One minute run-time.
My original reaction to this short video was the predictable one: How could she not know the card was "empty". My original impression was that the customer was trying to scam Walmart by bluffing/intimidating her way through.
A bit later it occurred to me that the woman working the cash register didn't say "the balance was zero" but that "the transaction was declined" which really means that there are insufficient funds to cover the amount requested.
So what if this was the last week before her balance is refreshed and she is trying to buy the same items in the same amounts that she has for the last two years? What if she has done this 24 times (24 months) before and there has always been enough money to make it to the next month?
She doesn't have to do math because she solved this math problem two years ago. She "knows" there is plenty of money in the balance because she has 104 pieces of data (104 weeks in two years) that what is in her shopping cart SHOULD be covered.
If she was knowingly trying to scam the store, she would have used self-checkout. Nobody would have challenged her if she mis-scanned some items.
What happens when the food prices go up but the deposits made in her SNAP account don't?
You can tell by the reactions of the woman working the cash register and the manager that this event is not rare. Neither of them batted an eye and the woman's lack-of-funds.
So maybe this video is not about "ghetto culture" but about rising food prices surprising everybody.
Finally, a bit of background info: The annual inflation in food prices in Ukraine has been running between 20% and 25% a year since 2022. At 25%, because of the compounding effect, the price of food doubles every three years.
This very scene is playing right now in dozens of Walmarts.
ReplyDelete"Life is hard. It's even harder if you're stupid".
-John Wayne
I agree. Maybe even in hundreds of them.
DeleteSpicy-times are likely to telegraph their arrival long in advance, much like a volcano getting ready to blow.
Small adjustments now can reduce the need for violent adjustments late.
Joe I'm eager to hear about those small adjustments friend.
DeleteI'm at a loss given right now I know so many working poor struggling with car failures.
No, that's ghetto culture.
ReplyDeleteLook at the sense of entitlement in every action.
Normal people would check their bank balance before throwing a fit (if it really is her ATM card). I can verify funds in my account in less than 30 seconds. Ghetto people throw a fit and ask for the manager, hoping to bully their way through the problem. Which is fascinating in and of itself if it were SNAP/EBT/my money she was paying with... you really think that shaddapodamous can do math in her head? The tickle-me-Elmo on the belt isn't SNAP approved, that could cause the transaction to be declined, but animals don't act logically, they throw tantrums and act out. Hiw many children do you know with better manners? Ghetto.
That they would subject a minimum wage employee of a corporation to such treatment, is ghetto culture.
-I- would be embarassed, she's making a scene. Cuz that's what you do in the ghetto. You shit all over yourself and call it culture.
Disgusting. And you're making cover for her behaviour as if its an inflation problem? Joe... c'mon. You're not helping them, or us.
Its NOT their color, it's their culture. Its fundamentally incompatible with ours. Period. That's why there is friction. They want us to accept and live in their culture, we want them to live in ours. Hence, friction. Its the forced integration that's the fount of the problems.
Joe it's sad when you realize that plain old white people around here (As NH has a tiny black population, mostly in Manchester) suffer from "wadda ya mean insufficient funds".
ReplyDeleteNot that they act out or just run out of the store for the most part, that they look so depressed that "again" has happened.
That apparently doing well enough looking folks are quietly using Walmart's Affirm buy now pay over time to buy GROCERIES.
NO, not bottles of wine and steaks. Hamburger and hamburger helper stuff.
Happily, we still get a decent amount of food and gently used clothing for our little food bank. Folks need it.
Lots of reasons why that can happen. I've had customer checks bounce. I've had checks not clear properly/timely. I've had tellers put the money in the wrong account. I've had money from a major bank not show up on the day it was supposed to. I've learned through painful experience that life goes wrong and now I ALWAYS check my balance before I shop. ALWAYS. And that's why I have zero faith in the license plate scanners. What can go wrong IS ALWAYS a valid question. And human error can ALWAYS go wrong. Always have a couple of backup plans. Because life gets spicy.
ReplyDeleteI see Meijer and Walmart offer free delivery for SNAP recipients . Was not sure how I felt on it till I seen that video
ReplyDeleteIf it keeps them out of the store's and I don't need to see that
I am happy