These people.
You’ve seen them before.
A perfect example is the woman in front of you in line at the grocery store paying for expensive brand-name cereal with WIC vouchers. You notice her neatly manicured fingernails, her smartphone, her cute purse. You see her and you’re annoyed; your own cart contains store-brand Fruity-Os cereal, you put the soda and juice back on the shelf to save money, you pinch pennies and cut coupons. Not this woman though. Here she is, spending money freely on Corn Pops, Cheerios and Corn Flakes. Easy to spend that money carelessly; she didn’t have to work for it.
You watch as she unloads the cart. Brand-name toothpaste. What’s wrong with the $1.88 off-brand tube? Why does she need both shampoo and conditioner? Doesn’t she know she can buy one bottle that contains both? These people act like they’re entitled to the best of everything.
Her numerous kids tug on her and beg for treats. Cookies? Chips? Why is she buying these things? Does her EBT card cover that? Is she burning her allotted $632 per month — money that you pay for with your taxes — on junk food? How dare she? No wonder she’s poor, making choices like that.
For that matter, why is she shopping in this grocery store? At least she isn’t as ignorant as those people who shop at the corner store, the gas station or the liquor store, paying $6 for a gallon of milk or a loaf of white bread.
If she were smarter, though, she could get great deals at the dollar store. Peanut butter, bread, ramen noodles, eggs, frozen vegetables, tuna, pasta. She could use a can of crushed tomatoes to make homemade spaghetti sauce, or use chicken broth as a base for soup.
That would feed her handful of children just fine, especially when combined with the free or reduced lunches they receive at school. The local recreation centers even give away free lunches during school vacations. There’s no reason these people should go hungry, ever; not with so many free resources. The children are thin, but that’s surely due to her bad nutritional choices rather than a lack of food.
Her cart holds only a few days worth of food. She has a passel of children, obviously more than she can provide for since she’s on the dole. She really should be buying in bulk, especially noodles, rice and beans. Too bad she isn’t willing to make the extra effort to ride the trolley down to Costco; the ride is only $5 per person and shopping there would save her money. If she would venture a little closer to downtown — only another dollar on the trolley — she could shop at ethnic markets where produce is often cheaper. These people are so lazy.
If she were really smart, she’d invest in a cheap deep freezer. Then she could buy meat when it’s on sale and store it. She could plan recipes by the week, using her crock pot to cook healthy meals. While dinner simmered she could spend her time clipping coupons from the daily newspaper or scrounging for recycling to make a little extra cash. Why don’t these people plan ahead?
As the clerk rings up her purchases, she digs in her purse for her EBT card, WIC vouchers and money to pay the balance. She reluctantly surrenders the Corn Pops when the clerk informs her that WIC only covers 36 ounces of cereal, and that Corn Pops isn’t an approved selection. You watch as she counts out coins. You roll your eyes and imagine her digging under couch cushions and car seats for loose change.
As she stacks dimes and pennies into the clerk’s hand, one of her little girls tugs on her sleeve. “Mommy, my teacher says I need a notebook for school tomorrow.”
Another son chimes in, “I need scissors, glue and a ruler.”
The oldest boy adds, almost in a whisper, “The PE coach says if I haven’t bought my PE clothes by tomorrow, he’s going to start taking points off my grade for not suiting up.”
These people. Don’t they know school is important? School is their ticket out of poverty.
She turns to face them, her eyes full of a combination of sadness and venom. “Be quiet! We’ll talk about it later.” She curses quietly. Her shoulders sag as she pushes her cart out of the store. As she walks away, you hear one of the girls ask, “Mommy, where are we going to sleep tonight? In the car, or can we get a room?”
These people.
