Why we need serious welfare reform...
WaveCameCrashin
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http://www.sodahead.com/living/the-coll ... n-2341447/
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.
I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards. I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.
Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:
a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
b) People using TANF (EBT Cash) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.
c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.
d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.
The thing that disturbed me more than simple cases of fraud/abuse was the entitled nature of many of my customers. One time, a package of bell peppers did not ring up as food in the computer. After the woman swiped her EBT card, it showed a balance that equaled the cost of the peppers. The woman asked what the charge was, and a quick glance at the register screen showed that the peppers did not ring up as food. (Food items had the letter ‘F’ next to their description.) The woman immediately began yelling at me, saying that, “It’s food! You eat it!”
This wasn’t the only time things like this happened: if a person’s EBT balance was less than they thought it would be, or if their cards were declined, it was somehow my fault. I understand the situation is stressful, but a person should be knowledgeable about how much money is in their account prior to going grocery shopping. EBT totals are printed on receipts, and every cell phone has a calculator function. There’s no excuse, and there’s no reason to yell at the cashier for it.
The worst thing I ever saw at Wal-Mart Scarborough was two women and their children. These women each had multiple carts full of items, and each began loading them at the same time (this should have been a tip-off to their intelligence levels). The first woman, henceforth known as Welfare Queen #1, paid for about $400 worth of food with food stamps. The majority of her food was void of any nutritional value. She then pulled out an entire month’s worth of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children program) checks. I do not mind people paying with WIC, but the woman had virtually none of the correct items. WIC gives each participating mother a book containing actual images of items for which a person can and cannot redeem the voucher. This woman literally failed at image comprehension.
After redeeming 10+ WIC checks, Welfare Queen #1 had me adjust the prices of several items she was buying (Wal-Mart’s policy is to just adjust the price of the item without question if it’s within a dollar or two). She then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, and informed me that the cost of the vacuum was $3.48 because, “that’s what it’s labeled as.” The vacuum cleaner was next to a stack of crates that were $3.48. Somehow, every other customer was able to discern that the vacuum cleaner was not $3.48, but Welfare Queen #1 and her friend Welfare Queen #2 were fooled. Welfare Queen #2 informed me that she used to work for Wal-Mart, and that the “laws of Wal-Mart legally said” that I would have to sell her the vacuum for $3.48. After contacting my manager, who went off to find the proper vacuum price, Welfare Queen #1 remarked that it must be tough to stand on a mat all day and be a cashier. I looked at her, smiled, shrugged, and said, “Well, it’s a job.” She was speechless. After they finally admitted defeat, (not before Welfare Queen #2 realizing she didn’t have enough money to buy all of the food she had picked out, resulting in the waste of about $200 worth of products) the two women left about an hour and a half after they arrived at my register. The next man in line said that the two women reminded him of buying steel drums and cement. I said I was reminded why I vote Republican.
Maine has a problem with welfare spending. Maine has some of the highest rates in the nation for food stamp enrollment, Medicaid, and TANF. Nearly 30% of the state is on some form of welfare. Maine is the only state in the nation to rank in the top two for all three categories. This is peculiar, as Maine’s poverty rate isn’t even close to being the highest in the nation. The system in Maine is far easier to get into than in other states, and it encourages dependency. When a person makes over the limit for benefits, they lose all benefits completely. There is no time limit and no motivation to actually get back to work. Furthermore, spending on welfare has increased dramatically, but there has been no reduction of the poverty rate. Something is going terribly wrong, and the things I saw at work were indicators of a much larger problem. Something must change before the state runs out of money funding welfare programs.
Christine Rousselle // Providence College // @Crousselle
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.
I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards. I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.
Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:
a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
b) People using TANF (EBT Cash) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.
c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.
d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.
The thing that disturbed me more than simple cases of fraud/abuse was the entitled nature of many of my customers. One time, a package of bell peppers did not ring up as food in the computer. After the woman swiped her EBT card, it showed a balance that equaled the cost of the peppers. The woman asked what the charge was, and a quick glance at the register screen showed that the peppers did not ring up as food. (Food items had the letter ‘F’ next to their description.) The woman immediately began yelling at me, saying that, “It’s food! You eat it!”
This wasn’t the only time things like this happened: if a person’s EBT balance was less than they thought it would be, or if their cards were declined, it was somehow my fault. I understand the situation is stressful, but a person should be knowledgeable about how much money is in their account prior to going grocery shopping. EBT totals are printed on receipts, and every cell phone has a calculator function. There’s no excuse, and there’s no reason to yell at the cashier for it.
The worst thing I ever saw at Wal-Mart Scarborough was two women and their children. These women each had multiple carts full of items, and each began loading them at the same time (this should have been a tip-off to their intelligence levels). The first woman, henceforth known as Welfare Queen #1, paid for about $400 worth of food with food stamps. The majority of her food was void of any nutritional value. She then pulled out an entire month’s worth of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children program) checks. I do not mind people paying with WIC, but the woman had virtually none of the correct items. WIC gives each participating mother a book containing actual images of items for which a person can and cannot redeem the voucher. This woman literally failed at image comprehension.
After redeeming 10+ WIC checks, Welfare Queen #1 had me adjust the prices of several items she was buying (Wal-Mart’s policy is to just adjust the price of the item without question if it’s within a dollar or two). She then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, and informed me that the cost of the vacuum was $3.48 because, “that’s what it’s labeled as.” The vacuum cleaner was next to a stack of crates that were $3.48. Somehow, every other customer was able to discern that the vacuum cleaner was not $3.48, but Welfare Queen #1 and her friend Welfare Queen #2 were fooled. Welfare Queen #2 informed me that she used to work for Wal-Mart, and that the “laws of Wal-Mart legally said” that I would have to sell her the vacuum for $3.48. After contacting my manager, who went off to find the proper vacuum price, Welfare Queen #1 remarked that it must be tough to stand on a mat all day and be a cashier. I looked at her, smiled, shrugged, and said, “Well, it’s a job.” She was speechless. After they finally admitted defeat, (not before Welfare Queen #2 realizing she didn’t have enough money to buy all of the food she had picked out, resulting in the waste of about $200 worth of products) the two women left about an hour and a half after they arrived at my register. The next man in line said that the two women reminded him of buying steel drums and cement. I said I was reminded why I vote Republican.
Maine has a problem with welfare spending. Maine has some of the highest rates in the nation for food stamp enrollment, Medicaid, and TANF. Nearly 30% of the state is on some form of welfare. Maine is the only state in the nation to rank in the top two for all three categories. This is peculiar, as Maine’s poverty rate isn’t even close to being the highest in the nation. The system in Maine is far easier to get into than in other states, and it encourages dependency. When a person makes over the limit for benefits, they lose all benefits completely. There is no time limit and no motivation to actually get back to work. Furthermore, spending on welfare has increased dramatically, but there has been no reduction of the poverty rate. Something is going terribly wrong, and the things I saw at work were indicators of a much larger problem. Something must change before the state runs out of money funding welfare programs.
Christine Rousselle // Providence College // @Crousselle
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Comments
I'm afraid there's no way to stop the monster that is, I deserve everything you work for, for FREE!
drives me nuts!
1998 - 08/22
2000 - 09/05_10/05
2003 - 04/25_4/26_05/02_05/03_06/28
2005 - 09/13_09/19
2006 - 05/10
e06/08/09v
2010 - 05/10
e06/16/11v
e06/26/11v
2011 - 09/12_09/15
2012 - 09/22
2013 - 07/16_07/19_10/12
2016 - 05/01_05/02_05/10
2018 - 09/02
How about raising employee pay from a starting wage of $7.65 per hour who are trying to raise families and no other opportunity is available to them because corporate facism has a stranglehold upon the world.
Can you please tell me exactly what "corporate welfare" is ?
Nobody is picking on anybody. And why is it walmart's fault?Those were perfct examples of why the "welfare state" is collapsing.. And would you rather these people not be employed? I'm not going to disagree with you about wages ,but at the same time you can't expect corporations to pay unskilled and people with out a degree or a GED $15-20 an hr. If they did they would have to raise prices.
Would you if you owned a bussiness? I seriously doubt it..
And I'm sick and tired of successful and middle class people being the ones who get demonized.. They- we are the ones who are subsidizing people like that. I work to fucking hard and I'm sick of my $ going to people like that. And it's never enough. They always want more. :x
I was gonna say "google" it.
Possible welfare fraud ? Are you joking? Or just plain ignorant? :roll: This is significant tax dollar waste.. But we should just ignore it what bcos you say so?
I know what corporate welfare is, obviously you dont bcos this has nothing to do with it or Walmart for that matter. Yes I have seen that Walmart doc.and it's disturbing to say the least But again this has nothing to do with either.This girl just happen to work there. It's has to with millions if Americans that are scamming the system and that are teaching their kids to do the same thing. It's nothing but a revolving door of cradle to the grave entitlement mentality and everyone should care about bcos it's your money also. But you guys seem to have no problem with it bcos you guys have a bigger issue with our military.
Sure ther are other forms fraud and waste when it comes to tax payers money this just happens to be one if them thats costing states billions of dollars, If you want to discuss tax dollar waste in the millitary then start anther thread on that subject.
You should figure out what the dollar amount of welfare fraud amounts to, then get upset relative to that amount.
I would say we're both ignorant about the individuals situations described by the reliable Wal-Mart employee.
Just because there are problems elsewhere doesn't mean we should ignore thi one. Generations on welfare is ridiculous and proves by itself that the system is broken and needs a complete overhaul, no more band-aids.
RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Plain and simple poverty is a tool of oppression in the highest form.
In the US generations on welfare are just people part of an institution of economic inequality and all the dysfunct social horrors that are created which go hand in hand with it.
My biggest concern is having the solutions to the questions to know that NO person on this planet should be living in squalor and starving. In the meantime, the people running this shithole do nothing.
I was at the grocery store and a couple in front of me used food stamps then got in to a Mercedes's SUV
At the farmers market, some punk kid was buying hundreds of dollars of "organic butter" with $20's (he appeared to do this WEEKLY) based on conversation with vendor. He complained "sucks you guys don't take food stamps here".
So I guess I'm jumping to conclusions this fuck is buying hundreds of dollars of organic butter from the farmer to make and sell pot brownies, probably black market and his sales are not taxed or recorded so he is "broke" and can get food stamps.
eff them.
Help people help themselves.
Long term unemployment benefits too...look at some statistics on your own if you are inclined. People accept new work just around the time benefits are getting ready to expire.
Do the math. Lazy fuckers many of em
I was talking with my brother recently who works stocking shelves at a Gordon Food Service (grocery store in Michigan) he happened to say that a lot of these types buy boxes of filet/lobster tail with the food stamp rig. must be nice. Meanwhile my brother works making maybe $10/hour stocking shelves and probably can't afford filet/lobster tail.
Great post OP
Hey look, more anecdotal stories about welfare fraud and false statements about unemployment. The average length of time for being on unemployment is about 40 weeks, the longest its ever been. Depending on where you live, unemployment lasts from over 70 weeks to 99 weeks, so it doesn't appear that people are waiting until the very end of their unemployment compensation to get a job.
A lot of what underlies conservatives input in a discussion on welfare is that there are jobs available for everyone, so poor people just need to "get a job", they know very little about what public assistance programs there are and who qualifies for what, and they have no idea how much money is lost to welfare fraud. Also throw in myths about it creating dependency and that it makes people unwilling to work.
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Any ... =yfp-t-701
...
Especially, when it originated from a person who, admittely reports to be looking to become the 'Next Ann Coulter'.
Hail, Hail!!!