So I’m in line at my local supermarket… and I feel like John Rocker on New York’s Number 7 train. There were strange and exotic specimens littered– I mean literally all over. Even the clerk looked like a crackhead. All in all, though, they seemed to be fairly straight shooters so I’m not going to cast my judgment on anyone…
…except…
…there was this one lady in front of me. She had to get checked out at the cash register twice. Why you ask? Well, the first time was for all the junk food that she paid for with her WIC vouchers (which of course comes from taxes out of my paycheck)… and the second time was to buy a National Enquirer and two boxes of cigarettes with a huge wad of cash!
From the WIC website:
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WIC Program - serves to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, & children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.
Can you believe this? About the only nutritious thing I saw her get was a carton of eggs, and the rest was a sugar-feast capable of reanimating a dead elephant. And I paid for it because she was “at nutritional risk”? First of all, she didn’t look at nutritional risk. Second, how the heck are my tax dollars supposed to be “providing nutritional foods” when the recipient lacks the requisite common sense to buy nutritious food in the first place? I don’t understand the part where my money needs to get involved.
And the best part of it all was when I saw her, with her manicured hands and gaudy custom painted nails (the expensive kind), reach past her cellphone into her pocket to produce a wad of greenbacks nearly the size of a toilet paper roll (like you see pulled off drug dealers on cop shows)… to buy a friggin’ National Enquirer and two boxes of cigarettes! It was like being stuck in the Politically Correct Twilight Zone.
Web designer and developer. Loud discerner. Software engineer and 
Yeah… that one got me good.
05 06 06
Hey Steve:
Glad to see you around with a wit that always gets me going!!! I feel you totally! In the town where I live, we have only a 78% high school graduation rate and a 14% college graduation rate (includes AA degrees). Hence, there are many people who either work three low wage jobs or work one job or no jobs and take public assistance. I always trip out when the people are wearing designer clothes, have their hair done in over $150.00 styles and so forth. Well this takes the cake:
The other day I was in San Francisco and this bum asked me if I would walk him to the hot dog stand. I asked him why he couldn’t go himself. His response was that he didn’t have enough money, although I saw at least $2.50 in his hand. He told me that the hot dogs cost $5.00, then corrected and said $4.25. I said five dollars or so for a hot dog? That is ridiculous! I am sorry, but I cannot support you. Oh, here is a quarter I hope it helps. He told me that it wouldn’t help him and harassed me for more money. I blew up in the middle of Market Street and Fourth and said: “What?!!! I don’t owe you anything! Get out of my face and leave me alone!!!”
Funny that, I bailed as quickly as possible, but was pissed at his audacity! This is the problem with the entitlement mentality.
I will cite your post for my Monday one. I have taken a blogging break, but am slowly returning. I hope you have a great rest of weekend and take care:)
Thanks, Mahndisa! It’s always nice to have you stop by and share your insights.
I remember once when a deaf beggar was handing out those little cards that say “Hello, I’m deaf. [Give me money]” and have the alphabet in sign on the back. Well, the deaf guy gave it to everyone in hte subway car, including a deaf businesswoman on her way to work… who proceeded to blast the bum him up one side and down the other… IN SIGN!
In Baltimore some guy at the harbor handed me one (with the $1 corssed off to say $2) and when I said no his smile turned to a fit of rage and he snatched it away from me and gave me the slit-throat hand motion as he walked away. Ha… that just affirmed I was right not to give him anything.
Actually, giving cash to bums is about the worst thing you could do for them… really. There’s no love in it… it’s false compassion that hurts them more than anything.
Hey Steve,
Yeah, it sucks seeing the system abused. My mother was a social worker in the 70’s (pre-WIC) and she developed her own cooking classes to teach low-income women how to prepare healthy meals with the rations they received from the government (welfare recipients would get rations of staples like cheese, flour, eggs, etc.). It would be interesting to go back to that kind of system. It is by far cheaper to cook from scratch than to buy junk food and convenience food like boxed meals (Hamburger Helper, Mac and Cheese), frozen meals, cereal, etc.
Some of us moms @ Terra Nova have read a book called “Miserly Moms” which gives a lot of good ideas on how to live on one income. Part of being frugal, according to the author, is cooking inexpensively. See http://www.miserlymoms.com/MOMfrecipes1.htm for what she’s talking about. This book should be required reading for those on WIC!
Thanks, Tara! I’ll have my wife check that site out. Even though we don’t have to, my wife likes to be frugal… I think it’s he heart for being a good steward of what we have.
And doesn’t that figure? Those who don’t need to do… and those who need to don’t.
Hey… she also loves this site: http://www.mommysavers.com/
“the first time was for all the junk food that she paid for with her WIC vouchers”
I definitely agree that this isn’t right and these people should be held accountable for what they use these coupons on…
I think you may have been confused when in line behind this lady. I am an employee for WIC and WIC checks only allow women to purchase food that is rich in important nutrients for growth during childhood an pregnancy (vitamin a,c, folate, iron). Milk, cheese, carrots, beans, 100% juice, tuna, peanut butter, etc. These checks do not work for anything but these foods and that have to be the cheapest versions available at the store.
She was probably using food stamps, which i do agree needs to be reformed. Currently people on food stamps do not participate in nutrition counseling and are allowed to purchase whatever they would like.
Wic is a good program and has been proven to save the taxpayer money while improving the health of low income women and children. For every $1 spent on WIC, it equates to $2-$4 in savings for medicaid on the treatment of premature births, anemia, and other nutritional problems.
@Margaret
The reason I knew she was using WIC was because she handed something to the cashier that wasn’t cash… and the cashier asked “Is this WIC?”, and the lady responded “Yeah.”
The food she was buying wasn’t the “worst” but it was still junk to me… sugar drinks (the kind with no nutritional value), chips, and assorted snack foods (I don’t remember exactly now because it’s been a while).
And she had a wad of cash to pay for cigarettes… and she had her nails done and a fancy cellphone, which means that she has extra money to blow… which means that in her case WIC is merely enabling her to spend cash on extras. It’s ridiculous for taxes to go for Asian nail salons and top-of-the-line electronics in the name of “nutritional risk”.
I wouldn’t pull the WIC program entirely… but I would establish accountability. It’s lacking. Same for medicaid.
One Trackback
[...] obese AND collecting public assistance. I’ve covered this before including the sometimes non-usefulness of WIC. For instance, does it make any sense to give food stamps to obese people? Okay, there could be [...]