Makes me crazy!!

[leahjade]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I've known this for years, welfare's a lifestyle in my area. I'm also amaized at what quilifies as a disability.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

And we are borrowing money from China to pay for this! Write a letter to Obama and your local congressman and senators, and use your voice to vote in the fall.

 

[csjordan]

And we are borrowing money from China to pay for this! Write a letter to Obama and your local congressman and senators, and use your voice to vote in the fall.

This!

 

[leahjade]

Scary thing is that when it gets to the point where those who get the free rides outnumber those who work, there is no turning back. They will continue to vote for whoever gives them the handouts, and our country will turn into another Greece.

 

[bedogged]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

Not trying to fight with you, but it is possible that one or both of those men were on some sort of deserved disability rather than "welfare." Sometimes it is hard to judge people from what you see or hear. You sound like a really nice person. I just wanted to alert you to other possibilities. Personally, I don't begrudge people of any status a little entertainment.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Not trying to fight with you, but it is possible that one or both of those men were on some sort of deserved disability rather than "welfare." Sometimes it is hard to judge people from what you see or hear. You sound like a really nice person. I just wanted to alert you to other possibilities. Personally, I don't begrudge people of any status a little entertainment.

Agree with you, you NEVER KNOW why people have it. I personally try not to judge, because this might be the ONE day a month they get to feel like real people. It WAS MCDONALDS!!! Some of the food there is CHEAPER than groceries. They may be people that HAD good jobs and lost them, and cant find a job. There are plenty of people taking advantage of the system, but lets not put them ALL in the same catagory without knowing WHY. Just my 2 cents...

 

[The Iron Giant]

Not sure I get the point of this post.

It upsets you because people buy food at a fast food restaurant?

Count your blessings that its not you and concentrate on some of life's bigger problems.

 

[cornflake]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

...

As pointed out, those cards hold everything, from wefare to food stamps to say, veterans disability benefits, to etc.

As not yet pointed out, even if it were welfare benefits, it's not on your dollar, it's on your couple pennies, as welfare is a miniscule percentage of the tax burden.

Also, the first is pay day for lots of people. Food stamps have nothing to do with being employed.

 

[pat fan]

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson

 

[bookgirl]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

Life's too short.

I try not to worry how others live their lives and I don't really care what they thing of the way I live mine.

Sometimes I get annoyed but I'd rather live with a few abusers and know that there is a lot of people who do need the help that get it.

 

[lady9]

For what it is worth, I would like to see our welfare and food stamp system overhauled. It drives me crazy when I see people at the grocery store using their food stamp card to by prepacked individual serving sizes of chips and drinks like Gatorade. Such a waste in all that packaging! I don't care if it is a few pennies of my money, it's still MY money being used to support food stamps. I would like to see those on assistance be able to buy toothpaste, vitamins, and toliet paper rather than individual servings of "junk food". I work at a food bank once a week so I see the need first hand. I am not judging anyone, just want them to use the money they are give wisely.

 

[leahjade]

It upsets you because people buy food at a fast food restaurant?

No what upset me was that they were going to the casino on my dime! If you able bodied enough to sit at a casino for hours, then certainly there is some kind of job you can get.

I try not to worry how others live their lives and I don't really care what they thing of the way I live mine

I don't care what anyone does with their OWN money but when they are using mine to throwaway that's a different story. If more people don't get outraged then this problem will get worse and worse. I think we should learn from countries in Europe where the non-workers now outnumber the workers. A country can't exist like that!

 

[leahjade]

both of those men were on some sort of deserved disability rather than "welfare

Even the definition of "disability" is getting more and more lenient. My 40 year old sister in law in on disability for "stress from work" when she worked in the produce department at a local grocery store! My next door neighbor is on "disability" form a federal office job for back pain, yet he is up on his roof every year putting up Christmas lights, washing his van every weekend and going out on his fishing boat almost daily. There are way too many doctors who will say anything and the total system needs revamped.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As not yet pointed out, even if it were welfare benefits, it's not on your dollar, it's on your couple pennies, as welfare is a miniscule percentage of the tax burden.

Nah, I'm gonna go with the dollar. With the "efficiency" at which our gov't operates, it's probably $40-50 in "tax dollars" to feed one person at McDonalds.

 

[sherry7]

My co-worker and I stopped at an inner city McDonalds for coffee on Thursday at lunch not thinking it was the 1st of the month. The restaurant was packed and the two men in front of us in line were talking how excited they were that today is pay day, and they are going to the casino after they ate. We were shocked to see them use their Welfare Access card for their meal! We were talking to the cashier who told us that the first week of the month they are so crowded with patrons using their access cards. Here my friend and I were rushing to get back to work while a whole crowd of people were eating out on our dollar then some of them were even going to casino afterwards! Something is so wrong with this system.
Don't say I'm being selfish - my husband and I give over 10% of our income to charity and I know there are people out there who need help, but there is something not right with healthy young people being able to freeload while we work two jobs to support our families.

OP, I share your feelings. I'm sure there are some people on welfare that are using it as a temporary stepping stone, but in many cases it's just a way of life.

I have an extended family member - she's in her late 20's, has 7 kids to 3 different "baby daddy's", and has never worked a day in her life. She lives with baby daddy #3 (who never holds a job for more than a month or so), but won't marry him. Why should she marry him, and why should she get a job? She's getting a decent rental house for free, cash assistance, free medical insurance, WIC food for the little kids, over a thousand dollars a month in food stamps, a free cell phone through a subsidized program, and utility assistance with her winter heating bills. She also brags about the huge tax refund that baby daddy #3 gets because he claims the kids as dependents and gets a big Earned Income credit.

Another extended family member is much the same. 2 kids, and lives with the baby daddy who can't manage to even keep a minimum wage job at a burger joint because he shows up to work high on drugs. She gets free rent, cash assistance, food stamps, WIC, free cell phone, medical insurance, etc. Last year they took the kids to WDW, and she posted daily updates and photos on Facebook bragging about the trip. Hmmm, isn't something wrong with that equation? You live off government benefits, but go on an expensive vacation...how is that fair to the taxpayers that support them? Sorry, but if you can afford to take your kids to WDW, you should be able to afford to pay for your own rent, groceries, etc.

Call me petty if you like, but it's getting old. DH and I bust our rumps working full-time jobs, plus OT. Meanwhile I see healthy, able people living almost as good of a lifestyle as us, who have never worked a day in their life and rely on government benefits.

 

[Colleen27]

If you able bodied enough to sit at a casino for hours, then certainly there is some kind of job you can get.

That's just not true. Employment demands a level of reliability that many of the disabled can't provide - on good days they may look able-bodied enough to hold a job, but you're not seeing the bad days where even sitting in a casino would be too much. I have a relative who is on disability for an "invisible" issue and it really changed the way I see the issue; on a good day he looks perfectly healthy, plays with his son, even goes to the gym, but on a bad day he can't leave the house at all. He was fired from several jobs for excessive absenteeism before his disability benefit was approved.

 

[jcemom]

Here's my 2 cents: I don't really know their entire situation, and even if I did, it isn't my place to judge them. Heaven forbid that a welfare recipient eats a cheap McDonald's sandwich, or buys a package of potato chips at the grocery store. Just because I pay taxes, that doesn't give me the right to tell people how to spend their money.

DH's employer gives him 4 weeks of vacation time. He does not get to tell us how to use it. Yes, DH works and that is part of his compensation, but maybe the person buying McDonald's with their welfare money has worked and paid taxes for the previous 20 years, and now they have some legitimate reason to need to collect. I don't know.

Maybe overweight people shouldn't be allowed to buy potato chips or McDonald's food either. After all, it could cause them to gain more weight, and then they will have health problems, costing the health care system more money, and consequently raising insurance rates for everyone else. To me, that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it isn't a whole lot different.

 

[cornflake]

No what upset me was that they were going to the casino on my dime! If you able bodied enough to sit at a casino for hours, then certainly there is some kind of job you can get.


I don't care what anyone does with their OWN money but when they are using mine to throwaway that's a different story. If more people don't get outraged then this problem will get worse and worse. I think we should learn from countries in Europe where the non-workers now outnumber the workers. A country can't exist like that!

You saw them buying FOOD with the card that holds food stamp benefits. How does that extrapolate to "going to the casino on [your] dime" exactly?

What country in Europe are you talking about?

I agree. I am amazed at how many people defend the abuse of the welfare system! First of all let's put aside the people who are on temporary assistance and are using welfare as a safety net. Welfare can be a good program. However MANY (millions) of people are using Welfare as a hammock! They are living off the goverment (government = taxpayers). The government doesn't actually generate their own money, government money is taxpayer money. Nothing is for free.

Cite please.

The way things are going in this country where people are "entitled" to food, shelter, medical care, housing, cell phones, extra cash assistance etc. is ridiculous. Look at our constitution, we are entitled to the PURSUIT of happines.

Funny, that's not in my copy of the Constitution.