WIC, whack, whomp

There is always some WIC (Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program) drama going on up at the registers. WIC is a federal program that allows certain (usually low-income) people to get certain types of basic staples by using a WIC voucher/check.

WIC checks have more rules than a condo association. Only certain types of foods are allowed, and ZERO substitutions. You can't sub eggs for milk, or get any more than what the check allows you.

So today, this evil woman tries to bully a cashier into letting her get tuna fish for eggs. This is a short version of the conversation. In reality, it went on for about 10 minutes, with a lot of screaming on her part, and a lot of repeated: NO MA'AMs on my part.

HER: "PROTEINS IS PROTEINS!" she hollers at me.
ME: "I'm sorry ma'am. We can only allow you to take the items that are on the front of your WIC check."
HER: "Nobody never told me that before." "It say on the back that I can get tuna fish."
ME: "Ma'am, the list on the back is just a list of the foods that are available under WIC. The only things you can get are the ones on the FRONT of the check."
HER: "I want tuna fish and peanut butter. I don't want eggs. Protein is protein. Why can't I gets me some peanut butter?
ME: "Ma'am, you need to speak with the WIC office if you want to change the items on your WIC check. But we can't allow you take the peanut butter on WIC. Would you like to pay for it with the rest of your groceries?"
HER: "No, because it says I can gets it on WIC."
HER: "They's always do it for me before. I wants a manager. I don't like this."

My manager takes one look at her. Tells her "NO." And walks off. She shuts up and goes.

And after she's gone, the cashier comes up to the podium with a whole buggy (about 15 items, mostly all WIC-approved, that she had tried to get on this on WIC check. In addition to what she was entitled to, she had tried to cheat us for: 2 gallons of milk, two jars of peanut butter, 3 packages of individually wrapped cheese (NOT WIC) four packages of beans, two bottles of juice, five boxes of cereal, a can of grits and a dozen eggs.

They know that that is not their money, so whatever extra food they can get off the government's dime, they'll try to take every penny. It is amazing the deceit in some people.