I'm not normally profane by any means (at least not on this blog), so you'll understand just how upset I am when I say:
FUCK YOU STOP AND SHOP! My using WIC does not mean you can treat me like I'm some idiot or a worthless piece of shit.
It's hard enough to be on WIC. It hurts our pride, but we know it's the best thing for Garrett. We do our best to make sure we get the items that are WIC approved (most stores have WIC written on the code on the displays so it's easy to figure out what is covered). I section everything on conveyor belt by what WIC coupon I'm using so everything is together.
Sometimes things get mislabeled or even misshelved, but instead of an apology I get this look like I must be a piece of shit and I've made their job a pain in the ass (although most of them have that "I hate my life" look).
Today it was milk. A fucking quart of milk. They had 3 milk brands and all were WIC approved. We've checked with the WIC office before and they told us if it is labeled as WIC approved we can get it. If something is labeled and they don't honor it we have to lodge a complaint with them. So I grab the milk. The woman at the register gives me this look and huff and says "You can only get the store brand. The other brand is WIC approved but you can't get it."
"If it's WIC approved then I CAN get it."
"Um, No"
"Get me the manager"
She huffs at me again and rolls her eyes like I'm being the biggest bitch in the world. The manger comes up and I explain it to him. They've already taken the milk I was going to get and put it back. Ben had run to get another one but grabbed the wrong size (the milk section was a mess). So the manager sends back the bagger to get the milk this time. A quart...remember we're getting a quart.
I take the pen and write down the names of the people I'm dealing with. Suddenly the manager gets this tone with me...
"I didn't do anything."
"Excuse me?"
"I didn't do anything why are you writing my name down?" Oh guy...prepare for a new asshole...
"Really, first off I was writing down the names so when I call and they ask me who I dealt with I can give them names. Second off, now I will call corporate to lodge a complaint because at no point did you apologize to me or my husband when we both said your employee made us feel like crap. No, you continue to stand here and give me that look of annoyance like somehow I am worth less than you because I'm on WIC."
The manager was silent. So bagging lady comes back...with a fucking GALLON of milk. The manager looks horrified and sends her back. Still no apology to me or Ben for the way we've been treated.
So we finish with the WIC and proceed to get our other groceries. We got 4 boxes of cereal because there is a sale where you get a free coupon for milk. I reminded Ben about it and he asked the woman at the register...
She gave him such a dirty look and said "it prints on its own". And then practically ignored him.
Now really, did we deserve to be treated like crap because we are on WIC? Would it have been hard for the manager to apologize because the cashier made us feel shitty?
Tomorrow we call WIC and the Stop and Shop corporate office to lodge complaints. Using WIC is hard enough for people. It doesn't give anyone the right to treat you like you are less of a person for it.