barbaranoel unfortunately a forum is a public place,so when you post,some reactions would support you some will not,some might actually insult you.Plus it's not always that we will have indydebi to the rescue,so YOU cannot let negative responses bother you.I have worked in customer services and know how customer's can be,some people here might actually be "the customers",so they can never agree with you .
Don't worry about it at all.

Everyone is a customer...

I did not read any comments that would actually be insulting????

Ok, without even reading past the OPer's first post, and keep in mind I already put this out there in a PM, I should just say this:

It is illegal for a merchant to return cash to a customer that has paid for products with food stamps. I know that this was a very prominent problem for a good many years with the welfare system, and I have seen first hand how people abuse the privilege of having this assistance. I lived in a town where parents would routinely send in their children with food stamps to buy a small item with a large denomination food stamp. The store would then return cash change to the child. The child would return that change to the parents and they would pocket the difference. These same folks would be seen driving around in expensive cars. Whatever it was that was purchased, it was done with the funds that were meant to be used for feeding their families and for which we all pay our taxes for them to benefit from. Anyway you look at it, it's wrong.

They went with a "EBT card" or food stamp card to prevent this from happening further. The card debits the consumers recipient account, just like a bank debit card. When the allotted monthly amount has been reached, it will also read insufficient funds, also like a bank debit card.

Your receipt programs should indicate with which tender the purchase was made. Make sure that you ask to see the customers receipt ALWAYS! before refunding any monies for any reason.

I would admonish all of you who accept food stamps as payment to be very careful and very conscience of this in your dealings.


As far as the "ruined party" goes...big woop that it didn't have border...she should have come at the right hours and maybe someone could have handled it for her then....she took it out and it was eatten...it is her's. NO MONEY RETURN!!!

If I were you I'd instruct your staff, when you are not on sight yourself and available, that any cake picked up "after hours", and I'd be very sure to make it clear what hours those are exactly, is an "as is" sale. I would further make sure that the customer understands that any cake that is sold must be checked before leaving the store to make sure it is satisfactory. It's just like any other baker, if they take it, and especially if it is consumed, then it is a done deal. No money back.

It was good enough to eat, so it it good enough.....


[/b]

Since we're on the subject of food stamps, cake, and fraud...I had a cake student late last year tell me that Wilton fondant can be bought with food stamps - which is what she does, and then sells her cakes...and doesn't pay taxes. I could have strangled her on the spot. She thought she was so clever! I thought of the money that hemorrhages out of my paycheck and my husband's paycheck in taxes for losers like her and it makes me ill. [vomit smilie goes here]

Tell them to kiss your your ass and burn their welfare checks and food stamps,.. They are a waste of tax payers money. Big time opportunists and money suckers..

wow, she paid with foodstamps!!! Sorry I jumped to that part... she is just (blank) ... I could go on but I wont

WalMart did have Wilton's fondant and they take foodstamps. Now they are taking all of their craft sections out, at least in my are. Ticks me off. Now I have to get everything at Michael's and have a coupon, just to get the regular price WalMart had.

And ladies, good job on getting back on track and civil. I thought I was going to have to throw in Maryjsgirl's Drama Llama.

LOL bizatchgirl !

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my response, but I have been on the receiving end of the welfare system and I have seen it from the other side. When I had no choice some years back, I used the system for what it was intended and got my self back on track over a period of about 2 years. It really makes me mad when I see or hear of those that just milk it and use it like it's their god given right to live off of it rather than go out and make it on their own. What does that teach the children that grow up in that kind of household? We have enough people in the world with the mistaken sense of self entitlement, do we really need to further that notion more?

What these people are doing that use the benefits to make a profit, and just use it outright to "live high on the hog", or like the example I used in my previous post, is committing a crime. Welfare Fraud is no laughing matter, and I think that everyone that does it, in whatever form they are doing it, should be held accountable. Perhaps then we might see the system start to be used the way it was meant to be. No more "lifers in the system". That is just despicable. I even know a few young girls that have the idea that they will get pregnant just so that they can get on welfare....also wrong and should not be tolerated. My views and opinions are strong on this subject because I know just how very important these programs can be to those of us who have truly needed it at one time or another. Those that abuse it, or over use it, cause these programs to be bankrupt, and the taxpayers as well. They should be ashamed of themselves for that, and not doing whatever they have to to get out of it as soon as they can. Equally to blame is the workers that allow them to remain dependent on it. Shame on them for not doing their jobs and demanding that they do what it required and get themselves back on track and able to support themselves and their families. Just like I did.

And as for the folks that think it's ok to buy cake decorating products with food stamps and then turn around and make a profit from them, SHAME ON YOU! It's one thing to use them for a personal cake, but what nerve to think it is alright to get these ingredients on the tax payers dime and pocket a profit....

I didn't disagree with or take offense at anything that was said. I think PP just didn't like the turn the subject had taken, and that we should be all cake, all the time. I can kind of see the point of staying away from the controversial topics.

My mom was a single mom with two kids, and accidentally got pregnant at 36 (I was already 17 and my sis was 16). She had been told she could never get pregnant again, and wasn't taking the appropriate precautions. She had to go on WIC for the baby (my youngest sis) just to make ends meet. Then as my sis and I turned 18 and moved out on our own, mom was able to take care of youngest again without the assistance.

Now, I could say mom should have been smarter to begin with...but it's those 'temporary' situations, like job loss or big loss of wage, or medical disability that the system should be used for, not to allow abled body people not to work. I think just about everybody can agree on that.

I agree with you totally, but I don't think everyone can agree that welfare is only to be used for those emergent, temporary periods. There is a huge number of our population that feel that because fate has not been kind enough to bless them with easy avenues into high paying jobs, they are entitled to live off the tax money of the working class. There is a HUGE sense of entitlement amongst a large group of people in our society.

I guess you're right, I was thinking more that the whole argument would be on the side of people who think the way I do. However, CC would be a mix of people, just like you'd find anywhere else, so there could still be arguments for the other side here too.

If there weren't people who felt differently, there wouldn't be a need for argument, because we'd have the system doing what it's meant to do! Just MHO.

Just a side note, it became a big stink here in AZ a few years back because the call center for AFDC was in MEXICO!!! So, State of Az was helping out people who didn't have jobs, yet providing jobs to people in Mx. How smart is that? If there are call center jobs to be given, give them to the Az people that are needing assistance and theoretically you have that many less people needing assistance!!!! It was so stupid.

Gov't logic ... ain't it an entertaining thing to watch!



Well looks whose running it !!

I hate when the whole food stamp issue comes up, cause some of you make very general nasty statements. Like the refund would be used for alcohol, cigarettes, or as they put it her"fix". Or how they buy luxory items like filet mignon & lobster, but can't keep their house clean. There is a wole lot of things wrong with the system, but there are a whole lot of reasons people end up using the system. Be grateful it's not you! Don't be nasty about it. There are a whole lot more people who are not on welfare that have robbed the "system" or your taxes for a whole lot more money. Hmmm, did we forget about all these goverment bail outs & million dollar bonuses, ALL PAID by our taxes. yeah, let's just get upset over $7.99 & make sure to make plenty of nasty comments too!

I agree. Let's play nice, but actually PLAY nice! Some things people say though are just so nasty. OP I'm an awe that she got ANYTHING back. I'm glad to hear your manager is gonna "man up" next time, cause that was just ridiculous!

I've seen my tax dollars go to a lot worse use then people buying luxury itmes with their food stamps. So much for playing nice.

By "playing nice," do you mean that we all must agree?

As adults, we can have a discussion without agreeing, right?

And although we acknowledge that our tax dollars go to many worse things, we can still have a negative opinion about our tax dollars being abused by welfare recipients, right?

Let's not talk about people who get free healthcare while I pay nearly $500 a month for health insurance. That really ticks me off! LOL

our tax dollars go to many worse things

AMEN !! yeah ! Like a new helicopter for the White House !! and bailout $ wasted !

No we dont' have to agree, but politics is one of the topics that tends to turn a thread sour (and isn't it one of the topics that is "against the rules" anyway?). I just didn't want to see this thread go that direction.

Not sure how things work in Ohio, but in Michigan, a decorated cake is taxable goods, and therefore not available with foodstamps.
Probably adding fuel to this thread, but my next door neighbor gets food stamps. I know this cause I worked in the store that she shops in and saw her using them on a regular basis. My grip is that she drives a brand new Mustang every 2 years, installed a pool right after I did, but much more expensive version. And every time I buy my kid something ,she jumps in the car (seriously, just bout immediatly after she sees my kid with something new, this has become a joke at our house) and runs to buy her kid the same thing. I don't give a crap what she has or doesn't have. What gives me a cramp is that my husband and I both work, (she dosn't) and struggle to buy anything that we do. How do people do this stuff and get away with it. Our tax dollars at work!
thanks for letting me vent.

I had a bride call last year for a price on a wedding cake and at the end of the conversation her last question was if she could pay for the cake with food stamps. I said no, I am a in-home licensed bakery, not a grocery store, I do not accept food stamps. She then said there was no reason she couldn't she pay me in them and I would then be free to use them for my own groceries! Umm, NO, Not an Option!

I have another customer who I've been doing her cakes for 15+ years, on "disability", goes atv riding, always on the go, has had the same boyfriend for all these years and a couple of years ago she has another baby now that the other child is ready to graduate high school. She is very open about that as long as there is a child, the government puts the well being of the child ahead of what the parents are doing and will make sure that child is taken care of. They purposely have not married so she can continue to collect. I guesss on paper he doesn't live with her and is not the legal father of the kids so the state won't go after him. Between her checks and his pay, they live very well.

A little checking on the part of these agencies would stop a lot of these who believe in a hand out, not as it should be as a hand up to get on your own feet.

Well, as far as receiving food stamps and assistance for foster children - if she is taking care of someone elses kids for the government, isn't she then actually a government employee? And part of her payment is food? So, as long as she provides for the kids shouldn't she be able to spend the rest on what she wants? Let's say, a nice dinner for her and her husband after the kids are in bed? Who are we to judge? Don't be upset with how the money is being spent and who's spending it. Be upset with the unresponsible parents who get the children taken away in the first place. Let's not criticize good foster parents. They are a blessing.

sarahpierce, totally OT but who is Sarah Kane? I'm lovin' that quote.