Taking Advantage of the System?

aerial
aerial Posts: 2,319
edited November 2011 in A Moving Train
I would like your opinion on this. I work at a grocery store. We have an employee that makes Eighty Five Thousand Dollars annually (management). This person has been using a food stamp card to make purchases. A casher showed me a receipt where she bought over $600 worth of shrimp the other day. The cashier told higher management but he says there is nothing he can do about what she does outside of work.
I feel this is one of the many reasons America is in such a mess.

Should she be reported? What would you do?

By the way, we see this all the time from customers. Last week I was behind a person buying two live lobsters. Total was $43. He paid with food stamps.
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • marcos
    marcos Posts: 2,112
    Well, you can't tell people how to spend their food stamps, that's a whole educational thing.

    But you should definitely report the person who makes $85,000 a year and uses food stamps. That is your civic duty. Since the person is in food management it's possible they are stealing from the store as well. Probably taking off the top from the food stamp intake would be my guess.
  • CH156378
    CH156378 Posts: 1,539
    $600 worth of shrimp! :lol:
  • CH156378
    CH156378 Posts: 1,539
    maybe your store can stop accepting food stamps. might have to lay a few workers off though.
  • Go Beavers
    Go Beavers Posts: 9,669
    aerial wrote:
    I would like your opinion on this. I work at a grocery store. We have an employee that makes Eighty Five Thousand Dollars annually (management). This person has been using a food stamp card to make purchases. A casher showed me a receipt where she bought over $600 worth of shrimp the other day. The cashier told higher management but he says there is nothing he can do about what she does outside of work.
    I feel this is one of the many reasons America is in such a mess.

    Should she be reported? What would you do?

    By the way, we see this all the time from customers. Last week I was behind a person buying two live lobsters. Total was $43. He paid with food stamps.

    There's a good chance it's someone else's card since it takes about 10 seconds to verify most people's income. You could call the fraud hotline in your state and let them know, but it'll probably be lower on the priority list. You would need a whole pack of kids to get that $ amount of food stamps.
  • Smellyman
    Smellyman Asia Posts: 4,528
    I wouldn't put much faith in a second hand story of this account.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    Abuse of the system sucks and is unfortunate. If you decide to report the person,be careful and C.Y.A. They might be the type to retaliate in some way.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • aerial
    aerial Posts: 2,319
    Go Beavers wrote:
    aerial wrote:
    I would like your opinion on this. I work at a grocery store. We have an employee that makes Eighty Five Thousand Dollars annually (management). This person has been using a food stamp card to make purchases. A casher showed me a receipt where she bought over $600 worth of shrimp the other day. The cashier told higher management but he says there is nothing he can do about what she does outside of work.
    I feel this is one of the many reasons America is in such a mess.

    Should she be reported? What would you do?

    By the way, we see this all the time from customers. Last week I was behind a person buying two live lobsters. Total was $43. He paid with food stamps.

    There's a good chance it's someone else's card since it takes about 10 seconds to verify most people's income. You could call the fraud hotline in your state and let them know, but it'll probably be lower on the priority list. You would need a whole pack of kids to get that $ amount of food stamps.


    She has no kids at all. She also lives in an Oceanfront Home!
    I was thinking it could be a family member’s card. Then again, you would think she could help the family member out with the salary she is making.
    She did buy food for lunch with the card and ate it at the store.
    I will report it to the hotline. I do not want to get caught because I cannot lose my job and I do not want to deal with any retribution from her.
    “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
  • aerial
    aerial Posts: 2,319
    Smellyman wrote:
    I wouldn't put much faith in a second hand story of this account.

    More than one cashier has told me about her purchases or I would not.
    “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
  • sparky_fry
    sparky_fry Posts: 760
    in my experience you have no idea whats going on in other peoples lives behind closed doors and just because someone is making a lot of money doesn't mean they're not in overwhelming debt and just trying to get by. Who knows why she bought that many shrimp but unless your a whale in the ocean its probably not all for yourself. it just seems like gossip that has gotten out of control imo

    or maybe i just always assume the best :?
  • peacefrompaul
    peacefrompaul Posts: 25,293
    aerial wrote:
    I would like your opinion on this. I work at a grocery store. We have an employee that makes Eighty Five Thousand Dollars annually (management). This person has been using a food stamp card to make purchases. A casher showed me a receipt where she bought over $600 worth of shrimp the other day. The cashier told higher management but he says there is nothing he can do about what she does outside of work.
    I feel this is one of the many reasons America is in such a mess.

    Should she be reported? What would you do?

    By the way, we see this all the time from customers. Last week I was behind a person buying two live lobsters. Total was $43. He paid with food stamps.


    Please report that right away. With that income you should not have a food stamp card. That's pretty sad...

    As for the Lobster thing... There's NOTHING you can do about that. That's their choice to use 43 dollars of food stamps on Lobsters.
  • Thorns2010
    Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    Reminds me of a similar situation I was in a while back. Long story short my boss was paying his wife hours she wasn't working. It really was a bad place for me to have got stuck in, but I did what I thought was best and went above him and talked to the regional manager.

    Granted this isn't exactly the same, because it doesn't seem to be scamming the store persay, but more like scamming the government. But, if you do not feel comfortable talking/asking this person directly, and you believe that you would be reprimanded by this person if you asked them, then by all means call the hotline and report anonymously.

    Just make sure that you are 100% correct on this. I don't know how food stamps work, but do they have any sort of tracking number??? Or user number??? If so, figure that out before reporting??
  • peacefrompaul
    peacefrompaul Posts: 25,293
    sparky_fry wrote:
    in my experience you have no idea whats going on in other peoples lives behind closed doors and just because someone is making a lot of money doesn't mean they're not in overwhelming debt and just trying to get by. Who knows why she bought that many shrimp but unless your a whale in the ocean its probably not all for yourself. it just seems like gossip that has gotten out of control imo

    or maybe i just always assume the best :?


    The program is based on income. Tough shit if that person is in debt. Correct me if I'm wrong.
  • peacefrompaul
    peacefrompaul Posts: 25,293
    Thorns2010 wrote:
    but do they have any sort of tracking number??? Or user number??? If so, figure that out before reporting??

    Yes they do
  • blueandwhite
    blueandwhite Posts: 662
    Is there really any harm in reporting a suspected abuse of the welfare system? If this manager is using food stamps and she earns anything close to the $85,000 you're suggesting there may be some serious fraud happening here. Just try not to get in the line of fire. I'd hate for you to lose your job because somebody else is playing the system.
  • markin ball
    markin ball Posts: 1,076
    Yes, report.

    That being said, I can't believe this manager, would have the gall to use food stamps at the store she works at where people know her salary. Either stupid dumb or just very arrogant.
    "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."

    "With our thoughts we make the world"
  • Smellyman
    Smellyman Asia Posts: 4,528
    markin ball wrote:
    Yes, report.

    That being said, I can't believe this manager, would have the gall to use food stamps at the store she works at where people know her salary. Either stupid dumb or just very arrogant.

    more likely. Not true
  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    What is your position at the store, Aerial? Do you really want to get yourself involved, pending that your position is not directly related to the cashier position when this manager is making this purchase? I mean, if anyone should say anything, it should be the cashier accepting her form of payment in food stamps! You're hearing it from hearsay, so instead of you being the lone wolf in reporting her, I'd talk among the other cashiers who have specifically saw this activity and as a group, approach management about her activities. This would really bother me too, but keep in mind your position in the workplace and how to approach this touchy situation with tact and thoughtful preparation in reporting her. Otherwise, it could backfire.
  • Stardog3..
    Stardog3.. Posts: 1,527
    Jeanwah wrote:
    What is your position at the store, Aerial? Do you really want to get yourself involved, pending that your position is not directly related to the cashier position when this manager is making this purchase? I mean, if anyone should say anything, it should be the cashier accepting her form of payment in food stamps! You're hearing it from hearsay, so instead of you being the lone wolf in reporting her, I'd talk among the other cashiers who have specifically saw this activity and as a group, approach management about her activities. This would really bother me too, but keep in mind your position in the workplace and how to approach this touchy situation with tact and thoughtful preparation in reporting her. Otherwise, it could backfire.

    I just read through this and I agree with this statement. Because if you go to somebody and report this, and they ask you when this happened and say it didn't happen to you directly but other people told you and then those cashiers don't want to get involved/don't step up and say something....this may not be a good thing to do blindly without discussing it with the people who told you and going as a group. Unless you are willing to possibly risk losing your job.
  • aerial
    aerial Posts: 2,319
    The cashier that rang up the $600’s worth of shrimp has gone to the manager above the food stamp manager. This manager says there is nothing he can do about what she does out of work. Yet she was at work. In addition, people have been fire for things they have done outside of work.



    Markin Ball, I thought the same thing. What nerve, to do it at the store were she work’s.
    The cashier is going to give me the receipt and there is a number on it so I am going to report it anonymously.
    “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    aerial wrote:
    The cashier that rang up the $600’s worth of shrimp has gone to the manager above the food stamp manager. This manager says there is nothing he can do about what she does out of work. Yet she was at work. In addition, people have been fire for things they have done outside of work.
    Sounds like this manager refuses to take responsibility, which is all too common. I often wonder why and how certain managers even get a managerial job, if they refuse to take managerial responsibility. I see it everywhere. I really hope your anonymous report works Aerial.

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