Wed Jun 27, 2012, 03:05 PM

Clerk loses job for refusing to let customer use welfare money to pay for cigarettes

Last edited Wed Jun 27, 2012, 03:32 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

The wingnuts on my local board are all up in arms over this.

PETERBOROUGH — Jackie R. Whiton of Antrim had been a six-year employee at the Big Apple convenience store in Peterborough until a single transaction sent her job up in smoke.

The store clerk was fired after she refused to take a customer’s Electronic Balance Transfer card to pay for cigarettes.

Whiton said a young man came in to the store to buy two packs or cigarettes on May 29. When she asked him for his ID, he handed her his EBT card.

EBT cards are used for both food and cash assistance programs. There are two types of cards: one can only be used for food. The other can be spent on anything and used just like a debit card.

Whiton said she did not think EBT cards could be used to purchase cigarettes and refused to sell to him. The two “had a little go-around” as the line got longer behind him, said Whiton.

more . . . http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/clerk-loses-job-over-stand/article_87627ed5-5d4e-5ff0-a781-f14deb034771.html

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179 replies	Author	Time	Post
Clerk loses job for refusing to let customer use welfare money to pay for cigarettes (Original post)	proud2BlibKansan	Jun 2012	OP
She wasn't fired, she quit	ProudToBeBlueInRhody	Jun 2012	#1
Oh I agree	proud2BlibKansan	Jun 2012	#2
this kind of thing does make the progressives case for income assistance look bad...	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#5
This kind of thing? You mean, ignorant people trying to humiliate the poor and powerless?	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#13
No, I don't like that at all. Not saying that.	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#23
I just read a quote the other night: "I'm too old to spend my life worrying	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#25
You are right and I think of that. But I just had one of those "conversations" with my auto repair	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#31
With all the rightwing media money being spent	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#33
See, I can't understand WHY propaganda works, really well, on some	SammyWinstonJack	Jun 2012	#50
John Dean wrote that book about authoritarians.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#51
But if it's biological	progressiveinaction	Jun 2012	#132
Well, resenting people for who they are	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#144
I Think you have to come from a progressive background & an open family where political	Pyrzqxgl	Jun 2012	#85
You may have a point there	proud2BlibKansan	Jun 2012	#104
Abraham Lincoln summed it up when he noted,	Art_from_Ark	Jun 2012	#156
Sam Waterson's character in the first episode of Newsroom said:	TomClash	Jun 2012	#37
That was it! Thank you! ETA	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#45
It was great	TomClash	Jun 2012	#129
Thanks.	russspeakeasy	Jun 2012	#82
It was the new HBO show "Network."	IdaBriggs	Jun 2012	#139
Tell me...	Scootaloo	Jun 2012	#32
I'm sorry, too, that we don't live in that kind of world, or at least not here in the U.S.	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#44
Well, I made this suggestion the other day here....	ProudToBeBlueInRhody	Jun 2012	#48
It differs from the anti-obesity arguments in that people have to eat to live but not smoke to live.	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#55
But don't you think it's hypocritical to slam the poor for trying to find a little pleasure in	sabrina 1	Jun 2012	#72
But I didn't "slam the poor" on anything. I was talking about the hard, political reality that we	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#93
if tobacco is eligible, it's because corporations & tobacco farmers lobbied to make it	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#95
GREAT point, and one's that very likely to be missed amongst the heat of the debate, even at DU.	bullwinkle428	Jun 2012	#148
Yep, it is the new American culture. The ignorant rising up ripe with	RKP5637	Jun 2012	#53
Yep. The climate has definitely changed. n/t	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#63
that's not a nice things to say about a drug addict trying to score nt	msongs	Jun 2012	#124
I don't think authoritarianism is officially an addiction. Yet, anyway. n/t	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#146
The citizens of the state bought those cigarettes.	lumberjack_jeff	Jun 2012	#162
Wait, are you questioning this aid recipient's citizenship?	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#164
In the absence of voters consent to provide aid, he would have been unable to buy cigarettes.	lumberjack_jeff	Jun 2012	#165
When that money is allocated to that individual, it isn't yours any more.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#168
It's public money, and public funds, up to the point that a EBT card is funded.	lumberjack_jeff	Jun 2012	#169
LOL, so now this situation is my fault? Still doesn't make a lick of sense. n/;t	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#170
Take it up with the TOBACCO	DiverDave	Sep 2012	#177
We don't lose any argument when you've got corporate welfare...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#16
I wish I could say that everybody is on to the corporate welfare scam in this country but they	CTyankee	Jun 2012	#26
Yes indeed, in particular the purchase of Cadillacs using ebt cards just has to stop.	Warren Stupidity	Jun 2012	#152
That's odd.	Marinedem	Jun 2012	#9
Really? You'd reward discriminatory behavior	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#11
Discriminatory?	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#17
Yes, if you refuse to allow a sale simply because the person is using a Welfare card	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#21
I don't think it would make for a good civil rights complaint.	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#35
It's even more than just straight sales.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#43
Cigarettes, unlike disabilities, are not a protected class.	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#54
Refusing service to someone with a Welfare card	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#60
The clerk made a good faith refusal	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#73
We really don't know if her refusal was in good faith or not.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#74
Yeah, those workers are always cutting into the profit margin	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#77
Discriminating against poor people is not "work", it's discrimination.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#79
When did Big Tobacco care about choice? Remember the decptive adds and studies?	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#81
But I'm not talking to Big Tabacco, I'm talking to you	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#83
"I'm not talking to Big Tabacco, I'm talking to you"	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#98
This isn't a discussion about corporate propaganda. For that, you'd need to start your own thread.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#101
if you can buy cigarettes with benefits, it's for the benefit of the corporations &	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#89
it's an eligible product on the card, what don't you get? and it's eligible because	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#103
Then we should lobby to have it made ineligible	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#113
yeah, that's a very important issue, why don't you go work on it.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#118
It is possible to do more than one thing at a time.	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#120
We live in a system that guarantees that there will be poor people. Poor people are not infants...	Luminous Animal	Jun 2012	#125
Rant: ON	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#147
Food for thought.	ChazII	Jun 2012	#166
for what, holding up a line? refusing a sale? humiliating a customer?	unblock	Jun 2012	#12
You think you have a right to tell poor people what to buy?	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#18
What if she wanted a soda that was larger than 32 ounces?	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#19
Um...let me think about that...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#20
Would that the rest of us had such freedoms with our own money	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#22
Of course. Totally agree. n/t	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#24
Then in NYC she would be treated like every other supermarket customer.	Warren Stupidity	Jun 2012	#154
It's bullcrap.	Marinedem	Jun 2012	#30
It's not crap...it's none of your business is what it is...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#36
no, your post is bullcrap: i pay $9 a pack for cigarettes, and most of it is tax.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#106
I imagine you then run a most successful company...	LanternWaste	Jun 2012	#28
Not political	Marinedem	Jun 2012	#34
What if they were buying nothing but junk food with their food stamps? n/t	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#39
Some States are using EBT for Child Support and Unemployment Benefits	rbrnmw	Sep 2012	#178
For me, it would depend	SickOfTheOnePct	Jun 2012	#123
They have sting operations here where minors try to buy booze	XemaSab	Jul 2012	#175
Yes, she was playing morality police. If it'd been a mistake* I'd be for her. But she ran her mouth.	freshwest	Jul 2012	#176
I don't think that's the case	blogslut	Jun 2012	#3
the article says one type is for food only, the other type is for anything, even gambling.	unblock	Jun 2012	#6
WIC is a voucher. Very specific as to what you can buy with it. Milk, cheese, eggs, beans, juice,	Erose999	Jun 2012	#8
I haven't read the entire thread, so this may have already been said	SickOfTheOnePct	Jun 2012	#122
Read the story.	LiberalFighter	Jun 2012	#167
Jackie R. Whiton, had been a six-year employee at the Big Apple convenience store ...	Kalidurga	Jun 2012	#4
exactly. in fact, i'd bet she was looking for an excuse to quit.	unblock	Jun 2012	#7
Further in the article it states, “She didn’t think it was right and just wasn’t going to sell..."	ieoeja	Jun 2012	#29
If she did stay, who would she decide to 'punish' the following week?	Ikonoklast	Jun 2012	#40
Good fucking riddance. n/t	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#42
it was none of her business	Liberal_in_LA	Jun 2012	#10
You can use welfare funds to buy cigarettes?	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#14
The cash portion can be spent at the discretion of the reciever of the assistance. n/t	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#15
I could see letting the cash portion be largely unregulated	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#41
If you're not going to allow poor people to buy smokes, why should you allow the rest?	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#46
I never said they wouldn't be allowed to buy smokes	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#58
It's none of our business what they buy with that money.	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#59
Do you think food stamps should be altered as well then?	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#66
Yes, I do...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#68
Interesting.	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#75
Why do you care so much about what they spend?	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#80
Why do you keep saying it isn't our business when it is our money they are spending?	Bandit	Jun 2012	#94
It is their money as citizens of this country	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#99
Politicians are spending our money...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#100
Corporations should NOT be getting taxpayer money	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#111
"our" money "they" are spending	cthulu2016	Jun 2012	#107
Awesome	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#136
I also think that the poor should have greater access to the internet...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#137
Yes clearly it is the lack of access to tobacco	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#138
Did I say that anywhere?	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#142
It's the cash portion	Marrah_G	Jun 2012	#150
moving to put all public benefits on these cards gives the public ever so many more	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#112
+1	Luminous Animal	Jun 2012	#126
Yes, it is. Most people work hard for their money and when they see it squandered	MrTriumph	Jun 2012	#84
But you're ripped off by big corporations all the time...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#88
Where's the outrage? As a Democrat I am disgusted when	MrTriumph	Jun 2012	#109
You are basing that on your own personal values...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#117
"They're doing it" so it's okay?	mizzuz pibb	Jul 2012	#172
apparently only when poor people "squander" it. albeit the overwhelming majority	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#114
does it bother you that the military sells cigarettes and junk food to the troops?	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#160
The problem with the cash.....	ProudToBeBlueInRhody	Jun 2012	#47
This message was hidden by jury decision.	MightyOkie	Jun 2012	#38
yeah....	opiate69	Jun 2012	#52
Yep. That's what I wrote...	MightyOkie	Jun 2012	#56
the implication is obvious to anybody with 2 brain cells to rub together	opiate69	Jun 2012	#62
Because life is just so fucking grand for them that they are living it up...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#61
Big tobacco has always been there for the poor people	Nuclear Unicorn	Jun 2012	#76
Fascinating	4th law of robotics	Jun 2012	#140
It comes down to choice...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#141
I thought in some states you can't buy smokes or alcohol with welfare cards.	southernyankeebelle	Jun 2012	#27
That's what I thought...	MightyOkie	Jun 2012	#49
OMG!	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#57
+1	Lionessa	Jun 2012	#65
The authoritarian mind, what an awkward twisted place to live. n/t	Egalitarian Thug	Jun 2012	#64
Seriously.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#67
Notice how the store clerk and the customer are pitted against one another, while	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#69
+1. and it's because of the media meme -- "lazy welfare cheats, wasting our money"	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#86
I'm sorry I am very far to the left and an ex-smoker now for 13 years.	ArnoldLayne	Jun 2012	#70
The money is for whatever they want it to be for...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#71
Say what!? Taxpayers pass moral judgments every day about how their money is spent.	MrTriumph	Jun 2012	#87
Sure they do, but you're talking about someone's personal life here...	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#90
But they don't get to inflict those decisions on the public at large	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#91
How far to the left can you be if you are trying to enforce your wishes	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#78
They aren't all red, are they? n/t	Egalitarian Thug	Jun 2012	#127
The food portion cannot be used for anything but non-prepared food.	Marrah_G	Jun 2012	#151
I'm sorry but welfare is not for food. It is for your living expenses.	Warren Stupidity	Jun 2012	#155
This thread is a prime example of what makes the average person irate: Poor people	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#92
Banksters throw hundreds of thousands of families out of their homes	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#96
i've been kicking a thread about the attack on unions for three days. one response.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#115
Sad, isn't it?	proud2BlibKansan	Jun 2012	#97
After one of these threads, no one here should ever again claim	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#105
Oh I know	proud2BlibKansan	Jun 2012	#108
LOL	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#110
really. why would any working class person vote democratic, when they're constantly	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#116
Poor people make for good targets, don't they?	cynatnite	Jun 2012	#102
Yep. (nt)	Posteritatis	Jun 2012	#131
It's the "deserving" vs. "undeserving" poor BS.	Odin2005	Jun 2012	#133
Wow, a story with two people making idiotic financial decisions	Taitertots	Jun 2012	#119
When you figure out a way to make people stop making stupid decisions	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#121
It's a bit ridiculous	SoCalNative	Jun 2012	#128
If it wasn't for welfare ......	Smilo	Jun 2012	#130
The anti-poor bigotry in this thread is nauseating.	Odin2005	Jun 2012	#134
I didn't realize that welfare could be used for cigarettes.	BlueCheese	Jun 2012	#135
It's the cash portion of the ebt card, used like a debit card	Marrah_G	Jun 2012	#149
Do ya'll know any poor people?	jcboon	Jun 2012	#143
Welcome to du and thanks for your compassion.	Warren Stupidity	Jun 2012	#157
This message was hidden by jury decision.	mizzuz pibb	Jul 2012	#171
Got called for a jury on your hateful post-then I saw you'd already been PPRed....Good riddence	Rowdyboy	Jul 2012	#173
This just makes me so sad.....the whole idea of power over someone else.....	a kennedy	Jun 2012	#145
No one is getting rich off welfare	Marrah_G	Jun 2012	#153
Fired because of ..."The two “had a little go-around”...	SoCalDem	Jun 2012	#158
I don't care	unreadierLizard	Jun 2012	#159
Yay for Big Apple! They gotta protect their profits.	lumberjack_jeff	Jun 2012	#161
WELFARE QUEENS IN CADILLACS!!!!!BUYING CIGS AND BOOOOOOZE!!!!11!!	tjwash	Jun 2012	#163
Mittens will probably give her the RNC keynote position	RFKHumphreyObama	Jul 2012	#174
unemployment and child support go to ebt cards in many states	rbrnmw	Sep 2012	#179

Response to proud2BlibKansan (Original post)

Wed Jun 27, 2012, 03:09 PM

ProudToBeBlueInRhody (10,310 posts)

1. She wasn't fired, she quit

But to be honest, it's amazing that buying toilet paper is out of bounds but cigs and beer is okay? A truly FUBAR system.

Clerk loses job for refusing to let customer use welfare money to pay for cigarettes

1. She wasn't fired, she quit

2. Oh I agree

5. this kind of thing does make the progressives case for income assistance look bad...

13. This kind of thing? You mean, ignorant people trying to humiliate the poor and powerless?

23. No, I don't like that at all. Not saying that.

25. I just read a quote the other night: "I'm too old to spend my life worrying

31. You are right and I think of that. But I just had one of those "conversations" with my auto repair

33. With all the rightwing media money being spent

50. See, I can't understand WHY propaganda works, really well, on some

51. John Dean wrote that book about authoritarians.

132. But if it's biological

144. Well, resenting people for who they are

85. I Think you have to come from a progressive background & an open family where political

104. You may have a point there

156. Abraham Lincoln summed it up when he noted,

37. Sam Waterson's character in the first episode of Newsroom said:

45. That was it! Thank you! ETA

129. It was great

82. Thanks.

139. It was the new HBO show "Network."

32. Tell me...

44. I'm sorry, too, that we don't live in that kind of world, or at least not here in the U.S.

48. Well, I made this suggestion the other day here....

55. It differs from the anti-obesity arguments in that people have to eat to live but not smoke to live.

72. But don't you think it's hypocritical to slam the poor for trying to find a little pleasure in

93. But I didn't "slam the poor" on anything. I was talking about the hard, political reality that we

95. if tobacco is eligible, it's because corporations & tobacco farmers lobbied to make it

148. GREAT point, and one's that very likely to be missed amongst the heat of the debate, even at DU.

53. Yep, it is the new American culture. The ignorant rising up ripe with

63. Yep. The climate has definitely changed. n/t

124. that's not a nice things to say about a drug addict trying to score nt

146. I don't think authoritarianism is officially an addiction. Yet, anyway. n/t

162. The citizens of the state bought those cigarettes.

164. Wait, are you questioning this aid recipient's citizenship?

165. In the absence of voters consent to provide aid, he would have been unable to buy cigarettes.

168. When that money is allocated to that individual, it isn't yours any more.

169. It's public money, and public funds, up to the point that a EBT card is funded.

170. LOL, so now this situation is my fault? Still doesn't make a lick of sense. n/;t

177. Take it up with the TOBACCO

16. We don't lose any argument when you've got corporate welfare...

26. I wish I could say that everybody is on to the corporate welfare scam in this country but they

152. Yes indeed, in particular the purchase of Cadillacs using ebt cards just has to stop.

9. That's odd.

11. Really? You'd reward discriminatory behavior

17. Discriminatory?

21. Yes, if you refuse to allow a sale simply because the person is using a Welfare card

35. I don't think it would make for a good civil rights complaint.

43. It's even more than just straight sales.

54. Cigarettes, unlike disabilities, are not a protected class.

60. Refusing service to someone with a Welfare card

73. The clerk made a good faith refusal

74. We really don't know if her refusal was in good faith or not.

77. Yeah, those workers are always cutting into the profit margin

79. Discriminating against poor people is not "work", it's discrimination.

81. When did Big Tobacco care about choice? Remember the decptive adds and studies?

83. But I'm not talking to Big Tabacco, I'm talking to you

98. "I'm not talking to Big Tabacco, I'm talking to you"

101. This isn't a discussion about corporate propaganda. For that, you'd need to start your own thread.

89. if you can buy cigarettes with benefits, it's for the benefit of the corporations &

103. it's an eligible product on the card, what don't you get? and it's eligible because

113. Then we should lobby to have it made ineligible

118. yeah, that's a very important issue, why don't you go work on it.

120. It is possible to do more than one thing at a time.

125. We live in a system that guarantees that there will be poor people. Poor people are not infants...

147. Rant: ON

166. Food for thought.

12. for what, holding up a line? refusing a sale? humiliating a customer?

18. You think you have a right to tell poor people what to buy?

19. What if she wanted a soda that was larger than 32 ounces?

20. Um...let me think about that...

22. Would that the rest of us had such freedoms with our own money

24. Of course. Totally agree. n/t

154. Then in NYC she would be treated like every other supermarket customer.

30. It's bullcrap.

36. It's not crap...it's none of your business is what it is...

106. no, your post is bullcrap: i pay $9 a pack for cigarettes, and most of it is tax.

28. I imagine you then run a most successful company...

34. Not political

39. What if they were buying nothing but junk food with their food stamps? n/t