You gave me a dirty look today for using my SNAP card, but I'm not mad at you

[Ralph Wiggum]

ColesCountyDem (1,722 posts)

You gave me a dirty look today for using my SNAP card, but I'm not mad at you. Indeed, I forgive you


As I enter my 15th month of unemployment, my savings are gone, my 401(k) (or what remained of it, after Wall Street crashed in 2008-2009) is gone and every luxury item I once owned, except for my 3 year-old computer and 7 year-old television have been sold. The only real estate I still own is a single burial plot, deeded to me by my mother shortly before her death from cancer. I haven't owned a car in years, and couldn't pay insurance on it or put gas in it if I did. I don't list these details of my life to elicit sympathy, but simply state them as the economic facts of my life, at present.

Today is the 8th day of the month or, as I call it, 'Mini Christmas'. It is the day that the State of Illinois places $200 in SNAP benefits on the debit card given to me for the purchase of food. It is the one day every moth that I know something good, economically speaking, will happen, and it makes me happy. Thanks to 2 immigrant grandmothers, two well-educated parents and my own knowledge of nutrition and arithmetic, I know that this month I will not go hungry. I can forgo a trip to the Ministerial Alliance's food bank, even though I am 'entitled' to do so, leaving what I could claim as 'my share' for someone else who cannot meet their family's nutritional needs. That makes me happy, too.

You were behind me in line at Sav-a-Lot today, and my cart was loaded to the brim. There were 'family-sized' packages of ground beef and pork sausage, marked-down 'manager's special' packages of arm roast, ham chunks and round steak and a ten-pound bag of chicken leg quarters. I also had a 25-pound bag of potatoes, two 2-pound packages of beans, one white Navy and one pinto. I had a 10-pound bag of store-brand flour, a 5-pound bag of corn meal, a box of salt, a box of baking soda and four packages of yeast. Rounding that out, I had several store-brand bags of frozen vegetables (peas, corn, broccoli and Brussel sprouts) and ten large cans of store-brand fruit (packed in juice, not syrup) and three gallons of milk with the latest expiration dates I could find.

The cashier rang up my purchase, took my numerous coupons, and I swiped my SNAP card and entered my pin number on he keypad. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the look of utter contempt on your face, and the daggers shooting from your eyes as you struggled not to say something snarky to either me or the cashier.

I don't hate you. I'm not even angry with you. I know that you simply don't understand, very likely because you've never been in my situation. Not only do I forgive you, but I thanked God that you've never been standing in my shoes.

Would that surprise you, if you knew?

Peace.

Brand new thread, I'm sure this will go directly to the greatest page.  But nonetheless, it is quite a  

[Rebel]

Hmm, unemployed for 15 months. Damn Bush economy.

[98ZJUSMC]

Awww......  let me wipe away my tears before I tell you, with the deepest sympathy I can muster, to take your  and shove it up your ass.

[USA4ME]

The only sad part of that tale is knowing if the gov't didn't tax people to death, then welfare would be unnecessary since we, as fellow caring citizens, would have the money to give to those who are in need. As it stands, instead of my $100 going directly to help the person in need, my $100 goes to the gov't who scrapes off their portion and sends the crumbs out to the population in the form of SNAP.

.

[Karin]

OK, which one of you pricks was shooting dirty looks at shoppers today?

Well it wasn't dirty enough, or else we would have had a more entertaining bouncy. 

[jukin]

Try saying thank you and we that are paying may not think you are such a DUchebag loser.

[hillneck]

And I take it you're still a DemocRAT and most noticeably a DUmbass.  Maybe if you would start looking inward instead of looking at others you would figure it out.

[delilahmused]

I don't ever do that unless someone has a cart filled chips, twinkies, steak, etc. and then use cash to buy cigarettes. I don't even have a problem with having a package cookies, pop tarts or  ice cream, etc. if you have a couple of kids. Every kid deserves a treat now and then and it's not their fault their parents don't have money. I certainly don't know anyone's story. I've seen people be very responsible while using their SNAP card. I even saw a woman with a couple of kids (who were very well behaved) using coupons. That's being a good steward of the public's money and I'm sure provides her children with a healthier diet because her dollars go further.

Cindie

[Carl]

Another destitute DUmbass but it is us that vote against our best interests.

[lastparker]

OK, which one of you pricks was shooting dirty looks at shoppers today?

Well it wasn't dirty enough, or else we would have had a more entertaining bouncy. 

I would say "Probably Me!", if the bouncy had said "Kroger".

But not for the reason the fiction writer posits.  I DO NOT get anywhere close enough to the shopper in front of me to identify what the hell their plastic card says that they are swiping through the machine, nor do alarms ring when said card is tied to the dole, nor do messages flash up on the cashier's screen that say "WELFARE RECIPIENT".  In other words, DUmmy, the people behind you have no idea how you are paying for your groceries, unless they have the eyesight of a sniper or are standing right over your shoulder.  Gone are the days when food stamps came in a little booklet in denominations similar to cash, because the libs all whined that it was humiliating.  So nowadays you get to travel in anonymity.

So..... if the shopper behind you was actually real and actually giving you the stink eye, it was probably because you wheeled your heaping cart of goods into the express line, and then whipped out a garbage bag full of expired coupons and argued every single one of them.

Fail.

[Ralph Wiggum]

As predicted, 105 recommendations for a deadbeat DUmmy.

[Chris_]

As predicted, 105 recommendations for a deadbeat DUmmy.

Because spending someone elses money is noble, while dirtying your hands with "work" is not.  Or something.

[DLR Pyro]

marked-down 'manager's special' packages of arm roast,

arm roast?  Sounds like something the biters on the Walking Dead would eat.

[Chris_]

I guess he/she/it meant leg roast, but that was still funny.

[franksolich]

Hmm, unemployed for 15 months. Damn Bush economy.

Yeah.

[GOBUCKS]

If an honest, honorable moonbat goes through a checkout line, and the hateful, selfish repuke behind him doesn't speak, is it still a bouncy?

We're getting into real technical territory with this one.

It's sort of a bizarro bouncy.

[cattlebaron]

Another person more concerned with becoming a victim then bettering themselves. Why the hell don't they have a job? Why wasn't that mentioned? Because we're supposed to just accept that this is the most hopeless person any of us has met in at least a month. Last week I was at a McDonalds and one of the employees could barely keep from drooling (poor guy), but dang it he had a job!

[Bad Dog]

I knew someone who, like this person, constantly thought others were looking down on her for innumerable reasons.  It made her miserable her entire life.

[Crazy Horse]

I don't ever do that unless someone has a cart filled chips, twinkies, steak, etc. and then use cash to buy cigarettes. I don't even have a problem with having a package cookies, pop tarts or  ice cream, etc. if you have a couple of kids. Every kid deserves a treat now and then and it's not their fault their parents don't have money. I certainly don't know anyone's story. I've seen people be very responsible while using their SNAP card. I even saw a woman with a couple of kids (who were very well behaved) using coupons. That's being a good steward of the public's money and I'm sure provides her children with a healthier diet because her dollars go further.

Cindie

Exactly.  Being responsible with what you have been given goes along way in my eyes.  15 months unemployment is unacceptable.

[freedumb2003b]

I knew someone who, like this person, constantly thought others were looking down on her for innumerable reasons.  It made her miserable her entire life.

Sometimes the Total Perception Vortex really sucks.

[Dori]

  In other words, DUmmy, the people behind you have no idea how you are paying for your groceries, unless they have the eyesight of a sniper or are standing right over your shoulder. 

Bingo!

[kraven]

Complete bullshit story and so pointless and stupid. Foodstamp EBT cards look like any other debit card now and no one can tell the difference. Not to mention there is usually a cart full of crap between me and the person ahead of me at the checkout stand. And who lists out every thing they bought in such a tale? Who gives a flying **** if his fruit is packed in juice rather than syrup? What a freaking loser.

[Tess Anderson]

Yeah, I think he imagined the dirty look, which could be a good sign that he feels guilty for being on the dime of the American taxpayer. He is spending their money so I don't really care that he "forgives" them. 

[NHSparky]

Not too many EBT moochers who actually buy healthy and DON'T get crap.

The other day, I stopped at a convenience store.  The guy working the register was trying to tell the idiot with the microwave sandwich he couldn't buy it with a SNAP card.  Of course you can imagine how well that sat with the moocher.

[GOBUCKS]

if his fruit is packed in juice rather than syrup?

It's a DUmp cred issue.

He failed to say his ten pounds of chicken legs were "free range", so he had to make up for it somehow.

Pretty sure it's a "he". If this were a DUmpette, there'd be four or five illegitimate kids to worry about.