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Woman Ridiculed by Kroger Manager for Using Food Stamps — Over the Line?

Sep. 25, 2012 7:29pm Jason Howerton

The co-manager of a Kroger in Warner Robins, Ga. has been transferred after he allegedly ridiculed a woman for using food stamps to pay for her groceries, WMAZ reports.

While most conservatives argue that entitlement programs are out of control in the United States, most also admit there are instances where people truly need government assistance, and food stamps can prevent people from going hungry.

Cindy Nerger appears to fall into that category. She has been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for five years. She spends about 12 hours on dialysis each day and takes care of her grandmother, according to WMAZ.

Cindy Nerger Ridiculed by Kroger Manager for Using Food Stamps

(source: WMAZ)

Nerger is unable to work due to her disability and her family lives of her husband’s income. However, he only works part-time so he can be at home to help his wife. Needless to say, things are tight for Nerger and her family.

That brings us to the incident that occurred at the Kroger in Warner Robins, Ga. last Tuesday.

WMAZ has more details:

Late Tuesday night at the Kroger off Watson Boulevard, Nerger went grocery shopping.

When she got to the register there was a problem.

“He told me I owed him 10 dollars and some change. I am not exactly sure what it was, but I told him, I said I am sorry sir, but there is nothing in my cart that is not covered by food stamps,” said Nerger.

She and the Kroger employees went back and forth about this for half an hour when a manager acknowledged was right about the purchase all along.

Nerger says she is not proud that she is on food stamps, and the manager’s actions left her mortified.

“I didn’t want to have to go there, you know, nobody wants to have to ask somebody for for help, but it got to the point it was either ask for help or starve,” Nerger said.

Nerger told WMAZ that she has worked since she was 15, that is, until her kidneys failed. She never imagined she would ever have to live off food stamps.

“I was upset, so, I was like, you know, I told you that it was covered under food stamps, you know, so, there was no need for all of this, you know, and he said, ‘Well excuse me that I work for a living and don’t rely on food stamps like you,’” Nerger said, recounting the experience.

“I honestly was angry. I was angry at first, but it turned into tears because when I turned around and I saw the people there I was like, oh my goodness, and I just started crying,” she continued.

Kroger sent the following statement on Monday announcing the co-manager had been transferred:

“We deeply regret that a Kroger customer had an unpleasant shopping experience. After an internal investigation, we have decided to transfer the co-manager to another location. We wish the customer well and hope she will consider making Kroger her destination to shop in the future.”

Nerger said she was also offered a $15 gift card and asked to come back to Kroger. She told them, “No thank you.”

Let us know what you think by taking our poll below:

Front page image via AP/Paul Sancya.

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Comments (152)

korbin
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:32pm
As usual they pick the one out of a million on food stamps that one may argue needs them. Typical, in my town 80% are on some form of aid it has been that way for 25 years especially with all of the new wave of illegal mexicans moving in….

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- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:56pm
  “I am for doing GOOD to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the MEANS. I think the BEST WAY of doing good to the poor, is NOT making them easy in poverty, but LEADING or DRIVING them out of it.” – Benjamin Franklin
  
  ….at least that’s how Patty Henry would lay it out. lol
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:00pm
  Food stamps should only be redeemable for a few specific items. Milk, potatoes/rice, beans, cheapest ground meat, and a few vegetables. Period. Welfare should not be unlimited. It should be very limited. If people want more, work.
  
  Report this comment
- ThemDemsLie2much
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:15pm
  I was behind a lady at Kroger once and she paid for a hundred dollars worth of Chicken Wings with food stamps and paid seperately for seventy dollars worth of beer. Bragged about the party she was throwing to the cashier. She left via a late model SUV that was parked in the handicap spot. Not long after that I was at a Butcher shop/Deli and watched a lady taking orders over her cell phone for meats and marking down the names and types of meat choosen on a note pad. She paid with food stamps! Typical Obama business owner. Oh, and it’s a credit card so as to not embaress their scaming butts. They get the steak and I get bologna. Hell I think they can use those cards at Mcdonalds too! Out of control. Oh! before you grammer as ‘s correct my comment please note: Suk my hardworking tax paying job providing private part!
  
  Report this comment
- toto
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:21pm
  It was not wrong of the Kroger employee to verify that the food items were eligible, but he should have had a readily available check list. I have been one of those behind a food stamp user that had many luxury items in their cart, was very overweight (far from starving) and think that many of us have had it up to our eyebrows with the volume of people that take advantage of the system. No one wants anyone to go hungry, but Obama wants as many people beholden to the government as possible. It needs to be stopped. The food stamps should be used for the purchase of fruits and vegetables and certain staples and a limited amount of meat/fish, etc. per month. Everything should be easily verifiable.
  
  Report this comment
- Scarybones
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:21pm
  Jerk, I could not agree more. Food stamps are a necessity in some peoples lives but should only be allowed for staples. Soda, any alcohol, cigarettes, magazines, etc… should not be allowed, period. They are not a free ride but rather a hand up.
  
  Report this comment
- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:22pm
  A sea manatee got hit in the kidney by the propeller of a motorboat and the taxpayers have to pay for it.
- The_Jerk
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:24pm
  Welfare recipients should feel the peer pressure of the society that they are sucking dry. Humiliation serves a purpose.
  
  Report this comment
- db321
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:47pm
  I don’t have one problem helping those that cant help themselves – I do have a problem with American Tax Payers having to pay $80,000 to pay just one Welfare recipient. Recipients get around $8000 to $9000 a year and it cost $80,000 to pay just one. Why? Who’s profiting. Why wont the Media expose it. Reagan did and he save Welfare.
  
  Report this comment
- booger71
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:49pm
  She had money to dye her hair purple
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:04pm
  I’m going to play the Devil’s Advocate here;
  
  All grocery store cash registers are programed to calculate what does and what does not qualify for food stamps. The cashier was just running the food (items) through and most likely was not paying attention to the items. At the end he just asked for the money that the cash register said to ask for. Cashiers don’t get to decide anything with these computerized cash registers.
  
  This all could have been resolved in a much different way with no transfer and no crying. IMHO
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:11pm
  I promise that some of the 47% Romney talked about don’t play the victim card and will be voting for him.. But they are victim to current policies that keep them from gainful employment that also extinguish the dreams they have for their children.. What a horrible state of the union we’re in when good hardworking people need help.. I promise you that some of the 47% cried before going to the welfare office
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:37pm
  Where’s that wonderful Obamacare with a pair of Kidney’s for her?
  
  Report this comment
- dmerwin
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:37pm
  When I was a kid, our family was on food stamps for several months. I had to go to the store occasionally, I think because my mom could not bear to do this every time we needed groceries. She clipped coupons, looked at all store sales in the paper and bought staples, real food. I would wait sometimes for 20-30 minutes until there were no lines to approach the register BECAUSE I was EMBARRASSED to be seen paying for basic meat, milk and vegetables. This made an impression on me. As did the time, 15 years later, when I was behind a woman who was buying chips, and “vitamin water” with food stamps. I am now solidly middle class with a professional career, for which I paid in cash for my education. I will NEVER denigrate those who need assistance… that was me as a 13 year old once, but I cannot agree to pay for chips and sodas for people who refuse to work. Make food stamps like WIC with certain “approved” foods, meat <5$/lb, vegetables, unprocessed potatoes, no frozen foods or pre-made desserts. Have people clean the road ways, paint their section 8 housing, attend school, to earn that food and you will see a dramatic decrease in applicants and increased employment. And at the end of the day, the food stamp recipient of today becomes the tax payer of tomorrow.
  
  Report this comment
- dmerwin
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:43pm
  I am with the Jerk on this. If the average American can figure this out, WHY hasn’t the government. Grocery store computers CAN make the determination, we just need politicians that can as well. As to the humiliation comment, while harsh, that was the experience that stuck with me for life, you can spend the money that YOU make ANY WAY you want. …except in NY city.
  
  Report this comment
- wisehiney
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:44pm
  @Demerin – BINGO!
  
  Report this comment
- jwpowers41
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:51pm
  as a dialysis patient I never heard of being dialysis for 12 hours, anywhere from 3 to 5 hours is more
  like it
  
  Report this comment
- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:14pm
  And not all of the 47% get welfare or are out of work either. That number is just the number that people must fall below before they have to pay income tax… which may be well above the number required to get food stamps. A married couple with two kids wouldn’t be eligible for any food assistance after their first $29,064 in income, but they would not pay taxes unless they made $33,800. My friends, who have 9 kids, would be eligible for food stamps if they made under $63,828 (and I know that they did not take it until the dad lost his job)… but with the child tax credits, they would not have to pay income tax unless they made over $115,000. This I calculated using the standard deductions and child tax credits. So being eligible for one doesn’t mean that you are eligible for (or will take) the other.
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:21pm
  I remember 30 years ago it was the basic, unprepared foods. Now it’s every damn thing they sell. 4 states allow ‘Debit’ cards in Restaurants!!! YUM, the parent company of KFC,Taco Bell and Pizza Hut has been lobbying Congress to get them allowed in restaurants in all 50 states. You may only get to eat out at the end of the week, but 300 pound Shakira will be there wheneva she wants. She don’t have ta work all week, like YT !
  
  Report this comment
- XaviorOnassis
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 6:38am
  I don’t object to people using food stamps if they need them…what I object to is HOW they use them and what they buy. If you stand by the checkout at our local Walmart Supercenter, you will see people buy gallons and gallons of soda pop, chips, candy, donuts, ice cream, sugary breakfast cereals (we call them “breakfast candy”), occasionally a pack of hamburger or a tomato to go with the boxed mac and cheese and tv dinners and other miscellaneous processed trash. Restricting what people are allowed to buy with food stamps (the same way they restrict use of WIC) would go a long way toward helping people become less dependent on them and also start to chip away at the government-run “obesity crisis” in this country. (If you look at a map showing use of food stamps by state, and compare it to the USDA obesity maps for 2011, it will scare you.)
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 7:17am
  She had to go to Kroger? Kroger is one of the expensive grocery stores in Garland, TX. Walmart is cheaper, Aldi’s doesn’t take food stamps, I don’t think but they’re way cheaper. I count myself lucky when I can afford to go to Kroger.
  
  Report this comment
- Independent4233
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:21am
  “Nerger said she was also offered a $15 gift card and asked to come back to Kroger. She told them, “No thank you.”
  
  WOW!
  
  Such a huge gift card.
  
  I just wonder if they can afford to give away so much.
  
  And the “co-manager” should have been fired…not transferred. He’s already cost them probably more than a million dollars in business.
  
  Report this comment
- Amarath01
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 1:13pm
  One: This lady obviously has enough food.
  Two: Obviously the item she was purchasing were of questionable status and thus she should be shamed for buying them . This is how societies actually work by neighbors holding neighbors up to a certain standard (we disallow physical intervention unless actual and intimidate harm is at risk; however, people voicing objections over others action is how society is kept in check NOT LAWS. Thus the reason for the US giant prison population and the rightfully lost drug war. So if fatty mc Obama money wants to buy nothing but snack-packs and Cheetos for food with OUR MONEY, no one should stop her, but a word should be had so that she feels the injustice of her actions). So i say his man might be a hero, its hard to speach up then sit down and shut-up (but that what gov. schools train us for odd).
  
  Report this comment
- CobraBill
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 2:01pm
  Times are tough, gas, oil, electricity, food, cloths, housing costs are raising rapidly.Folks are lucky to have a job, and if you are lucky to have one you wages are not rapidly raising to keep up.
  It is a great idea to give the poor jobs, have you been to any inner city any where lately?
  Most all the good paying jobs for folks who have just a HS or GED education are gone.
  We can’t make anything here because of the regulations. The steel mills are mostly gone, we do not make a whole lot of thing here now a day., Mostly all TVs, phones, computer chips, memory chips and motherboards are made over seas. Making things is a dirty business.
  Yes we have clean air and water now, and yes that is a good thing. But cost of electricity goes up when you don’t want to burn coal, you need a lot of electricity to run a factory or an office building. Add that to the high cost of US labor, is it really any wonder why jobs go over seas
  We turned into a “service society”, well we all cant work for Walmart and MickyDs.
  You think things are bad now, cut off the social programs and see how things go when they have no help with food and shelter. Put tens of thousands into the streets with no where to live and no food to eat.
  16,000,000,000,000.00 in debt, we can’t keep paying everyone way forever either.
  We need to bring back manufacturing and lower energy costs.
  Good luck with that.
  
  Report this comment
- oldguy77
  Posted on September 27, 2012 at 9:22am
  There only here looking for a better life and besides there doing work Americans wont do.:)
  
  Report this comment
PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:30pm
The food stamp president has force many that do not want to be but are forced to be on obama-stamps. Hopefully when we send that POS packing people will get back to work and the ones that want off can get off. There will always be a segment of the population that are third generation parasites and will always stay on them. Along with welfare, section 8 housing, utility subsidies, Medicaid, ect…..they’re called Democrats.

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scout n ambush
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:28pm
I wpuld give her a kidney but it would have to have a ton of coffee cleaned out of it .My best wishes hope she can get a kidney and a decent job .

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- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:42pm
  I think it would take 5 normal people’s kidneys to do the work of just one of her kidneys. I feel sorry for her but she’s a manatee.
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:05pm
  V common now.. Knock it off.. You and I couldn’t exercise with that goin on.. I bet she’s a nice person and has more troubles than we do.. Not singling you out cause you’re not the only one here with the fat jokes.. But for real, she might be really nice and going though a hard time.. Don’t need that backtalk from a Kroger guy when u already feel two feet tall
  
  Report this comment
- macpappy
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:15pm
  V15, and you sir, are a jerk. She is probably heavy because of her disability, if not she can probably, and will probably lose weight. Then she won’t be a manatee in your eyes. However, being a unempithetic jerk is most likely a life long condition
  Hey, but at least you got your two cents in tho.
  
  Report this comment
- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:39pm
  @godfearingmama, I just have a pet peeve about people using illnesses or injuries as an excuse for everything wrong in their lives. I have seen people with brain injuries and missing limbs overcome their disabilities by setting goals and achieving things that many people would view as impossible. If a paraplegic can get to the top of Mt Ranier, then this woman could definitely improve her situation.
  
  Macpappy: “V15, and you sir, are a jerk.”
  
  @Macpappy, you’re damn right I am!
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:58pm
  V right there with with you.. I watched my learn to walk again after neurosurgery from Vietnam injuries.. Still not where here should be but better than they said he would.. Sometimes you need a break from day to day to take care of yourself.. We’re the last kind to turn our backs.. Just hold judgement every once in a while and think how people find themselves in situations they don’t want to be in
  
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- booger71
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:00pm
  The story is wrong, at most she spends 12 hours a week on dialysis, not a day. Many people on dialysis are able to work.
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:14pm
  Sorry.. My (Dad) and not where (he).. typos
  
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Gary_K
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:22pm
Cindy looks like she could do without food stamps for awhile….just sayin.

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- Hmschlmom
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:35pm
  Gary, your ignorance is unbelievable!
  
  Kidney disease causes fluid retention.
  
  What you see isn’t fat…it is fluid…a symptom of her disease.
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:37pm
  At some point you consider someone might also be a person. It may take someone hours of tears from shame to get help because they might be the first person to help another. We live in an incredibly charitable society and our fellow Americans are hurting. So knock it off with the fat jokes, I bet a failing kidney might stop you from exercising your damn self. Just stop for a minute please with the judgment because good people are in bad places right now that believe in the same great America as you and I.
  
  Report this comment
- mlimberg
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:37pm
  I got to say too, there are a lot of very overweight people that are ‘poor”…. observing they are on some type of Government aid….
  
  That and very overweight people in a wheelchair…. might losing weight help that problem?
  
  And yes, I am out of line…
  
  Next part of the story is my 93 year old father-in-law who raised ten kids in a third world Country bare feet and with a machete… true story. My brother-in-law who married my wife’s sister went to visit the in-laws for the first time. My father-in-law stilll grabs his machete every morning and works his fields. My brother-in-law complained to my father-in-law that his knee hurt, and the father-in-law told him directly if he lost weight his knee might feel better…. From GOD’s mouth…. my father-in-law is very honest and hard working… the [problem is obvious to him, and he clearly resolves the poblem…
  
  I think Americans could learn a few things from a man in his 90′s raised ten kids bare feet and machete, and is up at dawn every morning working some in the fields, or bartering with the neighbors for a few meals…. his way of life. Honest, hard working and tells it like it is….. I love that man.
  
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- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:48pm
  I agree with ya, Gary. People don’t take responsibility for their actions anymore. Okay, she has an illness but what has she been eating? I’m pretty sure that if she had good kidneys then she would go down from XXXXXXXXXXL to XXXXXXXXL.
  
  Report this comment
- macpappy
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:24pm
  mlimberg
  I don’t think there is much to learn from your father in law. I guess there is no room for advancement in the job he does; I mean if he is still weilding a machette, and going barefoot. Maybe you guys should get together and get him a tractor. Maybe the lesson to learn is that being overweight has absolutely nothing to do with being poor. If our poverty were judged by our weight, and being overweight meant higher taxes; obesity would be vanquished tomorrow.
  
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- oneshiner
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:24pm
  MLIMBERG: I understand what you’re saying. We were raised with little or no money, ate mostly beans & rice and peanut butter and a few veggies. Everything else was rationed and we made it. The problem with so many on food stamps is that they buy things most of us on a budget can’t afford and that does anger those of us who can see what’s happening.
  
  Some have greater needs than others, but it’s the appearance of constantly being on stamps and welfare and every other gimme program that make many of us feel we’re being used by those who are able bodied and could work, even part time, but what I keep hearing is they don’t want to take a bad job and risk losing their freebees.
  This attitude does anger many of us who’ve experienced being raised by a single parent, who worked 2 & 3 crappy jobs to just make it through each month.
  SO, please don’t criticize those of us who’ve been there and done it without public assistance because we had a parent who had pride in making it on her own, even when it wasn’t easy.
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_K
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:27pm
  I have known people who died from kidney failure and each one of them was thin.
  
  Report this comment
- Wishmich
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:44pm
  Kidney patients on dialysis also are on steroids so that the medication benefits are enhanced. That contributes to what appears to be fat, but is not fat. You’re really barking up the wrong tree on this one. She has a serious illness. Dialysis is NOT fun; not wanted and not something wished for. I can’t stand the fat a$$es that are at the casino all dang day, smoking their cigarettes, getting govt paid for babysitters (which is usually Cousin Lateesha) and are on food stamps. But a manager can’t criticize THEM because of their blacquenessl
  
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- booger71
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:52pm
  Does kidney disease make your hair turn purple? Just asking.
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:04pm
  People please stop.. Are you so physically fit and beautiful to pass for an award that no one can question who you are before you get help if ailment strikes.. This a bad day for someone going through a tough time.. Heaven forbid you get sick and your significant other lost a good job… Do you deserve to be treated like like that.. Belittled by a grocery store employee?? Not cool
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:33pm
  Re: oneshiner
  I personally know several relatives who are ‘Professional Mooches’. They would not lift a finger to help anyone else, but they will cross a lake of fire for handouts. They buy all the expensive products at the store without giving it a second thought and whine and cry how bad life is to them, and they’re serious! They have been trained to think this way by the givmint.
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:47pm
  Re: GodFearingMama
  My uncle used to work in a grocery store. At the first of the month he had to deliver a Chevy S-10 P/U load of groceries to a family of Professional Mooches nearby. Two able bodied men and one able bodied woman and their mother(4 total). After several months of them watching him unload all the groceries and carry them up the hill to their house without lifting a finger to help him, he refused to go anymore. The last I knew, one of the guys was wanting to get a sex change operation courtesy of the state. He actually walked up and down the road in his mother’s dresses! Your tax dollars at work.
  
  Report this comment
- v15
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 3:00am
  “The last I knew, one of the guys was wanting to get a sex change operation courtesy of the state. He actually walked up and down the road in his mother’s dresses! Your tax dollars at work.”
  
  He didn’t happen to own the Bate’s Motel did he?
  
  Report this comment
- GodFearingMama
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 6:19am
  I agree.. We all know about Professional Mooches but there are also people that hit tough times
  
  Report this comment
- TxJewelya
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 7:22am
  Kidney Failure does cause fluid retention however when in Kidney Failure and on dialysis, the dialysis actually pulls the fluid off of you, so much so that you have terrible muscle cramps. If this lady is doing dialysis everyday for 12 hours she should actually be very thin. I know my husband lost about 30 lbs. You are also supposed to watch your diet very very carefully. So HMSCHLMOM you are wrong!!
  
  Report this comment
- upupandaway
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 10:10am
  Hmschlmom, of course she is not fat – she is just big boned.
  Geez admit it – she is fat.
  
  Report this comment
- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 10:24am
  Based on the comments about this woman, her kidney disease and the use of food stamps, I can make a good arguement for Obama’s death panels. In fact, the use of food stamps in and of themselves, appears to be some type of addiction or disease. I say death panels for them all.
  
  Report this comment
- Amarath01
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 1:24pm
  @Hmschlmom
  Yeah she fat with fluid retention at that level and if she wasn’t fat she be dead from fluid overload and heart failure.
  Most people on 3-4 times a week dialysis don’t look much heavier if less than others because of the restrictive diet (you are supposed to be on).
  Hell i know many many people with genetic diseases that kill then via their kidneys (PKD) none of them are fat or even a bit overweight, NONE OF THEM. Why, its simple, CANNOT AFFORD TO BE IF THEY WANT TO GET ON TRANSPLANT LISTs, live longer, and want a lower rate of transplant rejection.
  
  Report this comment
- CobraBill
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 3:21pm
  Over weight people can lose weight. But stupid people are stuck on stupid.
  Just sayin
  
  Report this comment
TxJewelya
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:18pm
As a woman who has a husband that has had not one but two kidney transplants over the last 25 years, I take issue with the story. My husband was in End Stage Renal disease for several years (twice) and on dialysis. He NEVER missed a day of work as a remodeling contractor, and still went to his dialysis every other day for 4 hours. The type of dialysis the lady is quoted as having is the type that you do at home while you sleep. I am not saying that she shouldn’t have food stamps I’m just saying that if my husband could work at a very labor intensive job then surely she could do something. The Kroger manager shouldn’t have admonished her for the food stamp usage, it really is none of his business.

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- wisehiney
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:23pm
  That lady may be using that sore kidney as a weapon.
  
  Report this comment
- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:23pm
  My grandpa was a workaholic… he worked until he was 80 years old. On the day of my great-grandma’s memorial service, he showed up in his work clothes. I bet that he loved his business more than he loved his family members…
  
  He also had kidney failure. He would have to go in 2 or three times a week for several hours at a time. He ended up not being able to work. I don’t think that his kidney killed him… I think it was his inability to work any more. If he could have worked, I know that he would have worked up until the day he died. So not all kidney patients can work.
  
  Report this comment
- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:26pm
  That being said, my grandpa died a millionaire and didn’t take food stamps (although he was cheap, so he’d show up for free bread or donuts when businesses handed them out).
  
  Report this comment
All_Out_of_Bubblegum
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:13pm
I recently had a woman and her daughter come in our store. The woman was showing her daughter how to shop with food stamps (which they were both on). They checked out separately and about 10 minutes apart. Next thing we knew, the mother came back in with the daughter and was upset. It seems the daughter was not aware that candy was covered by food stamps and had opted to pay cash for that part of her purchase. The woman demanded her daughter return the candy, get her cash back and the repurchase it with food stamps.

We complied with their wishes with a smile…but, yeah…I was disgusted.

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- oneshiner
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 9:36pm
  Most of these people have learned how to play the game and play it to the hilt.
  
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- watashbuddyfriend
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:38am
  A compassionate Owner/cashier would have offered help, upfront!
  
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watashbuddyfriend
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:13pm
When was the last time any of you reminded an Owner, Manager, Cashier, Employee in general where his/her paycheck cometh from? It is YOU who stands on the other side of the cashregister that funds ALL paychecks! The business only acts as the Agent to manage, and write the payroll check.

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- drs1969
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:59pm
  They know where the money’s coming from! Wal-Mart’s Vice Prez. recently complained, at the shareholder’s meeting, that their business was getting bunched up at the first of the month. They wanted, and may have gotten, the givmint to spread the payouts on cards throughout the month so as to keep the traffic even throughout the month. These customers buy all the high margin foods, like T-Bone, Ribeye, etc.
  
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wisehiney
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:12pm
I once had a teacher who was a member of NOW, and who loved to blabber on about all of the poor, starving people in our area. I told her one day that I had lived here all of my life, personally knew nearly everyone around here, and that I had never once seen anyone that was starving. If we thought that someone was hungry, they would soon be bursting at the seams with all of the offers of food. That liberal control freak nearly blew a fuse.

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Deejoy
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:10pm
This Kroger co-manager should be fired immediately. It’s not his business to know why she is on food stamps. Maybe if he lost his job and had to be on food stamps he would understand that most people do not want to do this, but have no choice. I would never shop at the Kroger that had this co-manager of it;s staff.

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RamonPreston
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:10pm
When I worked in the retail business, the customer was always right even when the customer was wrong. On dialysis she is truly unable to work; 12 hours on a machine that leaves you very weak afterwards. My sister-in-law’s boyfriend has to do this.

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dlspiece
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:08pm
the point should be that it is not the job or responsibility of the government to provide the help needed, it is our responsibility. we pass it on because we allow the gov to take care of it instead of us helping our neighbors in need. get rid of welfare and others will step up to help.

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- drs1969
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:06am
  Welfare needs to be administered at the county level. The feds have no constitutional right to be doing this. FDR started farm subsidies and LBJ’s War on Poverty was an extension of them. Now we have the fattest, unhealthiest people on the planet!
  
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LeadNotFollow
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:00pm
…
I have no problem with this woman receiving food stamps.
The folks I have a problem with, are all those “Womb To Tomb” entitlement moochers.

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- oldguy77
  Posted on September 27, 2012 at 9:38am
  This may add to the conversation or not,you decide.—”I cried because I had no shoes,Till I saw a man who had no feet”.
  
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Elena2010
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:57pm
The Church has fallen down on its obligation to folks like this woman. Rather we have been invited out of the main street of need. This woman certainly needs the boost to make it, but I would prefer that the gov’t stand aside and let us take it fm here.

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teddrunk
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:56pm
I guess it works both way. It sounds as if this lady may need the help. But so many like her are nothing more than fat keistered leeches that live off of the producers. So I can understand the stores reactions. I also think any store should have the right to tell these human parasites to pound sand and shop elsewhere.

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:55pm
…
For the first time in my lifetime, I have several friends and one relative who are on food stamps. They are so embarrassed to go to the store. They put off going to the store as long as possible. They wait until they are down to their last crust of bread, before they can build up the courage to stand in that checkout line.

I feel so bad for this woman. All the suffering she endures due to her failed kidneys, plus having to deal with the embarrassment of using food stamps. God bless her.

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RAMJR
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:55pm
There are many that are struggling to get by, who want to work, who want more for their families & need help.
There are also those that say the same thing, & abuse the use and make claims they can’t afford food, with a cigarette in their mouth & a beer in their hand, wearing $300 sneakers & driving a new car. In case that isn’t obvious, that is fraud, in my opinion.
The entitlement programs are full of fraud, but the government isn’t paying for it, so it is no big deal. Blame the rich, blame Bush, blame life.
Until restitution is called for and delivered, immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, etc,will increase…but actual need will also.
Florida just passed a law that you had to take drug test, mandatory to get help. If you showed you were doing drugs, you get a penalty of time before you can reapply. If you failed again, a mandatory three year suspension from all entitlements would be put in to place…& if you pass the drug test, you move to the next step of getting help. If more states do this, the fraud would get caught more, but there would be those using illegal ways to get around this, including government workers making money on the side.
Personally, I would also put those failing to have their name and pictures put on display, for the shame factor.
As far as this Kroger manager, he should be shamed for what he did. I know a friend how has had to ask for this help, & it hurts his pride. He’s done nothing wrong, just what this administration has increased.

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woodyee
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:54pm
Poor lady might not even have to use food stamps, if her husband had a full-time job; and that won’t be happening until we get rid of Gaybama…sad.

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- American Soldier (Separated)
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:06pm
  Unless she get’s a job as an executive for Wall Street or one of his cronies, Romney will do very little to improve this woman’s life. Both of these candidates stand for the same thing, the banking special interests.
  
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- woodyee
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:22pm
  With all do respect, Soldier, you don’t know Romney very well, yet we all knew Gaybama even less when he was “elected”.
  
  What we DO know about Gaybama is written in the history of his years as pseudo-president. I doubt you’re willing to go another 4 years of that, WITHOUT the prospect of having to run for re-election holding him back.
  
  Semper Fidelis.
  
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netmail
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:54pm
My wife works for Kroger. The store makes a ton of money off of food stamps and other government handouts. Kroger doesn’t write policy or determine who qualifies for which handout. They should be thankful for the business and shut the hell up. I actually think it’s accurate to quote Obama in this case:
This manager “acted stupidly”. It’s going to be one hell of a day tho when all these programs crash and burn eventually….which I personally believe they will.

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- drs1969
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:16am
  With a $1.2 Trillion annual deficit that’s being 3/4 funded by the counterfeiters at the Federal Reserve, it won’t be long before the pigs will be squealing.
  I only feel sorry for the store workers who’ll get ‘shafted’ in the process. Their business has been built on a poor foundation, thanks to gov. meddling in the free market.
  
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dndcrazy
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:48pm
This lady needs our help and I don’t mind my tax money helping her. She is getting food for her family. The problem is a lot of people are just lazy and abusing the system which she is not. I hope you get your kidney and good health in the future.

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- drs1969
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:23am
  Milton Freidman wrote, over 30 years ago, that Washington keeps 4 out of 5 welfare dollars. That means beaurocrats are getting 80 percent, not Skakira or the deadbeats I personally know.
  
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LeadNotFollow
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:45pm
…
Had she been Black, the co-manager would not have had the nerve to say “Well excuse me that I work for a living and don’t rely on food stamps like you.”
Let him just try that line on a plump Black woman. He will be spitting out teeth, like they were Chiclets.

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- Rrddbb
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:03pm
  LMAO!!!! You’re dead on!! LOL
  
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- phillipwgirard
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:03pm
  Hiz Azz would be ringin faw a month,,,
  
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- upupandaway
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:35am
  So true!!!!
  
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ZAP
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:43pm
Thanks Obama,hope you enjoy your next round of golf (in Hawaii )

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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:57pm
  …
  Didn’t he also just purchase a 40 Million dollar home in Hawaii?
  
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- v15
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:59pm
  Either Iran or Israel. Whichever lays down the most sod for golf courses.
  
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wisehiney
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:42pm
Ridicule always made me stronger.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:41pm
As much as I hate the fact that these unconstitutional programs exist he shouldn’t have ridiculed her.
All forms of welfare need to be phased out,you can’t just stop cold turkey. I believe it’s immoral for the government to take from one to pay for another and charities should help people in need.

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- Coyote1953
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:59pm
  I agree 100% with progessiveslayer.
  
  It is unfortunate that the federal government has entered the realm of church and charities. Someday churches and charities will do the jobs. When all churches and charities apply to the IRS for tax-exempt status, they all agree to serve the public by offering charity.
  
  Donations to those entities are known as “charitable contributions”.
  
  I agree that at this time in our nations history, that lady should receive food stamps.
  
  The problem besides the constitutional issue is, there are millions of cheats who illegally live off of our charity.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:36pm
  PROGRESSIVESLAYER, I’m with you on that.
  
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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:38pm
  I agree. Stopping these programs immediately would leave a lot of people without a way to eat, but if you slowly phased these out, and passed the savings on to the consumer, then people would be able to step up and help with charitable contributions and fill in the gap, over time.
  
  The government could do this by lowering the income eligibility, and reducing the benefits that people who were still eligible to receive got. At the higher income levels or smaller families, some people are only getting $30 a month or so… this could be made up a lot easier by supplementing out of pocket or with charity, than cutting off a family that is getting $600 a month in benefits (or more if they had a large family). If we kept the benefits and income levels steady, rather than increasing them yearly, that would also help with attrition and reductions in benefits… especially considering that we’re currently in the middle of QE3 (aka QE4Ever).
  
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- drs1969
  Posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:31am
  Politicians will never phase it out. They buy votes with it! More likely, at this point, the economy collapses first. Then reset.
  
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OlefromMN
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:40pm
Interesting and “timely” story. Kroger’s is not some mom&pop store. It is large and therefore has a computerized check-out system that identifies items that are within the government requirements on food stamps and items that are not. What were the rejected items?

Whether she is worthy of the program is not the question here. It appears the media wants all purchases to go unquestioned.

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- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:56pm
  Did you ever have an item checked out at the wrong price? Same thing.
  
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- OlefromMN
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:10pm
  Ex.
  
  Continue justifying. It suits your moniker perfectly. Quitters never win.
  
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PATTY HENRY
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:36pm
THE WORST TRAIT THAT ANY HUMAN BEING HAS IS ‘HAVING THE ADVANTAGE – AND USING IT’
THIS guy should not work with the public. No one cares what his beliefs are. He should have had the humanity to hold his tongue. PEOPLE who are ill or have problems like this woman are the reason we have FOOD STAMPS. IT’s the people who could very easily work and who think it’s funny to rip others off that I disagree with. I hope this woman gets her kidney, gets well and is able to earn her own very soon.

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- Jenny Lind
  Posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:03pm
  Well said. So far on the poll prople seem to be supporting her, as well we should. Trolls come here and say we are heartless sobs, but I think we know the difference between real need and using the system. I am sad that achurch and family do not help more, they are the first line of help in the great scheme of things. I would remind those who said no to the poll, it only takes one accident or serious illness to put any of us in her families shoes. An average two day stay in a hospital can be $15,000.00.
  
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