Their CEO appears to have been indicted for defrauding them for a fuckton more than any welfare fraud. But, you know, phones and fancy cars...
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It blows my mind just how successful america was convincing everyone that welfare queens/ abusing welfare is so easy.
- Thread starter nsilvias
- Start date
I always find it amazing how the people who run into these threads and ring the alarm bell on these awful serial ABUSERS are the people who work in the social work industry. Doesn't matter how many times we go over the statistics and the realities, the jaded insider perspective knows all.
This is always what really fuckin' gets me hot. The second you're poor, you need to sell off all your moderately expensive things, even though they are worth dogshit in the secondhand market, because you should always sell all your belongings immediately to cover for a hardship that may only last a month or three. That's the other thing; I've been on assistance several times in my life, sometimes the hardship is fleeting -- but if it weren't for that two months of foodstamps then it would have been worse and worse and then I'd be on assistance for years at a time trying to recover.
I've tried selling my expensive shit -- I sold TVs, cars, etc. You know what it accomplishes? Jack shit. It covers a single bill and then the next month I still don't have the actual income or help I need and now I don't have my phone or car.
This is always what really fuckin' gets me hot. The second you're poor, you need to sell off all your moderately expensive things, even though they are worth dogshit in the secondhand market, because you should always sell all your belongings immediately to cover for a hardship that may only last a month or three. That's the other thing; I've been on assistance several times in my life, sometimes the hardship is fleeting -- but if it weren't for that two months of foodstamps then it would have been worse and worse and then I'd be on assistance for years at a time trying to recover.
I've tried selling my expensive shit -- I sold TVs, cars, etc. You know what it accomplishes? Jack shit. It covers a single bill and then the next month I still don't have the actual income or help I need and now I don't have my phone or car.
And most of them are fat so how poor can they really be!!!!!
I always think of the people whose job it is to make up this bullshit and wonder if they really believe it or if it is just a shitty job until they can move on to something they like better?
Folks don't realize it's a privilege to be able to look at someone else's cart or what they are wearing instead of spending all your time in the grocery store budgeting things out in your head. These people just put stuff in their cart. It doesn't matter what or how much it costs. It's just some number that will come out of the bank account that they will never have to worry about it being empty. They don't have their own shit to keep them occupied, so they have to stare at the other people around them and be judgemental little ducks.
The irony here is the system requires them to buy a certain type of cheese in the first place , and rather than assume .... I dunno that they didn't know which cheese was /was not covered you jumped straight to the fact that they were trying to screw you and your store over..... Which ultimately led to your store being closed because they were "tricking you".
You've created this elaborate story in your head that people just wanted to try to get one over .... Because they wanted Swiss cheese over American
Yeah, and these stories are infuriating because the approval process can be so oblique and seemingly at the whim of individuals in the chain.
evin had issued marching orders asking for these things to be harder to get approved (which lines up with your 4 years), so hopefully your brother gets approved going forward.
There are a decent number of people that go to school or work in social work that have absolutely no business being there. Racism, homophobia, sexism, TERFs, ableism, xenophobia and classism. I'm never sure why exactly they get into it. Although, to be fair it's probably less likely any of the people in here going on about working with society's worst (people trying to eat or have housing) are a licensed social worker so hopefully the capacity for their bias to negatively impact people seeking help is minimal.
Man, you're something else lol
I never said the store closed because of these people. Never. You're the one making stuff up. Harvest Foods died the death of a thousand cuts just like plenty of grocery store chains before and since. But yes, I do think the government had special contracts with specific food manufactures for lower prices on specific perishables, where the government reimbursed them less than retail cost. That isn't a stretch of the imagination lol.
Yes, people that were new to assistance made mistakes that were easily corrected. The bad apples constantly and purposefully deceived the system at every turn. They knew every single rule and how to bend or break them. They would seek out new cashiers or leave when they saw certain managers working. (When certain people came into the store, only managers were allowed to check them out.) There's only so much you can do. We didn't have the ability to put in scan checks at the store level, it had to be done by corporate so we did what we could at a store level.
Did they do it for Swiss vs American? Quite frankly, I never knew or understood why they did what they did. I just know they had to follow the rules or else we paid back the difference, so they had to follow the rules. I wasn't denying them their cheese of choice like some evil cheese baron lol.
Anyone that works retail or with the public in general will tell you that people suck. Grocery stores are no different.
I dunno, most of those sorts of posters will never say anything remotely critical of the status quo, so I hesitate to even call them play-acting at it.
There's been so much fascination on benefits users gaming the system in the UK, always found it so gross. Becomes the prevailing topic on the subject which inevitably paints the common view on it, never mind the actual stats or just how many people in vulnerable situations genuinely need the assistance.
Donald Trump hasn't paid taxes for over a decade? Oh he's smart!
Poor person buys food items not on official list? Stop this thief before they run our business into the ground!
Remember when Florida implemented a drug test for welfare recipients, and they busted like 100 or so people out of over 4000 recipients, while spending a hundred thousand of tax payer dollars to accomplish nothing?
OP is ignoring the power that lobbying efforts by BIG MAMA bring to bear. Basically a shadow cabal of single moms, Cadillac, Prada and Dollar Store has controlled welfare law for the better part ofa century. Using the Civil Rights movement as a smokescreen to further cement the real billionaire class, of single parents who cleverly disguise their wealth by hiding in plain sight in projects and run down parts of town, while simultaneously lavishly spending on luxuries like cadillacs, televisons, Gucci handbags and government cheese.
Each of those children she has in tow? An individually operating business unit - some of the disabled ones bring in as many as five hundred welfare checks a week. And don't get me started on FooStamps - aka Utraceable Poverty Bitcoin.
Just to put it in perspective, 98% of welfare recipients have a goddamned FRIDGE? WTF? A FRIDGE?
And they still want a tax break on their minimum wage cover job.
Each of those children she has in tow? An individually operating business unit - some of the disabled ones bring in as many as five hundred welfare checks a week. And don't get me started on FooStamps - aka Utraceable Poverty Bitcoin.
Just to put it in perspective, 98% of welfare recipients have a goddamned FRIDGE? WTF? A FRIDGE?
And they still want a tax break on their minimum wage cover job.
Absolutely zero people should give that much of a shit of people "gaming!!" the system for 200 extra dollars a month. It's people stealing billions in taxes from the government every year and folks are crying about someone "gaming" extra food for their family.
You should probably rethink why you're a social worker who demonizes poor people on the internet.
You want us to believe that NINETY percent of people going to homeless shelters are grabbing government grants and then skipping on to another state year by year?
The fuck?
I saw a lady in the supermarket using food stamps and she had a nicer phone than me, it was a hand me down from her brother who bought out the phone. As I walked out of the store I saw her get into a Cadillac that was a rental after someone smashed into her 97 Corolla while running a red light.
People find ways to abuse the system which I've been personally privy to view despite knowing complete shit about that persons life beyond a one off encounter in public.
People find ways to abuse the system which I've been personally privy to view despite knowing complete shit about that persons life beyond a one off encounter in public.
I can tell who has never been poor in this thread. Being poor is a fucking slog from waking to sleep. Every fucking day. It's a constant drain on your thought process that affects anything you do. And it never, ever, goes away. Even if you miraculously somehow claw your way out of poverty, thinking like a poor person never goes away. Have some fucking empathy.
How are people noticing people's EBT cards too? I live in a college town where students who receive work study can get up to $190 in EBT per month. I rarely ever look at people's cards that they use for payment because maybe mind your own business.
OH NO not a nice cellphone. Cant be poor if you have relatives that occasionally gift things. A one off cellphone really pays the rent and groceries, yep.
Edit: Sarcasm apparently.
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Same in the UK. Convince people that everyone on benefits is cheating the system (to the point where absolute outliers who take more than the average income are publicly tarred and feathered by massive newspapers), encourage poverty porn on TV like Benefits Street, and you'll end up with people hating those lower down on the ladder than them. Case in point, people earning 80k or more a year saying they don't want to pay other peoples' way and pulling the ladder up after they've made a success out of themselves, despite it being (in reality) a £15 a month hit to a £4,500 take home salary.
Something something rich man cookie analogy
Something something rich man cookie analogy
I like that you showed how you could have possibly read that persons post poorly by quoting only what you read.
Ah, Poe's law'd myself. Reading the first few pages pissed me off enough to miss the sarcasm, I suppose. I know enough people that legitimately think like that so I was just immediately seeing red.
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You don't have to be white to believe some people are taking advantage of welfare system. I've certainly heard enough comments about Jews and Russians in NYC to attest to that.
You should probably read more of my posts. I'm not demonizing people, or calling them out. These are simply the facts that I've experienced after working in this field for over a year.
I come from poverty myself. My parents came from Puerto Rico and had me when they were 16. They struggled with school and working two jobs each and making sacrifices. I was in the store with welfare checks and food stamps and felt that shame and embarrassment because my family has a lot of pride and hated having to use any assistance.
The way I was brought up is why I do this despite the terrible working conditions, because for all the families that take game the system, the ones who really need it make it worth the frustration.
It's why I was worked in a hospital for ten years, and volunteered as a teachers aide for troubled youth in minority school districts. Don't ever make assumptions when you know nothing about me or what I've been through and deal with day in and day out ACTUALLY trying to help as much families as possible.
Friends and family members I know that receive welfare are lying to obtain it because they cannot live off welfare alone. Gaming the welfare system isn't easy because you have to be in a royally fucked situation to begin with. They can only work under the table, they are in debt, they gamble, and they are addicts. If anything the welfare system should be more open so people don't have to lie to qualify.
these are the same people who literally believe Obama had "death panels" and was systematically killing seniors. wanting a similar healthcare and education system as the rest of the modern world is "sunshine and rainbows" but believing in pizza gate, obama death panels, qanon that's serious business.
But you just said that 9/10 of the people you help are scammers?
I mean it's racism, so I'm not sure why the shock and awe. Like if you see something in America and asked "how the fuck is this a thing/how did this happen?" 99% chance the answer is/was...racism.
Shitty public transportation? Racism
Shitty zoning laws? Racism
Shitty healthcare system? Racism
Shitty workers rights? Racism
Shitty voting systems? Racism every step of the way
Shitty student loan debts? Racism
Shitty police system? Racism
Shitty prison system? Racism
It's literally all racism.
Also, having worked in social welfare programs at both state (unemployment benefits, then later SNAP) and federal level for a combined 5 years. It's hilarious how utterly overblown the "gaming" of the system is. States spend hundreds of millions to stop like 5% of recipients from gaming the system. Talk about fucking dumb as shit
Shitty public transportation? Racism
Shitty zoning laws? Racism
Shitty healthcare system? Racism
Shitty workers rights? Racism
Shitty voting systems? Racism every step of the way
Shitty student loan debts? Racism
Shitty police system? Racism
Shitty prison system? Racism
It's literally all racism.
Also, having worked in social welfare programs at both state (unemployment benefits, then later SNAP) and federal level for a combined 5 years. It's hilarious how utterly overblown the "gaming" of the system is. States spend hundreds of millions to stop like 5% of recipients from gaming the system. Talk about fucking dumb as shit
The thing that bothers me is that would it really even be so bad?
Can you imagine the horror of giving someone free money for no work? My god, do you think they would..... spend that money and put it back into the economy?!?
I can't imagine any scenario any more frightening. Thank god the rich are able to safely tuck away 99% of the global economy into vaults for safekeeping.
Can you imagine the horror of giving someone free money for no work? My god, do you think they would..... spend that money and put it back into the economy?!?
I can't imagine any scenario any more frightening. Thank god the rich are able to safely tuck away 99% of the global economy into vaults for safekeeping.
That's literally the reality of my situation. I work at a scatter shelter site that is contracted by the State and in my experience being here as a case worker, this is what I've experienced. I'm not making a blanket statement for all scatter sites, or every program that provides assistance across the country, or even the race of said people who are taking advantage.
It's just what I've been through, and it's why social work has an extremely high turnover rate. Some people hate how frustrating it is to try and make an impact only to realize it's just somebodies hustle.
I've seen charts people make about how to have kids so they can maximize benefits, or seen families train there kids on how to act in front of child services to try and get more money for their monthly benefit.
It's a lot of ugly, but as I said multiple times, it's worth it and the programs have value because familes who NEED it like mine did and the others I've met and helped make dealing with all that ugly worthwhile.
It's parody of a completely serious post in this thread so I don't fault you for seeing it as that initially.
Really? Charts on maximizing benefits through childbirth? Training children to get more money?
The people that do "game" the system are typically doing it because they need it, and because the system does so little to support them otherwise, not because it's a preferred way to live or leads to a glamorous lifestyle.
In my own family, an uncle left his name off his kids' birth certificates in order for them to receive more aid because his disability support hadn't come through. The result? Yeah they got the financial assistance, but when my cousins found out later as adults, they didn't speak to him for nearly a decade.
In my own family, an uncle left his name off his kids' birth certificates in order for them to receive more aid because his disability support hadn't come through. The result? Yeah they got the financial assistance, but when my cousins found out later as adults, they didn't speak to him for nearly a decade.
Yes, now I didn't say that's every family. But I saw that for myself. Those families we try to report to the proper agencies and get the right help to those children.
Our site is a family shelter, so every family we take in has multiple children. No matter what, our priority is to try and do everything in our power to help stabilize the family and make sure kids have access to school and transportation and any medical services they need.
It still fucking blows my mind that the government earmarks what you can and can't spend your welfare on in the US. Talk about dehumanising.
No one is fucking living it up on welfare either. Regardless of whether you think they "deserve" it or not.
No one is fucking living it up on welfare either. Regardless of whether you think they "deserve" it or not.
Also, when I was on welfare here in Ireland, I pretended that I didn't live with my partner, because even though she was on minimum wage, they would've have reduced my payment to basically nothing for co-habiting .
So, I "gamed the system" and I have zero fucking qualms about doing so.
So, I "gamed the system" and I have zero fucking qualms about doing so.
It's a myth. And aren't more white people on welfare and EBT than minorities, even percentage wise?
I do know some people who game the system, but it's a mixed group of white and black. A woman I knew was collecting EBT, subsidized housing, a welfare check, and a check for child support. I knew her because she was dating an older friend of mine and he gave her money too. I asked her if she wanted to work and she said nope. She's white and perfectly able-bodied, but just didn't want to work. People like that have to be a small portion... I just can't believe there's a sizable number of people doing this. But yeah, there are going to be bad actors in any system. However, to say they are mostly black is just plain racism and should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.
On the flip side, my cousin's ex-wife has three kids, was living in subsidized housing, had EBT, Medicare, but no job. Was about to be kicked out of her place too. My wife and I moved her and the kids to our house so we could help her get a job, get child support (she was afraid of sending the docs to the fathers), and get on her feet. Only took a year and now she's a teacher in her own place with a new car. It's all about motivation and having someone who can help you is a plus.
I do know some people who game the system, but it's a mixed group of white and black. A woman I knew was collecting EBT, subsidized housing, a welfare check, and a check for child support. I knew her because she was dating an older friend of mine and he gave her money too. I asked her if she wanted to work and she said nope. She's white and perfectly able-bodied, but just didn't want to work. People like that have to be a small portion... I just can't believe there's a sizable number of people doing this. But yeah, there are going to be bad actors in any system. However, to say they are mostly black is just plain racism and should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.
On the flip side, my cousin's ex-wife has three kids, was living in subsidized housing, had EBT, Medicare, but no job. Was about to be kicked out of her place too. My wife and I moved her and the kids to our house so we could help her get a job, get child support (she was afraid of sending the docs to the fathers), and get on her feet. Only took a year and now she's a teacher in her own place with a new car. It's all about motivation and having someone who can help you is a plus.
My bestie actually handled all the formalities (completing paperwork, phoning the attorney, etc.) for me the first time I applied because I couldn't emotionally handle it. What I was mostly tasked to do--besides necessary interviews, such as with my attorney and Social Security, and appearing before the judge--was find and regularly visit doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists to analyze me and help establish for the court the severity of my mental illness. (The other dimension of my case was the record of my suicide attempt and hospital/recovery center stay.) Just handling this responsibility was tremendously taxing on my emotional state, and one which I never want to go through again.
If I do find it within myself to give disability another shot, it would only be for my palmar fibromatosis. Hoping the process for a purely physical condition won't be nearly as stressful to my equilibrium.
I recall one time the local paper trying to pose as a vagrant in need of handouts and determining that they made more money from that than what they'd make from a comparative McDonald's shift. Aside from the fact that someone neurotypical, or at least able the hold down a career, is probably at an advantage for getting donations than most people who are actually homeless, it's horrifying to me that their conclusion was more like "people give the homeless too much money" and not, like, "wow, minimum wage jobs suck and nobody should have to have one".
This is the same problem with our popular understanding of welfare, especially because in practice it is being used to supplement that gap between working a minimum wage job and being able to not die. A giant subsidy for Wal-Mart and the like.
Yeah, there is not enough money in welfare for this to have any return on value (not that the government needs to turn a profit) over just using that money to cover more people who could use it.
This is the same problem with our popular understanding of welfare, especially because in practice it is being used to supplement that gap between working a minimum wage job and being able to not die. A giant subsidy for Wal-Mart and the like.
Yeah, there is not enough money in welfare for this to have any return on value (not that the government needs to turn a profit) over just using that money to cover more people who could use it.
i really recommend The Dollop episode on the history of this
Depends on the program. It's very easy to take advantage of the programs, it's hard learning and figuring out what to do to sign up when your time is limited and you never done this before.
However, you certainly can't live off it when you are in need of it. Sometimes the benefits you get isnt what you need. For example my sister gets over $600 in food each month. When she maybe needs half of that. And the $300 to go to bills or rent.
However, you certainly can't live off it when you are in need of it. Sometimes the benefits you get isnt what you need. For example my sister gets over $600 in food each month. When she maybe needs half of that. And the $300 to go to bills or rent.
I agree on both points. Society should be obligated to provide not only a safety net for the less fortunate, but it needs to make the process of obtaining assistance easy and painless. While I do think there are a lot of great assistance programs out there (more than people are willing to give the government credit for), they're not well publicized, the criteria for eligibility can be incredibly arbitrary, and the process of applying for relief can be needlessly convoluted. A lot of desperate, vulnerable people miss out on great programs not because they don't exist, but because they aren't aware of them or don't know how to apply for them. It's incredibly fucking unfair.
Like you said though, some programs also seem tailor-made for abuse and provide benefits that seem disproportionate to the need. Take unemployment comp in my state for instance. My roommate (white male, raised in the suburbs, college educated) decided to go on unemployment comp for six months because it meant he could get $15 an hour for a fictitious 40 hour work week. During that time he basically just drank beer every day, played video games, watched football and hung out with his girlfriend. After his benefits ran out he got a temp job a week later, accumulated enough working hours in his "base year" and then went on unemployment comp again for another 6 months earning about $2,400 a month. I can't help but look at that and think "huh, minimum wage is $7.25 an hour in my state, but my roommate is getting paid twice that NOT to work . . . Does that really make sense?" I don't have a grudge against him because it's his life and the money helped him make his contribution towards our lease, but when you see people take advantage of the system like that you can't help but question whether or not certain programs are fundamentally broken in the way they're administered.
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Anecdotes and the will to believe.
When I had to go on work restriction due to an injury, I was in limbo. I didn't miss enough time to qualify because I didn't get hurt enough? And then in the pt office someone was talking about pretending to still be hurt so they could use their disability check to host a BBQ. I've also had someone trying to sell me food stamps in a parking lot.
There are plenty of people out there that truly need the help and resources. Unfortunately, there are also people out there taking advantage of it and tarnishing the whole concept.
You're more likely to see or hear about the bad stuff then about the good, sadly.
When I had to go on work restriction due to an injury, I was in limbo. I didn't miss enough time to qualify because I didn't get hurt enough? And then in the pt office someone was talking about pretending to still be hurt so they could use their disability check to host a BBQ. I've also had someone trying to sell me food stamps in a parking lot.
There are plenty of people out there that truly need the help and resources. Unfortunately, there are also people out there taking advantage of it and tarnishing the whole concept.
You're more likely to see or hear about the bad stuff then about the good, sadly.
That about what my brother gets on disability as well. It boils my blood when people talk about all these "freeloaders" like they are living on easy street. The cost of living has increased so much around here that I legit hope he does not outlive all of his siblings because I don't think he could live on that with no support.
