WIC Customer

[Auto]

I don't mean to disappoint, but most customers who whine, beg and plead for ciggs or beer without ID are usually NOT undercover cops or those kids who do stings for the police.

Of course whiney teenagers are unlikely to be undercover cops.

But as a way to keep from arguing why their lack of ID means you can't sell them booze, it's the best argument you can make.

Saying you're not going to help them break the law because your job is on the line short-circuits lots of arguing and pleading.

Especially if you act as though you think they're really cops. That was my point.

[Dark-Star]

I remember when MO changed from paper stamps to the EBT card, I heard more people asking how they were going to get their weed, smokes and beer.

Why am I not surprised?

A local ALDI near my house does the whole foodstamp shebang; but luckily the neighborhood is pretty nice. Very few welfare-witches about.

[workerbee222]

This is what used to bug me"

Front End manager would tell us at a meeting, "All WIC sales have to be approved by a CSR." So I call over a CSR for a WIC sale. S/he initials it, and says, "Really, Nonesuch, it's just peanut butter, and eggs."

So next time, I'd handle it myself. Front end manager would corner me at the next shift and say, "Nonesuch, a CSR has to approve every WIC sale."

[snugglegirl05]

I was a cashier at a grocery store from 1994-1996. Store policy stated all WIC card purchases had to be initialed by a supervisor, & if one was not available, the booth operator.

These situations happened when I worked there:

The customer told me ____ store accepted this certain peanut butter, cereal, cheese, ect., but according to WIC guidelines, it was not an approved item. The supervisor who initialed the WIC card clearly explained which items were approved & that the store could be fined for accepting that item. The customer either got the approved item or had it returned to the shelf.

The customer's kid only at Cocoa Puffs. The manager who initialed the WIC card clearly explained which cereals were WIC items & that the store could be fined for accepting that cereal. The customer had to get an approved cereal.

The husband of a pregnant wife came in one day & tried to use her WIC card, which was not signed. He had to sign the WIC card in front of me & the supervisor, who told him that would be forgery. He had to go to the car & have his wife sign the WIC card.

A customer tried to use a WIC card tht day before it was valid datewise. The supervisor on duty said no.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

When I was at Wal-Mart, people would argue with me, saying "I get that on WIC at Winn Dixie all the time!" A while later, I found myself working for Winn Dixie, and sure enough, the same people would come through my line and say "Wal-Mart lets me get that on WIC all the time!"

I went through the exact same scenario when I was at WD years ago . . .except they'd whine "But the Litter Box over on E. Market lets me do it all the time . . ."


After I'd left WD and went to work at the Litter Box, I'd hear on occasion a customer whining to the cashier (I wasn't register trained at that time) "Well, they let me do it at WD."

Never fails . . . usually the stuff they'd try to get would not be approved items. I don't know of any state program that allows Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes or Sugar Smacks cereals.

[Seraph]

As a person on WIC myself (three sets...nursing mom, new baby, and two year old) I feel bad sometimes when I'm turning in a lot of drafts at once. But, I always try to be as helpful as possible, setting aside each item in the order as they appear on the drafts so I can help out as much as I can.

But, I will let y'all know that they absolutely drive it into your heads when you sign up for it that if you EVER abuse a grocery store employee, or attempt to use the drafts for anything other than what is approved...that store has full rights to immediately call and report you to WIC. I implore you, for those of us on the program who do try our best to follow the rules and....I'll have to face it...need the items....CALL THE LOCAL WIC OFFICE. Tell them what is going on. Them abusing it just makes it worse on those of us who actually try.

I feel kinda bad though...my husband and I both work our tail ends off but I don't know what I'd do without WIC right now. Milk is so darn expensive and we go through like 2-3 gallons a week, easy.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I don't know of any state program that allows Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes or Sugar Smacks cereals.

Good thing I'll never be on WIC. *Hugs his quarter-sugar Frosted Flakes*

I keep having people come into the DT asking if we take WIC. We can take something called a Quest card, but I've never heard of it elsewhere. I figure it's a California thing (as also so many of our boxes say not to sell in Cali stores, something about the chemicals in the glazing of certain ceramics).

We do not take WIC, by the by.

[Nyoibo]

So, for the uneducated or uninformed, what's WIC?

[RetailWorkhorse]

So, for the uneducated or uninformed, what's WIC?

Uh....MOM! Oh, wait, she's sleeping.

Uhm, Women Infant Child Care, I think. For preggers and those with very young children that need help getting food in their bellies. Mom was on it for a couple of months when she was preggers with EQ and I.

[KabeRinnaul]

So, for the uneducated or uninformed, what's WIC?

Sort of like food stamps, but instead of being a card the person on the service can use to pay for whatever food they want, WIC slips are more like checks that list exactly what they can be used for.

It will say something like...
1 gallons milk
1 lb WIC-approved cheese
36 oz WIC-approved cereal
...and the customer has to get exactly those items (with very little variety allowed, always the cheapest ones), they're rung up separately, and you run the WIC through as a check after doing various ID-confirmation steps. They also have to be used within a specific one-month period, and the system rejects anything too old or too new.

The most interesting I've had yet was a kid, who may or may not have been barely 21, (no ID) threaten to walk out with his beer and leave the money so he couldn't be charged with any crime.

I have to agree, no one on a sting operation will go that route. They either don't have ID and see if you sell anyway or they show an underage ID.

When I was at Krogers, we were told (repeatedly) that if this happens, we refuse the sale, leave the money exactly where it was put, and report it as theft. Doesn't matter how much they leave or whether or not they tell us they intend to.