Does the Drive-Thru Take Food Stamps???

This is something the leaves me perplexed.  I stand in line at the grocery store behind someone who has a buggy loaded, and I do mean loaded with food.  Not the kind you can cook from scratch, homemade meals.  No, there are no “regular groceries” here.  There is no such thing as eggs, a nice roast for Sunday dinner or a few chicken legs.  Not even a bag of onions or potatoes.

This person and millions across the country unload their groceries on the belt week after week never buying so much as a can of green beans or a banana.   There are no peas or carrots, rice or beans.  Instead you will find soda, chips and cheese curls,  Oreo’s and Nutter Butter cookies,  M&M’s and Twizzlers, Pizza Rolls,  Crunch Berries, Little Debbie cakes, pot pies … and let’s not forget the Moonpie’s and RC Cola. (Uh… this sounds like part of my grocery list!)

This person ahead of me continues to unload their basket as I look at my paltry fare.  A jug of milk, a bag of rice, a couple pounds of ground beef, some potatoes, frozen veggies, a jar of peanut butter, some eggs, bread, and a bunch of bananas… it’s much too close to payday to be able to indulge in the “goodies” and convience foods.   I look back up and the person in front of me has finished unloading their basket and reaches into the cooler for a Sun Drop and then grabs a Snickers bar while waiting for the cashier to finish ringing up the order.  The bag boy is hard at work and runs to grab another buggy to get all of the grocery bags packed in so they can be taken to the parking lot to this person’s car.

I’m thinking, a candy bar would be nice, but it’s a luxury at this point in the payday cycle (really a it’s luxury anytime) and my hips don’t need it either.  I need to stretch my grocery money all month.  I’m feeling kind of jealous that this person can have so many goodies.  Yet by the looks of things I know they are eating crap… ALL of the time (I only get it sometimes).  It’s not just a treat here and there.

I look up as the person ahead of me pays for their order since it’s about time for mine to be wrung up.  This person pays with food stamps.  No, I’m not surprised.  Frustrated and angry, but not surprised.   So many people struggle, yet don’t qualify for benefits of any kind.

It just so happened that when I was pulling out of the parking lot, this person was pulling out just ahead of me.  We both travel a little way.  The turn signal is now on for this car in front of me.  This car is much newer than mine.  It turns into the drive-up at a fast food restaurant.  I drive on home.  After I put away my groceries, I’ll have a peanut butter sandwich.

I don’t know the exact circumstances of this person.  I shouldn’t judge.  Times are hard, and hard times don’t seem to discriminate anymore.  But there just seems to be something unfair and unbalanced in the world we live in.

I lived in a mobile home park for 11 years before I moved south.  I managed the park for the last year and a half I lived there.  There in many cases seems to be a trend with some people who receive assistance of one sort or another.  I am only referring to the people of this caliber, not to those who truly need, and manage the assistance they receive carefully and wisely.  Don’t misconstrue what I am trying to get across…

I lived among a lot of people who shopped just as the person ahead of me at the store did.  They seemed to always cry they had no money.  Their kids had new shoes, new coats and backpacks for school.  The cars they drove were not by any means junkers, they were more like Escalades and Camaros.  Some of the ladies were always buying the latest whatever from the Home Interior or Tupperware party they just went to.  Yet… they couldn’t pay their rent on time and always had a sad story of their circumstances to tell.  But... others, who did seem to struggle and didn’t have the newer things but somehow still had one thing in common...  week after week after week after week on trash day there were always pizza delivery boxes and KFC buckets in their trash.  EVERY WEEK.  

So, my question is this… Does the drive-thru take food stamps?