Since when did it become acceptable to publicly humiliate someone at a grocery store for their method of payment? In this instance, an EBT card or what some call food stamps. I don’t think its okay either.
A 28-year-old woman from Georgia went to a Kroger grocery store and was embarrassed not by her counterparts or the clerk, but the manager of the store when she was checking out. A disagreement ensued between two employees and the manager, regarding the eligibility of a few of her groceries (about $10 worth) for food stamps. In an effort to solve the issue, the manager simply said “just give it to her,” but that wasn’t all he said. “Excuse me for working for a living and not relying on food stamps like you,” he told the lady in front of a store full of people.
Little did this “manager” know that this woman was doing more than just trying to work for a living, she was fighting for a living. Excuse me sir but this woman has had kidney disease since she was 11-years-old and has been on the kidney transplant list for the past five years. Every 12 hours she has to give herself a dialysis treatment just to stay alive.
No she wasn’t a single mother out here doing it on her on, She is married. She has one child and yes her husband does have a job because of the economy, his income isn’t enough to feed his family. And if you’re thinking she’s black, you’re wrong she’s a white woman who has to do what she has to do for her family. Maybe that’s not “working” enough for you.
Can you not see what this issue is here? So many stigmas are placed on people on welfare. Yes, there are some people who use and abuse the system just as the manager said. Yes there are single mothers who don’t know who their children’s fathers are and use welfare to get by. Yes, there are people who make well above the poverty line that trick the system into believing they have nothing.
They force us to believe that African American’s are the main people using welfare and getting food stamps, but that is far from the case. People of all races and nationalities have felt the negative effects of the economy. I’m sure that with job layoffs, families have been working hard to make sure their kids eat if that means putting pride aside and getting public assistance, so be it.
But one story is not everyone’s story. No, I’ve never had food stamps, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t understand the struggle. You never know someone’s struggle until you take a walk in their shoes. Can you believe the company only switched the manager to another store and gave the woman an apology and a $15 gift card? The nerve..
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- Dashawn Fleming, Contributor