Reply #66: When I worked the counter,

[Heywood J]

one of my jobs was to process those. Most of them came from things like National Child Benefit or the city's dependent child program. Usually, they were meant to pay for things like clothing, food, cribs, mattresses, etc.

I saw a lot of people that I really felt for, who were using the entire $50 (tiny, compared to some) just to buy food for the kids. Some people tried to squeeze every drop by going for the off-season very-reduced clothing bin. Many bought lunches for school. I hated having to be an arbiter of what could be bought, but I got shit if something went through that shouldn't have, and we got a strict list of what to allow under each category.

But there were always about a third who tried to use the larger vouchers to (for example) attempt free DVD players and TVs, and who would scream and yell at us when we said we weren't empowered to do that unless the approving agency explicitly listed that as an option. The number of forgeries we saw (and verified by calling in), the number of people who tried to use vouchers written for "crib and baby food" for Doritos and Pepsi, or who tried to use it to buy things that were blatantly contrary to the written purpose of the voucher was phenomenal. It's interesting how those who tried to abuse the system always got the largest vouchers.


It's just frustrating to bust your ass for a low-wage job and to have people demand free shit from you, when you know for a fact they're ripping you off. I've got nothing but sympathy for those who really need it, it must be humiliating.