. I'm so glad you posted that. I've never seen them!

Thanks!

[PatrynXX]

155. Luigie's Frozen Italian Ice - Lemon

friend is a diabetic but will have those any day.. good way to lose weight..

[NYC_SKP]

189. want.

[LittlestStar]

37. I LOVE Tofutti Cuties!

Unfortunately they have more calories than real ice cream.

[bunnies]

64. Dont harsh on my cuties, pal.

Thems fightin words!

[veganlush]

108. so as long as there is an

innocent animal enslaved..

[Bjorn Against]

109. I am not a vegan but I love Tofutti Cuties

Have you ever actually tried one? They taste as good as real ice cream, they are excellent.

[slackmaster]

220. Yes, I had a vegan girlfriend for a few years. I did the Cuties, Tofurkey, the whole nine yards.

It was horrible. All of it sucked.

[Rain Mcloud]

184. Wow!

Ice Cream again,i had lost hope.
Do they also make Pizzas?

[DesertDiamond]

191. You could make a pizza with the vegan cheese that is out there now, it melts and it's AMAZING!

[Rain Mcloud]

240. Thank You!

[Codeine]

211. Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese is amazing.

My non-vegan fiance and her kids are all very happy to eat it when I make pizza. They also make a cheddar that is perfect for grilled cheese sandwiches.

[Rain Mcloud]

239. Thank You!

[Codeine]

212. Cuties are made of win.

I'm not ashamed to admit I've polished off a box in one sitting at least once.

[Ellipsis]

2. Best post of the day. K&R

[dawg]

3. I guess they think people should just eat beans and rice.

[uponit7771]

21. +1!

[Cracklin Charlie]

65. I love beans and rice!

And I don't give a rip what that lady buys with her food stamps, or when her family eats it.

Those people waiting in line should mind their own business. I saw a checker at my grocery store, white guy, make fun of a Latino family for what they were purchasing, and the way they talked. Next thing I know, store manager, white lady, comes out from customer service and busts that guy to sacker, on the spot. It was amazing.

[aquart]

204. When I see food I don't recognize, I ask. Learned a lot.

[DonViejo]

67. Tuna and noodles

No, they think folks just eat tuna and noodles.

[Misskittycat]

118. Or Ann Romney's favorite, tuna and pasta, when she's playing "poor."

[cstanleytech]

141. To be honest I love tuna noodle casserole to this day.

Of course my brothers and mother hate it but *shrug*

[Odin2005]

161. I grew up eating tuna noodle hotdish.

[2pooped2pop]

209. you guys got tuna?

all we got was hot dogs cut up in our mac n cheese. The 19 cent box, not the better kind. lol

[cstanleytech]

237. Sometimes. Once it was almost Catfood Casserole as the "tuna" we got from a food bank

was actually an unlabeled can of cat food.

[totodeinhere]

93. We should have a varied diet and not just beans and rice.

However there is nothing wrong with beans and rice. It can be good and nutritious. The other day I made a bean with bacon soup from dry navy beans and served it with rice and it was delicious if I say so myself. I apologize for the immodesty.

[NYC Liberal]

135. They think people should just starve.

[Odin2005]

160. They DO think that.

RWers always think the worst of people, they assume people are inherently bad, that they are slothful, lazy, immoral, etc. and helping others only encourages that bad behavior. Thus they think people have to be desperate in order to force them to work.

[Ken Burch]

201. beans, you say? Why should the poor get beans?

"Are there no workhouses?"

[freshwest]

5. Excellent response to a couple of petty, hateful harpies.

[madaboutharry]

33. "hateful harpies".. +1

That describes them perfectly.

[jillan]

6. GOP - Ice Cream is just for the rich!!!

[gopiscrap]

7. OMG what a wonderful response

we have been so conditioned by the fucking republican party and the media whores of that party to be mean spirited, to lose empathy for the poor. That is the biggest problem in this country today...we have lost being a great nation, because great nations have a concern for ALL their people. Great nations have social nets and programs for those who need a lifting hand...great nations have rules and regulations that curb the appetites of the rich and the aggressors!

On a personal note...who gives a fuck what people on food stamps buy with their stamps. For a very short time I was on fod stamps and I know you can't buy cigarrette or alcohol with them. If they can buy ice cream bars with their food stamps then I feel that they are more than entitled to recieve what little enjoyment is possible when you are ecomnomically disadvantaged.

Furthermore, food stamp programs are administered by the states...Everyone pays taxes and so everyone is entitled to recieve the benefits!

[roguevalley]

88. my family ate chicken on Sunday. Or a roast. We waited all week

for it. It was amazing how you can long for things when you're poor. That woman has said that before I think. She has said it before. Bless her and her kids.

[maddiemom]

89. I agree w/y. Well said.

[gopiscrap]

137. Thanks

I've spen t my life working with and for the poor! Nothing pisses me off more than some fucker who has an economic advantage over another dissing them!

[jsr]

9. The demonization of the poor and weak

is a hallmark of the modern GOP.

[uponit7771]

23. +1!

[mzmolly]

71. Indeed it is.

Poor children should never have ice cream. They should be filling the Koch brother's factories for .10 cents an hour.

[AtomicKitten]

10. Good for her! Great response.

Anybody that would heckle another person for using food stamps should be muzzled in public. That kind of attempted shaming is unAmerican.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. So the people BEHIND your friend looked over her shoulder to see how the person IN FRONT OF HER was

paying for her groceries???

Food stamps are on a card now, just like a credit card. All of these critics must either have telescopic vision or a bad habit of invading personal space to look at the kind of plastic card being used to buy groceries.

I call bullshit on most of these stories.

[Blue Belle]

17. Yes, the food stamps are on a card...

That oftentimes have a very distinctive look. In Oregon, the "Oregon Trail" EBT cards have a covered wagon on them and they are pretty easy to spot no matter your place in the check out line. It is possible.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. I don't have a habit of looking at people's credit cards as I'm waiting in line

Maybe it's just me . . . .

[Blue Belle]

25. Well, maybe you aren't looking for an opportunity to shame someone...

Sadly, not everyone thinks like you do.

[Ellipsis]

27. It is.

But it's all good.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

48. Sadly, I know people who do.

It's a sick compulsion for them.

[Odin2005]

163. You aren't a hateful busybody looking for someone to lash out at.

[jsr]

32. Yes, they're easy to spot:

Examples:


Tennessee


California


Texas

[jp11]

100. Well now I'm going to dig up some images I can imitate to put on my credit card

that lets me put a custom image on it just for fun.

[MADem]

190. That top card looks a LOT like my bank debit card!

I suppose I could cause quite a stir in TN, maybe buying a little booze and oh...I dunno...something to do with S-E-X, perhaps????

[LeftyMom]

34. The ones in California don't look like any bank card I've ever seen.

If they weren't obvious enough the card system is usually set up in such a way that the customer has to say something to the cashier, or they have to pay cash after their food stamp items are done. edit: And 9/10 of the time the cashier has to punch them in by hand, I'm told the magnetic strips fail almost immediately.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, but at least the transactions don't take 10 minutes, unlike those godawful WIC checks. I absolutely do look at who's buying what in order to avoid standing behind anybody with one of those WIC folders or items that suggest that's what their transaction is, because those things take forever.

[wellstone dem]

24. This happened about 10 years ago, before the switch was made to EBT cards

I've got many stories from people I serve about what was said to them while using the actual coupons. "Wish I could dress like that and get food stamps" by the clerk at the checkout, the woman told me the clothes she was wearing were free from the church basement. She started wearing clothes she bought that looked "cheap".

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. Nosey Nellies. Blows my mind.

I'm usually too busy unloading my own cart to watch how anyone else is paying for their groceries.

Besides, it's NONE OF MY BUSINESS. Good manners comes to mind.

[blueamy66]

62. I used to watch, but don't anymore.

It takes too much out of a person, I decided.

Plus, I'm usually trying to figure out if there will be someone to bag my groceries....9 times out of 10 I do it myself these days.

[suffragette]

77. I remember that scrutiny from when I was young and my mother paid in actual food stamps

Same then as now and believe me, the people who did (and do) this eyed every item and took every opportunity to make a condescending remark. It's their way of making people on welfare, AfDC, Social Security, etc 'pay' in shame and humiliation. And it's directed at the children as well as the adults.

It's truly ugly, proud2BlibKansan, which is why it's far from the behavior you would have or understand since over the years I've seen your many posts of compassion toward others and especially for the youth in our education system. At this point, some of those eagle-eyed, shopping line commentors must be the children or even grandchildren of those who did this to my mother and her generation. They are emulating the behavior they learned from their parents.

[hfojvt]

78. actually that reminds me of something my mailman said

He was bringing me another box of CDs and my friend Jim was there in my store and the mailman said something like "I isure cannot afford to buy a bunch of CDs like this." I was kinda taken aback by that. As if I, with my bookstore that made no money, and my part-time janitor job paying $5.50 an hour was somehow better off than somebody working for the Post Office. And he rented his upstaris to Jim so he had landlord income too.

But I had joined the Columbia music house club and so he WAS bringing me lots of CDs. But, although such clubs have a bad reputation, it seemed to me that the CDs were quite affordable. Even with shipping I was usually only paying $3-4 per CD.

But these kinds of trenchant comments are probably fairly common. I heard some neighbors on the corner talking about the "niceness" of my bicycle. Which is an expensive bike, but much cheaper than any used car that they were probably driving. Then another neighbor wondered if I would sell my car because I almost never used it.

[loyalsister]

82. In KC

There's a high end restaurant called EBT. Cracks me up every time I go by there.


Edited to add link

http://www.bing.com/local/default.aspx?what=EBT+restaurant&where=Kansas+City%2c+Missouri&s_cid=ansPhBkYp01&mkt=en-us&ac=false&q=EBT+restaurant+in+Kansas+City&qpvt=EBT+restaurant+in+Kansas+City&FORM=LARE

[pstokely]

226. That place doesn't take EBT

Can't use EBT on hot food

[loyalsister]

232. LOL

Really?? I was just pointing out the irony.

[pstokely]

243. People who actually gone they're thinking they'll take EBT

can't even use EBT at Subway, Papa Murphy's takes it though

[ejpoeta]

171. I remember using the actual food stamps. Oh how awful it was.

YOU had to hand them to the cashier and they were always stuck together. And you could feel everyone GLARING at you while you were ripping them out. It was the worst experience! I hated it! I am so glad they have the cards now. We had the card a later time we had the food stamps and it was better.

[awoke_in_2003]

50. I have seen Texas' card...

it is very distinctive, and many stores have a separate card scanner just for them.

[Warpy]

51. I notice what the person in front of me is buying

and while I think they might benefit from a nutrition class or two, they didn't ask my advice so I keep my trap shut.

Most people on food stamps are not eating that well. It's not junk food, it's just low bang for the buck food like lunch meat and balloon bread. Then again, that stuff might be all the kids will eat.

[totodeinhere]

94. Right, plus a lot of people who are not on food stamps for whatever reason can't

afford to buy luxury food items either.

[DebJ]

217. What IS balloon bread? n/t

[Warpy]

223. It's that air filled commercial stuff that makes your teeth squeak

when you eat it and can be compressed down to a sheet of paper's thickness between your fingers. You can't do that with homemade bread.

And it doesn't make your teeth squeak.

[DebJ]

227. LOL thanks. Is that why Wonder Bread had bright red and yellow balloons on it or circles?

Do they even still make Wonder Bread? (Wonder it didn't kill us).

[Prism]

52. I always notice when someone's using the food stamp card

Mainly because the line slows/stops for no perceptible reason, so I glance down the line to see what the hold up is. The cashier has to process the card/groceries in some way that takes a little extra time.

Sometimes, and I think this makes me a horrible person, I'll go to another line when I see someone holding their Link card here in California. It basically screams "This line is about to be held up." I'm not sure why, and I always wince inwardly for the person because not only may they be self-conscious about using the card, but then they've got a line of impatient, eye-rolling people behind them.

I wish they'd change how it's processed.

But, yeah, this does sound like a Bouncy story. I never encounter these "perfect public spectacle" political responses. They're just a little too precious.

[left on green only]

129. I live in California as well, and from my experience I can say...

that the amount of time it takes for me to use my food stamp card depends on the capabilities of the processing equipment that the grocery store is able to afford to utilize. At Nob Hill/Raley's stores, using my food stamp card takes the exact same amount of time that it takes to pay for groceries using a credit card, and with the exact same signature requirements (for purchases less than $20 a signature is not required). However, what does add to the amount of time that it takes is when items like deodorant and toothpaste are purchased, because they do not qualify under the food stamp program.

For those non qualifying items, the processing equipment at Raley's automatically recalculates the bill as soon as my card is swiped, in order to give me a separate total for the items that I have to pay for using cash, and then also a separate total for the amount of the other qualifying items that is subtracted from the food stamp card.

So what takes more time during those compound transactions is the time that it takes me to reach into my pocket and take out the cash, after I should have already been finished with my transaction after having just swiped my card. But that doesn't usually happen for me because qualifying food items are almost always the only thing that I buy.

As an aside, an embarrassing experience happened to me one day when my mind was operating at a lower state of consciousness (a senior moment). I forgot to keep track of the estimated total cost of the items that I was placing in my cart *before* getting in the check out line. By the time it was my turn to check out, there were 4 or 5 people in line behind me.

After my items were totaled up and I swiped my card, it turned out that I did not have enough money left on my card to pay for all of the food that I had put in my cart. And by that time, all of the items had already been bagged (they are very efficient at Raley's). So I had to make all of the people in line behind me wait while they un-bagged my food and let me decide which items I would leave behind. I think that nobody behind me said anything because they could already tell that I felt like an exposed rat.

Then, when I got back to my car and I was loading the trunk up with the items that I was able to purchase, a young man who I remember had been standing in line behind me, came running up to me with a bag of groceries in his hand, and he said, "Here, I think you forgot these". I embraced him without even caring who might be watching. And the reason why I say that is because I live in a very red neck area, where the act of two men embracing in public is a very dangerous thing to do.

[MissB]

139. What a sweet story.

Thanks for sharing.

[happyslug]

231. Did you report that extra bag of groceries to your Welfare Department???

Under the federal regulations that cover Food Stamps, that was "in-kind" assistance and must be reported to welfare. Welfare when then count the groceries as "Income" and reduce how much Food Stamps you were eligible for. You will then have received an "Over-payment", which will be used to reduce the Food Stamps you will get next month.

Yes, that is the Law and it is widely ignored for good reasons. I use to joke, in the 1990s I had a copy of my states Welfare Regulations on a Shelf on my office. It was 8 volumes each 4 inches think. All, but one page, were the various "Rules" to make sure people on welfare did NOT get overpaid (The one page was how much Welfare a person was entitled to get). It is now on computer but the actual welfare amounts have NOT changed since 1982 for Pennsylvania (Through Food Stamps have increased):

55 PA Code (Welfare) site:
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/055/055toc.html

In the late 1990s it was proposed to the State of Pennsylvania as one way to save money, was to cut back on the reporting requirements. The proposal was rejected, even through everyone knew it would save money. No rationale was given, but the reason was clear, people in the Welfare Department are afraid of the State Legislature, and the State Legislature is afraid of hearing of someone abusing the Welfare system. The State Legislature is so afraid of hearing of one person getting his or her's $174 a month (The Welfare Grant for my home county, a welfare recipient in Pittsburgh get $206, In Philadelphia $226 do to higher costs of living in those two counties) when he or she MAY not be entitled to it, that they were willing to spend thousands of dollars to prevent such a situation, even if it can be shown the controls exceeds any possible fraud (i.e. putting a $50 lock on a 10 cent items to make sure the 10 cent item is never stolen).

Anyway, the concept that Welfare (and Food Stamps) are to be REDUCED by any other income a poor person gets is well established in the Law. It is also up to the Government to PROVE you had the income (not for you to show you did not), thus unless you report it, the Government does not KNOW of it and thus will NOT use it.

While the law in most states says you MUST report such "Income" most welfare systems do NOT want to hear of such gifts, it confuses their system. It is better NOT to tell them, even through the law says you must. Welfare does NOT want to hear of such "gifts", but the underlying law says you must inform them (i.e, no one wants to hear of such gifts, but no one wants to change the underlying law either). Thus my advice is NOT to tell anyone, unless asked about it, and then tell the truth. Most Welfare caseworkers know better then to ask, so such income is ignored. My sole point in bringing this up is to so how stupid most of the regulation regarding welfare are, written by people who have never been on welfare and then more to look good at the next election then to do anything to improve welfare.

[left on green only]

236. Along those lines, I did experience.......

a REDUCTION in my food stamp allowance as "payback" for the cost of living increase that all Social Security recipients were granted on Jan 1, 2012. The reduction in my food stamp benefits almost equaled the pittance I was granted from S.S. for cost of living increase. That is to say, my food stamp benefit was reduced from $29/mo. to $17/mo.

[happyslug]

238. Good old fashion Federal Food Stamp and Social Security regulations working hand in hand.

The Federal Government, like the state, does not want you to get to much, you MAY spend it unwisely. (I am being sarcastic, but that is how Congress "in its infinite wisdom" writes these laws).

[Odin2005]

165. My Minnesota EBT card works like my check card.

I just swipe it and hit OK.

Maybe it depends of the card-scanning machine.

[Warpy]

224. It doesn't take that much longer here

but usually means the shopper has bought toilet paper, tampons, or soap, you know, those things you really don't need that have to be paid for separately, in cash.

[vaberella]

76. In NYC it's pretty easy to spot. They are on cards, but people have to sign other paper slips.

I stood in line behind a woman, wondering why it was taking so long. She was using food stamps. She had the JP Morgan Chase associated card they gave her but she had to sign off some paper work too.

[aquart]

205. NYC uses EBT and nothing has to signed.

[JDPriestly]

96. At my store, people stare at me because I AM NOT paying with food stamps.

That's life in the big city.

People who can pay for their groceries themselves are the envy of everyone.

In fact, I find that so heartbreaking that it is one of the reasons that I try to communicate with people on DU about these issues and also why I am volunteering many hours for the Obama campaign.

We have to remain a compassionate nation, part of the compassionate family of man no matter what happens. We have to care about each other.

A human cannot survive on his or her own without at least a very small amount of social activity for very long. We need each other. We are language-bound. And language is a social function.

This whole Ayn Rand, I made it all by myself idea is a big lie. It's so a couple of centuries ago -- Rousseau. It was debunked then and needs to be debunked again.

Let's take care of each other. Is it so hard to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. What's with these creeps?

Sorry for the emotional rant. This just makes my skin boil.

[Blanks]

105. It was a good rant, I don't know why you would feel the need to apologize.

[russspeakeasy]

120. Allow me to join you in calling BULLSHIT !

[wellstone dem]

177. Sorry I was not clear, this was "food stamps" it was more than 10 years ago before the EBT cards

I've worked serving the poor for more than 30 years.

[1monster]

166. Yeah, but you know what? Somehow, the cashiers always say something that makes

it clear that the customer is using food stamps. I don't think it is always intentional. But I know that it is quite often.

[Codeine]

213. At least here in California they are pretty obviously different.

And they're cheaply made, so they wear out quickly and won't slide, which means my cashiers and I often have to do a manual entry of the numbers and ask whether the transaction is on cash or food benefits.

[AllyCat]

215. People are bored and nosy.

You've never seen a person harassed for paying with assistance?

[proud2BlibKansan]

216. No I really haven't

We must lack Nosey Nellies here where I live.

[AllyCat]

241. You're lucky. I've bit my tongue a couple times

Others, I have tried to divert the nosy. I always want to say something and am never sure how to do it. I've been nasty once. Usually, I just try to say something positive.

[CrispyQ]

12. Good for her!

They should be shamed like this every fucking time.

[baldguy]

13. The only crime in America is being poor.

It must be punished at every opportunity.

[TeamPooka]

57. Touche!

[HiPointDem]

86. +1

[LarryNM]

187. +1 n/t

[Iris]

229. You said it, bald guy

[Blue Belle]

14. well done...

I wish I could be clever on the fly like that to shut down that clueless poor hating bitch. Makes me wonder how many times the lady with food stamps has had to justify her purchases before.

[wellstone dem]

30. My friend told me that she was

trying to think what to say to support the woman, "I have to say something...." when the woman gave her own response better than anything else that could have been said.

[Blanks]

107. It's a department of agriculture program.

The companies that produce the food products and the employees of those companies benefit every bit as much as the people who consume the products.

Don't the ice cream manufacturers deserve some kind of financial support in these difficult times?

I probably would have just said "mind your own fucking business", but I'm not very clever under pressure.

[LTR]

168. Absolutely! Foodshare programs are a good economic stimulus

That's the dirty little secret right-wingers are too feeble minded to realize or admit. EBT and the like do more for the economy than tax cuts for the wealthy and bombing the crap out of foreign countries.

[Iris]

230. I would have applauded her and then turned to the nasty lady and asked her for a Kleenex

I need one now just reading this!

[barbtries]

15. what a great response.

she put them in their place. yay for her!

[ismnotwasm]

16. Great response.

Good for her and I wish her great things in life

[reformist2]

18. Nothing angers Repugs like food stamps. It's amazing.

It's like 2-3% of our federal budget.

[HooptieWagon]

36. It might be less than that.

[kestrel91316]

41. It's up to 2%, but that's just recently. Under Bush it was less than 1%.

If we do something about JOBS, that number can drop substantially, but the Repukes refuse to do anything to improve the job situation. All they want to do is eliminate income/capital gains/estate taxes on the 1%. Who WON'T invest those tax savings in companies that hire in the US.

[zonkers]

19. Beautiful.

[JesterCS]

22. Hope you dont mind I posted that up on my facebook :)

[calimary]

70. OOOH - good idea!

Thanks for the suggestion!

[glacierbay]

26. Great comeback

Probably shut them right the fuck up.

[Pat Riot]

29. Also, people who mind their own business live longer.(n/t)

[KarenS]

31. This makes me cry,,,, I am so sick of mean-spirited people. n/t

[former-republican]

75. Stop with this type of posting on DU

I see this too much here.
Get Angry !!!!!!!

That's what we need. Enough with crying....................


OP great story by the way.

[KarenS]

106. you know,,,,

I'm not sure just who you are or why you think you can say that to me.

I did cry. AND I am angry, I've been angry since 1999.

I engage complete strangers all the time and if I witnessed this I would have said something to
the mean-spirited woman that talked that way to the woman with food stamps.

but do not tell me how to post on DU.

[cynatnite]

195. Sometimes tears can move one into action...anger is not always required. n/t

[icarusxat]

138. ditto

[abelenkpe]

38. K&R nt

[Surya Gayatri]

39. I hope the haridans behind her blushed in shame

and shut their ugly, pinched and ungenerous mouths.

I have to say this brought tears to my eyes. These people are like evil caricatures from a Dickens novel.

[bahrbearian]

40. I saw a guy who has been living off the government for years eating Ice Cream

In fact he stole it from a little girl

[Blanks]

111. That's probably the little girl...

That he was imagining that he was eating when he was talking about it in this speech.

[snappyturtle]

42. Even if you are correct the message in the OP is a good one. imho nt

[KurtNYC]

43. If I can be honest

this story just doesn't sound like anything I have ever seen or heard happen. Two women who are behind your friend, who is herself behind the woman paying, are watching the transaction very carefully and they BOTH say "Must be nice..." and then the paying woman has a nice long calm comeback.

In my world it would happen more like this: Woman A say "Must be nice to have food stamps...."
Woman B says "Listen you (insert visible negative physical trait here) (insert racial term here) you need to mind your business or you'll be LUCKY to eat your next meal through a straw."

[Tigress DEM]

81. Yeah, maybe if it had been the FIRST time anyone had ever said anything to her in that vein.

Thing is it DOES happen a lot more these days. She probably thought of those things but didn't say them on several other occasions. It isn't just food stamps either. Lots of people are looking for reasons to look down their nose at someone these days.

If a person is on a cell phone in line, other people will start in (loudly) about how people should get off the phone and pay attention to what they are doing.

Me, I've snapped back at a lot of people for picking on someone else. One day I was at Sam's Club, I know I shouldn't shop there, but..... there was a line at the snack counter up front in sight of the check out lines. I like the 4 berry ice cream and was waiting in line to get one. The line was a little spread out and some kids came up and were looking at the menu and the money they had in hand doing calculations.

This old biddy behind me tells them they need to get in line that there are others there before them. OK, her tone wasn't the greatest and they were just reading the menu, but in and of itself, not a huge deal. BUT she doesn't let it rest. She keeps after them, wanting to know where their parents are and that they better not buy more than they can afford. See they were little brown children speaking Spanish.

She had her back to me and I had my ice cream, but I just could NOT deal with it so I said, "What business is it of yours whether they have enough money or not?"

She turns around and says, "Well where are their parents? They can't be in this line if their parents aren't here." At this point the younger kid runs to his dad who is in line paying for his items and the kid is in tears.

"It's STILL not your problem. Buy your stuff and move along lady." She was next in line and keeps grumbling but I just stand off to the side and glare right at her. When the kids get up to the line, the older brother has enough for his item and a dollar left over but it isn't enough to get the young kid a 4 berry sundae, so I gave him mine.

Their dad comes up thinking he has to pay for it, but I told him I already did. I said I just can't STAND people like that, so the treat is on me. I told the kids, "Nobody should talk to you like that. She's a mean old lady. I just want you to know not everyone is like her."

Then I went and sat at the table with my hubby who wanted to know what happened to my ice cream. I told him I gave it to the kid and why. I was still hot under the collar and fuming that someone could be such a racist toward little kids.

[KurtNYC]

123. I too cannot stand adults mouthing off to children

Mature lady on the subway heard a white child speaking a foreign language to her black nanny and took it upon herself to tell this 4 or 5 year old girl, "You are going to have to learn English to do well in THIS country."

So the girl asks her nanny in the sweetest French "pourquoi?" And it wasn't 'why do I have to speak english' but rather like 'why is this rude woman speaking to me?' The nanny who I believe was Haitian shrugged and refocused the girl so that she put her back to the woman. I stepped in between the woman and this child because I wanted to make sure she did not say anything else. It stuns me when that kind of thing happens because it would never cross my mind to think let alone say something like that -- like the girl, I just think "why?" and I have no good answer.

[1monster]

170. I'm afraid I have mouthed off to children. But never that way.

One little barefoot boy was chasing another boy who had his shoes around a garden center. The garden center attendant very politely told the boys that it was dangerous to be barefoot in the garden center. They could get hurt, so please put the shoes back on.

The little boys totally ignored her and ran toward me.

I said, "Did you not hear her? Give him back his shoes!"

At which point the boys stopped cold and the shoes went back on super fast.

The attendant started to apologise to me for asking them to put on their shoes. I stopped her and said, "They aren't my kids. I've never seen them before. But they weren't listening to you."

I'm not sorry for it either, and I'd do it again. People have been snake bitten in garden centers, and there can be nasty chemicals and other harmful things from which shoes can help protect. Their parents weren't even in the garden center. They came along a few minutes later.

My job is kids. I would never belittle them though.

[Tigress DEM]

244. It takes a village sometimes.

I give kids a little what for if they are behaving dangerously too.

I also tell them, "Hey, be nice to your Mom/Dad because you only get 1 of them" when they are arguing, defying their parents in front of me. Or "Don't break your Momma. You only get one of those you know." Kids will hang on their Mom or shake, kick whatever to get their way sometimes.

But I'll catch them being good too. I'm a people person and not too shy.

[coalition_unwilling]

128. You rock! Wish the world had more people like you in it - n/t

[Tigress DEM]

149. Thanks. I've been weepy thinking about it. I didn't do much, but I did do something.

I just get so mad about all the hatefullness. Why fight with each other at all? And most especially, why bring the kids into it?

[wellstone dem]

179. I know it soun hard to believe but it is true and

I've got lots more true stories from my 30+ years serving the poor.

One of the one's that breaks my heart is a woman who was off of welfare, working for a community action agency, who told me about getting off of welfare. After getting work, and getting a few paychecks and paying bills, she finally could by her son some name brand tennis shoes, which he had always wanted. When he wore them to school one of the other children said, "People on welfare aren't supposed to have ______ (insert name of brand)."

I live in a county in a primarily rural area, so people don't live in a "poor" area, so maybe the reason I hear these stories is because those with money see the poor, and some feel like that gives them permission to judge.

[zappaman]

44. Cool story Bro! n/t

[MADem]

45. In my state, you need to be up someone's ass and in their pocket to be able to tell who is using

food stamps to pay for anything.

Years ago, "food stamps" were fake looking monopoly money.

Now, "food stamps" look like an ATM card.

Do people seriously scrutinize what people have in their hand when they're doing the card swipe at the grocer?

I don't.

I assume they are swiping a bank card and punching in a PIN, like many others do.

If someone is close enough to see my bank card, they're close enough to read my PIN. Time to tell those people to back the fuck off.

IMO.

[jeff47]

167. Look up thread a bit

In many states, the cards are quite distinctive.

[MADem]

192. The TN EBT card looks like my bank debit card.

I need to have some fun in TN....! I'll have to make it a point to flash the thing next time I'm passing through there--maybe buy some booze with it...

[1monster]

46. There are already so many rules about what can and can't be bought with

food programs. I was in line behind a woman buying food with WIC (Women and Infant Children). She was buying peanut butter and was told she could not buy that particular type because it was "crunchy" peanut butter She would be allowed to purchase "creamy" peanut butter, but the state had come out with a list of foods that were not allowed to be purchased with WIC.

Talk about nit picky.

Real ice cream does have nutritional value. Kids, even poor kids, deserve a treat once in a while.

[Blanks]

116. I would say 'especially poor kids' deserve a treat once in a while.

My favorite Christmas present is when we can anonymously give Christmas gifts to the kids who won't get anything else.

We once lived in an inner city neighborhood and we gave the kid next door a tool set (an old one; he was always messing with cars) we asked him the day after Christmas what he'd gotten; "a tool set" he says (this gift wasn't anonymous). He explained that his momma hadnt gotten paid yet so they wouldn't have Christmas until a couple of days later. She worked her ass off cleaning apartments.

We really need to take better care if the less fortunate.

[1monster]

150. I would agree with you... I was being mildly sarcastic in my post.

[Blanks]

154. I guess there's not a mild sarcasm emoticon. I just thought you were being a monster.

[1monster]

164. I made that screen name in 2002 when my son was in elementary school. I was the mommy monster,

my husband was the daddy monster, and my son was the baby monster.

Mommy monsters are ALWAYS good to kids. Always.

[Warpy]

47. I once saw someone buy a crown roast

complete with the paper panty things on the tips with food stamps.

All I thought was about what she had to pawn to be able to blow her whole week's food budget on that.

[nadine_mn]

115. You do realize that those may not have been her food stamps, right?

Someone may have " sold" their food stamps to her. It's sometimes done on exchange for cash or for rent.

[Warpy]

145. That's true, too

because this was in the bad old days of the actual stamps.

[nashville_brook]

127. It's actually an affordable meat -- any large roast costs less per pound than smaller cuts

You can spend $30 on a crown roast have 12 meals. That's $2.50 per serving -- cheaper than a Big Mac.

I wouldn't know what an EBT card looks like in this state. The last time I had food stamps was back in the day of coupon books. I'll never forget the contempt I felt directed at me from other people in line, and the humiliation knowing that people were totally judging me based on what's in my basket.

I always imagined these people judging me were Republicans.

[DirkGently]

152. Why do we even dignify these "anecdotes"

...suggesting that someone on public assistance has it too good?

They don't. Nobody thinks that. What entitles someone to scrutinize someone who is struggling to make sure to shame and despise them if they accept help, but don't seem sufficiently miserable to "deserve" it? What is this human rage at the thought that someone with less than they still has too much? How stupid are we to want others diminished and humiliated before we lift a finger to help? How do we not get that poverty hurts all of us, all the time?

There is such a thing as welfare fraud. If we respected social services well enough to fund them properly, we could address that. But it is not the norm. The norm is that we are lucky to be able to try to have a system that keeps everyone above a certain floor. This should be a civic goal for anyone. A source of pride that in America, no one must go hungry. It would be a better country for all of us if we offered even more, and we can. We outspend the world on weaponry and defense, despite there being no need for it. We have billions to give away to banks and oil companies.

We cannot keep having this conversation about whether it is somehow morally wrong to try to keep people out of poverty.

It's the only reason to have a country in the first place.

Great post.

[DebJ]

218. Wow: What is this human rage at the thought that someone with less than they still has too much?

Might post that as my FB status.

[hfojvt]

49. not every kid from a working family goes to football games or movies

In fact, why the heck would I have wanted to goto a football game?

[Baitball Blogger]

53. Well said. Sounds like that woman knew it was coming.

[judesedit]

54. Can you believe the well off don't even want the poor to be able to have ice cream bars??? What a

bunch of selfish, sick bastards we have in this country. It's obvious to foreigners. When they come here all they see is fat people and they are astounded. This is the only country that people die from eating too much.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

198. That's it exactly!

"I've got mine and I don't want you to have yours."

[bigbrother05]

55. BTW: food stamps = farm subsidies

Food stamps are the modern version of the old commodities program where the government bought directly and distributed to the needy. Now it has been privatized, all those folks being able to buy from their local stores fuels the economy and keeps farm prices up.

Guess the 1%ers are pissed that the food stampers are making their food more expensive, even though they also keep the profits for corporate farms and ADM, Monsanto, etc. rolling in.

[coalition_unwilling]

132. I remember well the 'commodities' program which lasted into the 70s in Missouri. We lived

on a small family dairy farm but were so poor we had to get them.

Imagine the irony of living on a dairy farm and getting non-fat dried milk. To this day, there are certain foods I cannot stomach b/c of the stigma I associate with their being on the commodities program.

IMO, based on my experience, few have it worse it worse than children of the adult poor b/c of the cruelty of other children.

[Scuba]

56. How horrible for your friend. Now her marriage is ruined and she must live in a socialist dystopia.

Or, the local economy has $1.73 for every buck worth of ice cream. At least that's what Moody's, the bond-rating folks, say:

<a href="http://imgur.com/T7qoo"><img src="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" alt="" /></a>

[liberalmuse]

58. How incredibly rude of those women.

They ought to be ashamed of themselves, and I hope one day they get to walk in the other woman's shoes for a bit. Great response by the mother, but it was really no one's business.

[Trunk Monkey]

59. Dog, I love instant Karma NT

[Chorophyll]

60. Goddamn, what a great comeback.

I don't know whether to cheer, cry, or go out and find some selfish, smug asshole to kick.

[coalition_unwilling]

134. LOL - but I think you're violating DU's

Terms of Service Oh, what the hell, rules are meant to be violated every now and then

[Chorophyll]

146. Oops. Note to all concerned: I have not now, nor will I ever, kick anyone's ass.

I'm a nice lady and I'm also on the short side. I only kick ass in the figurative sense.

::whew::

[amuse bouche]

63. I would love to know

what the judgmental jackass's reaction was

[avebury]

68. Really good response to the nosy biddies.

It is a response that also sheds a different light on what families on food stamps face. People should not be so judgmental.

[jtuck004]

69. This is sounding an awful lot like a campaign. There was an LTTE today,

Last edited Mon Sep 3, 2012, 08:57 PM - Edit history (1)

spotted someone purchasing (gasp) the national brand of X instead of the store brand.

For a time I've thought this a sport for some, or a kind of freebie arcade game of "spot the spendthrift" for others. But I am seeing more and more of these "Reagan-welfare-queen" firsthand stories, which have a tendency to shape public thinking.

It could be just the hypersensitivity these folks have developed about any perceived wrong, and their newly discovered freedom to be obnoxious.

But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this is part of the ramp up of a campaign, because there are hundreds if not thousands of little meetings still going on, not as publicized as they were when the Teabaggers first started, fighting against their opponents at every imaginable, and invented, opportunity, people that would burn everything around them down if they can't win.

And Koch, Adelson, and their ilk only have to buy a few organizers. The rest is all enthusiastic volunteer fascism.

[suffragette]

112. Agree it is sounding like a campaign

It taps into the ugliness I posted about higher up in this thread and it looks like some of the "grassroots" people involved are getting at least some funding from entities like Americans for Prosperity:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1260877

The OP did well to post a strong counter to this.

We'd all do well to keep digging and expose the $$$ behind the campaign.

[ElboRuum]

72. The GOP Meme...

Probably the most ponderous and poisonous meme (now a good 30 years old...) in modern American history is that if you are poor, you deserve nothing.

If you are enjoying ANYTHING, you are luxuriating on the taxpayer dime. Oh, and be sure you walk all hunched-over and beaten-down-by-life-looking because that's the appropriately humiliated posture for a person who sucks off the government teat.

Yes, I'll include this...

[SoCalDem]

73. Stuff like this happens because the definition of "food" has changed

I'm sure that corporate lobbyists have spent "brazillions" of dollars ensuring that the definition (for food stamps purposes) has remained "loose".

Grocery stores are vastly different from what they were when food stamps started out.

So is advertising.

The "normal" foodbasket USED to contain mostly "building blocks" of food preparation, which were then put together at home to make a meal.

That changed for MOST people... a long time ago.

It's still possible to cook from scratch ( I do it every day), but look at how many people , especially poor people have limited access to adequate, storage, cooking facilities. It's entirely possible that some people with food stamps live in motels, or in someone's garage or spare room...or their car.

The USDA could have (at any time..or many times) changed the criteria of eligibility-of-foods (like WIC), but they have chosen NOT TO DO IT. Large corporations do not WANT the criteria changed...so do the grocery store magnates. They want to sell product, and if people find themselves unable to buy the stuff, food stamps bridge the gap when buying food..even if some of it is deemed "unsuitable" by "some people".. Food stamps are also PURCHASED by poor people..not entirely "GIVEN" to them.

While it might seem "out of line" for a "poor person" to "waste" "our" tax dollars on something "we" think they should not be buying, it's LEGAL for them to buy anything that the rules say it's okay to buy with food stamps. This includes lots of things that are not "good for them" or even "nutritious", but the law calls those things "food"..

99.999999% of people on assistance use their "aid" wisely, but of course, the occasional "oddity" is what gets magnified.

Decades ago (In Indiana), actual FOOD was handed out to poor people.. My friend's Dad worked for the agency that did it. Every month, people lined up and got :

3 boxes of food: (items I remember being in the boxes)

eggs
butter
rice
beans
flour
sugar
cereal
powdered milk
potatoes
onions
pasta
canned soups
canned tomatoes
canned fruit
canned veggies

Of course food stamps are easier to use since it requires no warehouses to store the stuff, no facility to hand the stuff out, and of course it allows people to choose what they want to buy, but it also transfers the responsibility to buy "good" food.. some will not do it\.but most will

[MADem]

193. No "welfare cheese" in those boxes? Big huge Velveeta sized blocks? nt

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

74. Heard this all weekend from my GOP in-laws...

Girl in the Home Depot with body art and piercings buys a candy bar using her EBT.

If she has enough money for tatoo's, then why is she buying a candy bar using food stamps?

I love my in-laws, but sometimes they can be such tools...

[McCamy Taylor]

79. I saw a Bankster using his bailout money to buy a new Jaguar....

[Tigress DEM]

85. lol

[wellstone dem]

180. Best reply post award

goes to you. Thank you!

[Zoeisright]

80. If I were there, I would have paid for ALL of her groceries.

And bitch slapped the two bitches who were mouthing off.

[Tab]

83. Yeah, but doesn't she know how many packets of ramen she could have bought for the same price?

Just sayin'. Tell the kids it's freeze-dried ice cream like the astronauts used to get. Plus they don't need to be refrigerated, 'cause she shouldn't have a fridge. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting a tee-vee like everyone else.

[Cleita]

84. How mean.

Sometimes, when I have a little extra money (not very often), I buy some gift certificates at Trader Joe's and give them to homeless people. I don't care if they use them to buy food, ice cream or beer. They are entitled to a few pleasures of life like everyone else.

[Tom Ripley]

87. When I'm in line, I look at tabloid covers and think "Who the fuck are these people?"

[PatSeg]

90. Wow!

Perfect.

I get very upset whenever anyone begrudges the food another person receives. I don't care what kind of food they buy, what kind of car they drive (I've heard that one a lot), what clothes they wear - it is FOOD. Since when do we as a society frown on fellow citizens eating?

Maybe such critics should direct their outrage at the wealthy who take so much and contribute so little or the multi-national corporations that pay little or sometimes no taxes. Its a really small minded person who goes after a poor person's groceries. It's FOOD assholes, FOOD!

[totodeinhere]

91. I thought that they were issued debit cards rather than food stamps now.

The point of your comment is right on. However I am just curious. Do some people still get food stamps or has it completely converted to debit cards?

[joshcryer]

98. You're of course correct as others pointed out, but they still call them "food stamps."

Even though their actual name is EBT the term "food stamps" still has a stigma and therefore that is what people call it when they want to denigrate you.

[wellstone dem]

182. This happened a few years ago, before the switch to EBT cards

you are right the conversion was made.

[JDPriestly]

92. What people don't seem to be able to figure out is that a lot of people on food

stamps ARE WORKING. But they are earning wages too low to permit them to buy food without assistance.

That is the result of the corporate disregard for the needs of their employees. That is the face of the eat-the-weak economic cannibalism that right-wingers now call "capitalism." That is not my grandfather's capitalism. Please.

It's just barbaric.

That a person with two kids works 40 hrs. a week, lives in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in a crummy building, gets up every day and works for 8 or more hours and still needs food stamps. There is something wrong.

And every child should be able to enjoy an ice cream once in a while in the summer.

I'm a huge popcorn fan. It's a comfort food for me. And I owe my love of it to the fact that popcorn is affordable. You can give a treat to a lot of kids with just a couple of handfulls of popcorn. The poor man's ice cream.

But even we had ice cream once in a while.

I don't think I would keep silent if one of my friends complained about poor kids getting an occasional ice cream bar.

Besides the fact that the mom on food stamps is buying ice cream bars provides income to the manufacturers of ice cream bars and to the farmers who grow the products (like hopefully milk) that go into the bars. And that too, support for farmers, is part of the rationale for food stamps.

[totodeinhere]

102. There is absolutely nothing wrong with ice cream. Just like anything else, some brands are more

nutritious than others.

[MADem]

194. Or disabled. nt

[etherealtruth]

95. Wonderful post

I fear it may be lost on all of those that sit in judgment ... but, if it even reaches one ....

Thank you

[begin_within]

97. Ice cream has protein and calcium.

[mehrrh]

99. ice cream bars

So you have to be rich to enjoy ice cream?
When I was a kid, we didn't have much either, so on occasions when we had a treat -- first we'd hear about it coming our way, then we'd anticipate it, then we'd wait for it and finally, when we had the treat in our hands, we relished every lick of that ice cream cone -- I guarantee you we appreciated that treat a whole lot more than a kid who can get ice cream right from the refrigerator any time he wants it.

[NOLALady]

101. That reminds me

of an incident some time ago. I was shopping for my family and my Mother in law. My MIL was on food stamps at the time (she received about 10$ a month) But, I was not using her stamps.

I had two carts full since I hate to shop and try to get a months supply at a time. Someone in the check out line made a remark about how nice it must be to use food stamps. I had no clue why the ****** assumed that I was on food stamps.

Maybe she simply assumed that someone with my complexion couldn't afford to buy two carts of groceries without guv'mit help.

I didn't respond. Just smiled and checked out.

[madrchsod]

103. oh my god! ice cream bars!

well that`s it !!!!

let`s get rid of food stamps!


that was a nice reply to that...thing

[HockeyMom]

104. Ice Cream is Dairy and a food group

Children don't have DRINK dairy to get the benefits of that food group. Had this same stupid argument at school in the cafeteria. If a child is EATING cheese, or yogurt (or ice cream), on their taco, they don't need to drink milk. If they are EATING an orange, they don't need to DRINK juice.

These are the same people (article) who think food stamp/welfare people shouldn't have a FRIDGE either. I guess they think they should be homeless on the streets, sleeping under cardboard boxes, and eating out of garbage cans too. Then they think they are "good christians".

[standingtall]

156. According to people like that

Poor people should have no quality of life what was so ever. Heaven forbid they should have a ice cream or any kind of snack ever. They've been brainwashed by the wealthy that poor people are poor, because they are lazy and stupid. Never mind the fact that most people on food stamps actually have jobs. The jobs they have simply don't pay enough for anyone to live off of. The wealthy have gotten government to subsidize their business plans by allowing them to pay their employees a crap wages. That's were the baggers anger should be directed to, but instead they get on their knees and pray to their bain Capital Gods. Also a good portion of people who get food stamps have disabilities, but of course according to them anybody with a disability is committing so kind of fraud.

[HockeyMom]

158. I worked with a woman who had a full time job

and her HUSBAND had 2 jobs. The problem was that even with 3 low paying jobs, they could support a family of NINE.

Some people just don't get it. How could they? They have never met or know people who are really needy. All they know are what others tell them.

[veganlush]

110. big argibusiness also likes food stamps

it's a captive audience, in a manner of speaking, for them and they push for it so it's a type of corporate welfare too. this fact also needs to be stated.

[lobodons]

113. You can't have some ice cream

That rude lady reminded me of Eddie Murphy: (Profanity alert, its Eddie Murphy)

Rude Lady in line part begins at about the 2:15 mark

[DebJ]

219. Great clip, and it proves some people never grow up

Those people in stores complaining are very much of the same emotional 'maturity'.

[Botany]

114. Well people saw 9 billion in cash loaded onto skids and flown away

... never to be seen again. Who cates about the ice cream bars.

[seabeyond]

117. she is much more eloquent than i. if i were in line i would say... wtf is your problem.

for real? you want to srtand here and say this kind of garbage to hurt another. who the hell do you think...

ya know.

i love this womans answer

[strategery blunder]

119. Not to mention it's been a hot summer

Though I am fortunate to live in western Washington where air conditioning is generally not needed, I am aware that it's been a very hot summer most everywhere else and there are plenty of poor people that don't have air conditioning. I still remember the summers I dwelt in Chicago without air conditioning. Not pleasant.

I don't know where this story took place, but ice cream might have been one of the few ways to cool off available to our teabagger bullying victims. If it's 100+ degrees out for days at a time and you can't even get the inside of your crummy apartment below 85 at the dead of night by opening windows because the low is 80, ice cream might be a necessity, not a luxury. But of course rethuglicans don't care if people die from that shit.

[benld74]

121. I LOVE it when people open their mouths and show their utter stupidity!!!

[vaberella]

122. You're friend should have said something in defense. Too many complacent people around. n/t

[penndragon69]

124. The system needs to be reformed !

A recipient should be required to spend 75% of their allotment at a local FOOD PANTRY,
then at least they would not be loading up on pop, candy and other unhealthy foods.
Not to mention that the food pantry could then use those funds to restock THEIR shelves
to help the next family in line.

The last 25% could then be used for ice cream and candy.

A little common sense goes a long way.

[MADem]

196. The food pantry is free. The pantry supplements what little people get via the food stamp program.

For what most programs give, people aren't going to eat very well and there's usually more month than there is food stamps. The pantry makes up the difference.

[Terra Alta]

125. I don't give a damn what people get with their food stamps

I'm a cashier at a major big box store, I see people buy all kinds of food with their EBT cards, ranging from steaks to candy/gum to microwavable meals to Ramen noodles.. it doesn't bother me at all. What bothers me is those in line behind them who look at the condescendingly and then make rude comments when they leave. I really have to bite my tongue sometimes. IMO, it's THEIR food stamps/EBT, let them spend them however they want!

[jsr]

133. I wanna know what Boeing did with their $605 million refund check from the Treasury

I'm sure they, along with all the corporations who got their humongous "tax refunds", are hiring new workers like mad with the money. :

[davidpdx]

206. I agree and these stories don't surprise me in the least unfortuantely

I have a "friend" (we will use that term loosely speaking) on Facebook who works as a cashier and posts all the time about people supposedly abusing food stamps. Before her current job I don't know where she worked, but it could have been a local grocery store that is not a chain. I DO know where she works now.

I tell you I'd love to find someone in her hometown who has food stamps to go in an rile her a bit.

[roamer65]

126. Lack of empathy is what will destroy this nation in the end.

[DLevine]

130. Ain't it the truth. Sad. n/t

[joeybee12]

131. Good for her, put those teabagging scum in their place

KNR

[Liberal_in_LA]

136. !

[Yavin4]

140. Until We Focus Our Anger At The Rich For Writing Off Dressage for their Horses

like we focus our anger on people using Food Stamps, nothing positive will ever get done in America.

[MADem]

197. Oh, but that's a "legitimate" expense, doncha know....

In the big scheme of things, forcing a horse to dance is WAY more important than letting some po-kid get some ice cream.

Those GOP folks do love that "legitimate" word!! Do I need to whip this out?

[Curmudgeoness]

142. I am sure this woman has had a lot of experience with this

sort of behavior from the food stamp police. Maybe the first time, she was struck dumb---as I would have been. There are too many people who stick their nose into everyone else's business...and god help you if you try to stick your nose into theirs.

[mountain grammy]

143. People who have been lucky to never have needed assistance

will never know how it feels and should STFU! I'll bet that's a working mom!

[a kennedy]

144. and oh my gosh.....just shut the h*ll up if you've never walked in anyone else's shoes.....

How can we judge anyone else's life??? REALLY.... how can we???

[spanone]

147. amen, friend

[Raine]

148. I guess it never occurs to these morAns that this mother probably did without food herself

so she could use the stamps to give her kids a treat. Anyway why the hell should anyone be looking at how someone else is paying? I never even notice, I mind by own business, not other peoples.

[mother earth]

151. Seriously, can't the poor have some ice cream?

[standingtall]

153. Seriously

If you friend said that to a lady simply because she was buying Ice Cream bars with food stamps. Then your friend is a jerk.

[MFM008]

157. I get food stamps

Im older, no kids at home,disabled, I get 120.$ for the whole month. Now I try to spread that out, milk,bread, raman type soups but I might get a goodie once in a while. But $40.00 a week there are not many goodies.

[Odin2005]

159. When I used my EBT card I feel like eveyone is peeking at my cart...

...seeing if I am buying anything nice. Why do people have to be such assholes and think we have no right to any little pleasures?

[ejpoeta]

175. or buy name brands!! i got that a lot on WIC.

i had someone make a comment about me buying a name brand cheese or something. Do you know how restrictive WIC is!! nothing worse that getting to the register and finding out something isn't allowed! so I always bought what I KNEW was accepted. whether it was name brand or store brand. or maybe if it was on sale!! didn't matter.... you should NEVER have name brand stuff.

[Proles]

162. Well said, it always sickens me when people start lambasting

others on what people use their food stamps for.

One girl I know mentioned how she saw someone use food stamps to buy a cake. She felt that if you're poor enough to get food stamps, that you shouldn't use it on a cake.

I mean, God forbid a poor person should want a little bit of happiness in life. Maybe they're having a birthday party for their child and they don't want to let them down?

Honestly, I could care less if a poor person uses food stamps to buy a cake that doesn't even cost $100. We have RICH people looting millions from the middle class in the form of obscene tax cuts, all the while getting subsidies from the very government they seem to despise.

If you see a poor person use food stamps on a cake, just let them freakin' eat it! Even Marie Antoinette would be okay with that!

[southernyankeebelle]

169. Your final response should have been "Now don't you feel foolish"? You should of mind your

own business. You know most people hate getting food stamps. I never judge people like that. When I see someon with them I usually look busy fixing my own items in my cart.

[DemKittyNC]

172. Wow,

This brought tears to my eyes. I hope those words haunts whoever it was to make such a snide comment for the rest of their lives although I am sure it won't - the non-thinking, non-feeling, non-caring assholes that they are.

[lildreamer316]

173. Two years ago I was on food stamps and bought crab legs.

I don't give a flying fuck what you say. It was a wonderful luxury and a bright spot in our otherwise struggling experience.

[arely staircase]

174. how dare poor people eat ice cream!

if i can subsidize mitt romney's dancing horse by having to (like the rest of us) compensate for his foreign tax shelters, i really have no problem with buying some ice cream for some poor kids. romney ought to be buying their ice cream. people like him have certainly created a lot of poor people. least he could do is buy them some ice cream.

[Honeycombe8]

176. I'm a hard liner, in a way, on this issue. But even I see nothing at all wrong with ice cream bars?

Seriously? What a nice treat for the kiddos, and not too terribly expensive. (I probably would've bought a half gallon of ice cream....more bang for the buck, but kiddos like ice cream bars.)

[Blanks]

178. The banks got $13,000,000,000 for bailing out the FED...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/11/fed-gave-banks-trillions-in-bailout-bloomberg-reports/

...and folks are upset when a family buys ice cream bars. For their kids.

It would be better for the world if the FED would have issued $13 Billion worth of ice cream bar vouchers. Why is it OK to give money to people who don't need it, but it is not OK to give food to the hungry.

We've lost our way somehow. We have the food, if it doesn't get eaten; it'll eventually go bad. The demand will diminish for the food that is being processed/prepared now if the food on the shelves isn't consumed. Everyone wins if we are able to get the food off of the shelves and into the hands of people who need food.

I don't understand the attitude; I really don't. It would be different if we didn't have the food, but we jeapordize the food supply by not maintaining the demand for food.

I know this 'punish the food stamp folk' attitude is real. I've seen it on Facebook with people that I know. It's just wrong.

[Bolo Boffin]

181. Arguing with a cousin on Facebook about "donuts at the gas station"

And it's really sad to see just how resistant to facts about SNAP assistance this kid is.

[knitter4democracy]

183. I would have bought the damn ice cream bars.

I probably would have sent one of my kids after her with something I was going to get for them as a treat, at the very least. It's damn difficult to make it on food stamps these days, and it's even harder being poor.

[chervilant]

185. I get $200 a month on an EBT card

This is the first time in my life I've had to have assistance. I can assure you that people often know when you're using an EBT card. The cashier has to pull out a separate card reader for the EBT card. (If it's Wally's, you have to pay with two separate cards, if you get non-food items.) People can tell...

That being said: for health reasons, I decided to go Vegan (six months ago). I didn't get assistance until AFTER I made that decision. You should hear the sarcasm I get from friends and family about being Vegan while I'm getting assistance! You would think I'm buying steak and caviar. I've been told that it's "too expensive" to eat as a Vegan, and my roommate's mother scoured the internet to find articles that assert that veganism is as likely as consumption of animal products to cause stroke and heart disease. I'm now telling these naysayers to watch "Forks Over Knives" to understand my Veganism.

I can assure everyone who doubts that people in line can 'see' that you're using an EBT card: I get condescending looks all the time. I will certainly remember this lady's response, should anyone say anything derisive or judgmental.

[RoccoR5955]

186. Big freakin' deal. WTF are they supposed to eat on a hot day?

The BS that the RapeubliCON party feeds them?
So gimmie a break already with this crap, and let these folks alone, and let them eat what they want with their stipend!

[JI7]

188. This Reminds me of something that happened when i was a Kid

i don't know exactly what was the situation with this woman and other kid. but for whatever reason she didn't have much money. they seemed to carry some large bags which seemed like they had a lot of their day to day belongings in their.

but she was asking for money and she implied they didn't have a home to go to but she wanted to buy the kid some ice cream.

it's one of those things which at the time you don't fully understand . but as a kid i felt it was important the kid got some ice cream because ice cream is good.

[cyberswede]

228. What's your point?

Is it against the rules to use food stamps to pay for crab?

[Vincardog]

233. Did you get a picture of it? I hope you had your cell phone with you

[Ken Burch]

200. Well put.

I swear...if some people had their way, it would be illegal for the poor to smile.

[BeyondGeography]

202. You have to be miserable to be so cruel

Great that these wretches were put in their place.

[a la izquierda]

203. What sad, hateful lives those women must lead.

And I bet they claim to be Christians.

[davidpdx]

207. I totally believe this, and you are correct yes food stamps are on cards now

But it wouldn't matter much because people who are noisy will make it a point to say something. As I said in another post, I know someone on Facebook who complains constantly about people using food stamps. It drives me fucking nuts, but I don't say anything.

[limpyhobbler]

208. I wish they would let you get those cooked rotisserie chickens on food stamps. nt

[quaker bill]

210. Many seem to enjoy imposing their moral values

on how the poor spend money. But they never look, even once, at how the rich spend their tax cuts. Individual homes the size of many apartment complexes with car elevators and servant quarters are never an embarassment.

[PotatoChip]

214. People should mind their own business

The woman at the store shouldn't have had to 'explain' a thing. I think she handled it well though.

Sad.

[standingtall]

225. Goodbye

Wish you would've lasted longer so we could have some fun with you first.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

234. I think that was Paul Ryan!

[treestar]

235. This is one mentality that I absolutely abhor

I cannot come up with the adjectives I want to for someone that hateful. Geez, no ice cream bars allowed? That's really going far into judgmental land of those less fortunate.

[hay rick]

242. Average food stamp benefit: about $130/month per person.

Link here: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?cat=1&ind=26