# Woman at Walmart lectures a father using Food Stamps. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 3, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820 "2016-05-03T23:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/21 "2016-05-04T03:31:35Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > When you consider the gains that would be realized from even a S&P 500 fund, most contributors only receive a fraction of what they put in. If a person pays ten thousand dollars in taxes, you can’t simply declare it’s the equivalent of twenty thousand dollars because he could have invested it something that would have doubled his money. If you do, I’ll just make the counterargument that the same person might not have invested his extra money; he might have spent it all on hookers and blow. So Social Security is a pure gift to him because it represents money he wouldn’t have otherwise had. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/22 "2016-05-04T03:43:03Z")
She’ll mock him for taking advantage of the rules in place, then probably vote for Donald Trump who’s sought bankruptcy protection… what, four times? ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/23 "2016-05-04T03:44:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If a person pays ten thousand dollars in taxes, you can’t simply declare it’s the equivalent of twenty thousand dollars because he could have invested it something that would have doubled his money. If you do, I’ll just make the counterargument that the same person might not have invested his extra money; he might have spent it all on hookers and blow. So Social Security is a pure gift to him because it represents money he wouldn’t have otherwise had. [Time value of money.](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/timevalueofmoney.asp) I call bullshit. Besides, Social Security is involuntary. If somebody would rather blow their money instead of being forced to participate, c’est la vie. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/24 "2016-05-04T03:46:29Z")
To get back on topic, I wonder if the video will end up on People of Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/25 "2016-05-04T06:12:16Z")
I am perturbed by that video. In fact, I am more than perturbed; I am positively disgusted. LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION, PEOPLE! VERY FEW OF US ARE ABLE/WILLING TO SET UP OUR MONITORS AND CONFIGURE YOUTUBE TO DISPLAY IN THE FASHION OF AN IMAX SCREEN! Having said that, is there a transcript of the video available anywhere? I’m a little vague on exactly what she said, as well as why he doesn’t appear to have rejected the notion that she was his monitor, or that he was obligated to justify himself to her. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/26 "2016-05-04T06:53:50Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > How did she know he was using “food stamps”? It’s just a debit card now. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM a very good question to ask, no? Also, there HAD to be more to the conversation before the footage we saw, clearly this starts in the middle of an argument between the two making me wonder what the guy might have said to her to set her off? Ive also seen many, many people roll out food stamps back in the day, and no one to my recollection EVER had the balls to call the poor saps out in public. Before anyone attacks me, Im NOT “Snopes Guy” because I got suckered and ripped this twat to threads on Facebook, but upon second viewing, Im wondering if this is some sort of a setup . . . .😕😕😕 or at the VERY least------were not getting the whole story here. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/27 "2016-05-04T06:56:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > To get back on topic, I wonder if the video will end up on People of Walmart. _ **Im buying from a company that imports cheap goods made by child labor, systematically abuses American based vendors and out employees, as well as systematically eradicating small town economies, but YOU are using Food Stamps at the cheapest retailer possible, DEVIL!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/28 "2016-05-04T07:28:00Z")
If you know what the card looks like you can tell what it is. Or if he had to pull out two different cards–one for food stamp stuff and one for a few other things–it’s pretty obvious. Getting rid of the stamps helps the casual person not notice, but not someone who wants to know. Oh, and what she said means it doesn’t matter what happened before, any more than racism is justified if the black person did something bad. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/29 "2016-05-04T07:57:47Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Really? Will they all be above average, too? > > Look, a simple thought experiment, courtesy of Ponzi, will show you that what you just claimed cannot be sustainably true. What the [checks forum] Fuck are you talking about?? Single people who die before they’re 65 get back Zero — less than they paid in. Illegal aliens get Zero back. People who don’t get Zero get, on average, more than they paid in. People who live until they’re 177 years old get back _ **much Much** _ more than they paid in. _ **This is all simple arithmetic** _. If it confuses you, formulate a coherent question and start a GQ thread. (Incidentally, the SS policy of stopping payments upon death makes utilitarian sense in a way that normal savings do not. Because … wait for it … dead people don’t need money. Yes this sends shivers up right-wing rectums: Teh gummint is takin’ away what’s Mine Mine Mine!!) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/30 "2016-05-04T08:42:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > {…} Or if he had to pull out two different cards {…} I wouldn’t be even a little surprised if it turns out he was using a [WIC voucher](https://www.google.com/search?q=wic+vouchers&num=100&newwindow=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJjpbFgcDMAhUB4CYKHUncCScQ_AUIBygB&biw=1067&bih=453#imgrc=_). (I’m reasonably certain they’re still a thing, and from what I’ve seen they make checking out a annoying hassle.) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/31 "2016-05-04T08:46:45Z")
Sorry for hijacking the thread to try to straighten out **Bricker**. If I thought his was just ordinary arithmetic confusion I wouldn’t have answered — after all, 49% of Americans are below average in math skill. What is infuriating is that right-wingers are infected with every possible falsehood that bolsters their stereotypes. When you withdraw from a bank account you don’t get the exact same dollar bills you deposited — yet right-wing idiots pretend that this invalidates the whole SocSec arrangement. :smack: The administrative overhead of SocSec is about 1% (compared with 14% for private programs), yet right-wingers like **Bricker** assume the overhead (teh gummint werkers is teh laazy) is 30%. SocSec actually pays out more than it takes in because … wait for it … it earns interest on its Trust Fund. Yet one right-winger actually proposed that the Trust Fund keep its assets in the form of $100 Benjamins since those are “real money” compared with U.S. Gov’t bonds. :smack: Fighting ignorance is taking a lot longer than expected. 😉 It wouldn’t be so bad without all the willful right-wing ignorance. **Bricker** ’s comment was so stupid it needed to be batted down at once. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/32 "2016-05-04T10:52:19Z")
Benifit cards are easy to spot here. She probably saw it. I wish the looked less noticeable. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/33 "2016-05-04T11:16:19Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > How did she know he was using “food stamps”? It’s just a debit card now. They all have distinctive designs. Once you know what one looks like they’re easy to spot if you’re nosy about such things. > [@russian\_heel](#): > > Ive also seen many, many people roll out food stamps back in the day, and no one to my recollection EVER had the balls to call the poor saps out in public. I back-up cashier where I work. It’s rare people call out food stamp users (usually, the jerks will whisper something nasty to me about it just after said person leaves) but it does happen. The WIC people get it even worse because the check-out process for them is more involved and longer even if the benefit recipient comes prepared, organized, and has their own pen. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I wouldn’t be even a little surprised if it turns out he was using a [WIC voucher](https://www.google.com/search?q=wic+vouchers&num=100&newwindow=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJjpbFgcDMAhUB4CYKHUncCScQ_AUIBygB&biw=1067&bih=453#imgrc=_). > (I’m reasonably certain they’re still a thing, and from what I’ve seen they make checking out a annoying hassle.) > CMC fnord! Yes, they’re still a thing and everyone wishes they’d move to a debit card thing like food stamps did years ago. See, one of the advantages of the current EBT system is that which items are eligible and which aren’t can be programed into the store computer system so the customer doesn’t have to organize their purchases and the store cashier doesn’t have to look up whether or not something is eligible. Just run everything through the checkout process and the computer figures it all out. It makes such transactions as quick as non-EBT transactions. WIC, on the other hand, requires paper forms, pens to fill them out, and segregating WIC purchases into a separate transaction (sometimes more than one!). It slows everything down and I have seen inpatient people behind such customers get very ugly, including saying really terrible, hateful things. Such people should note that insulting the person in front of you to the point said person is about to break down and cry will NOT speed up the checkout line. :rolleyes: It’s rare, but it does happen. ---
**Author:** ![HelenTroy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helentroy/32/86_2.png) [@HelenTroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenTroy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/34 "2016-05-04T11:33:51Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > How did she know he was using “food stamps”? It’s just a debit card now. To add to what others have said about it being a distinctive credit card, in my state child support at one time was also placed on the same type of card, so whether you received welfare benefits or run of the mill child support payments, you looked like you were paying with the same thing, however I could use mine like a debit card for anything. Story time! This led to the fun confrontation I had with a nosy woman in Target when I was buying Christmas presents using said card. She saw the card and assumed it was food stamps/ benefits of some kind and started screeching about fraud and spending her tax money on luxury items she couldn’t afford. I had an immediate feeling of humiliation over attention being drawn to me and felt the need to quickly point out it was legitimate child support and _then_ felt guilty over that. It was none of this woman’s business and I could only imagine how someone would feel who didn’t have the “excuse” of it not being a “hand out”. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/35 "2016-05-04T11:58:50Z")
> [@HelenTroy](#): > > To add to what others have said about it being a distinctive credit card, in my state child support at one time was also placed on the same type of card, so whether you received welfare benefits or run of the mill child support payments, you looked like you were paying with the same thing, however I could use mine like a debit card for anything. Everyone I know who receives child support gets it directly from the father. I also hear complaints that the state does little if anything to help if the father doesn’t pay. ---
**Author:** ![HelenTroy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helentroy/32/86_2.png) [@HelenTroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenTroy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/36 "2016-05-04T12:07:51Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Everyone I know who receives child support gets it directly from the father. I also hear complaints that the state does little if anything to help if the father doesn’t pay. To clarify, if you go to court through the Child Support Enforcement Agency, they are the ones who collect the payments from the paying parent and make sure it is distributed to the receiving parent. I did not receive welfare. I received child support from my child’s father, it was simply processed by a government agency and the card it was paid onto was the same as a “welfare” payment card. I have to tell you, this is a MUCH better way. When he doesn’t pay, they go after him and I don’t have to do a thing. The only bad part was then being sucked into the poor group being judged because I paid for things with a “welfare” card. ---
**Author:** ![HelenTroy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helentroy/32/86_2.png) [@HelenTroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenTroy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/37 "2016-05-04T12:09:57Z")
Final note of hijack - my state is damn good at going after parents if you go through the Child Support Enforcement Agency for your order. There is an automatic hearing when he hits a certain dollar amount in arrears and they will garnish wages. End hijack. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/38 "2016-05-04T12:42:49Z")
I took my latest Social Security benefits statement and did some simple calcs with back of the envelope accuracy. If I take the total amount I paid into SS to date and divided it by my estimated benefit at age 62, I get it all back in 67 months, neglecting interest. Of course I’ve got a few years of contributions yet to put in there but it seems to me that at the very least, if I live more that 6-7 years past retirement, I’ll be getting back all that I put in. I don’t know how long the average guy lives into retirement, but I’d be surprised if most didn’t live at least that long. If you have a 20+ year retirement, you’re getting back way more than you put in. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/39 "2016-05-04T12:47:59Z")
If that wasn’t staged (who the fuck knows what crazy people do anymore for their 15 minutes) I’d tell her she’s shopping at Walmart, where her ‘Always low prices. Always’ are in part the starvation wages they pay their employees who then must get government assistance in multiple ways. In short, MY taxes are going to pay for her cheap Midol. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820/40 "2016-05-04T13:48:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I am perturbed by that video. > > In fact, I am more than perturbed; I am positively disgusted. > > LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION, PEOPLE! VERY FEW OF US ARE ABLE/WILLING TO SET UP OUR MONITORS AND CONFIGURE YOUTUBE TO DISPLAY IN THE FASHION OF AN IMAX SCREEN! > > Having said that, is there a transcript of the video available anywhere? I’m a little vague on exactly what she said, as well as why he doesn’t appear to have rejected the notion that she was his monitor, or that he was obligated to justify himself to her. I’m missing something. How would an IMAX screen help? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-at-walmart-lectures-a-father-using-food-stamps/753820.md?page=3)