I was recently very annoyed by a couple of cashiers at a mainstream retailer. Within a few days of each other, I heard both speaking negatively about WIC customers to the customer behind them.
Not familiar with WIC? It is a "special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC)" - essentially, WIC is a federal/state supplement program for low-income families. My family has benefited from WIC since I was first pregnant and lost my job. It has saved us up to $80/mo on groceries and now provides us about $50/mo on basics like milk, eggs, bread, juice and fresh produce.
I'm not really shy in sharing this information with you ... my husband is a student with two part time jobs and while I could be working outside the home full-time, we've chosen to have be stay home and be a mom to our girl. This drastically reduces our income but substantially benefits our family. We don't plan to be low-income forever, nor live off the system forever, but while we are in this place at this time, we are taking advantage of this help that is available.
There are some who take advantage of the system, yes. But there are also hard-working, educated people like us who need some supplement and are willing to use it for a time.
That said, back to my story.
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Cashier 1, annoyed that WIC mom accidentally picked up medium sized eggs instead of large, says: "WIC customers, seriously, every time I help one they get something wrong."
(It's like they have to insult you behind your back to make the next customer in line feel better?)
What I wanted to say: "Actually, I pretty much get the same stuff every time, but the last TWO times, the cashier has made a mistake ... " Everyone makes mistakes with WIC - cashiers and customers - it takes a while to get used to the system, but once you have it, it's fine. Give people a break.
What I actually said: nothing.
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Cashier 2: "Ugh, they use their coupons and then they pay for the rest of their groceries with a $100 bill. That just makes me so mad."
What I wanted to say: "Seriously? What if they just got paid? What if that's all they had and needed to break it? And besides that, WIC is solely income based, it doesn't matter if I have a $1 or a $100, and why is it your business anyway?"
What I actually said: nothing.
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So annoying. Very unprofessional (although I don't really expect this retailer's cashiers to be professional).
Next time, should I say anything? What do you think?
P.S. I had my favorite cashier yesterday and told her so. :-)
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