Petty Vents

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No label at all would have been better than one that lies.

None of those old spice jars I got had labels, either. So I just put the spices in them and set them in the order I thought I could remember them. The only ones I ever got mixed up were onion powder and garlic powder (and I got those two straightened out) and the allspice and nutmeg. I'm pretty sure I know which is which though.

The dumb thing I did was get orange peel and lemon peel from McCormicks. I can't tell which one is which either by taste or by sight. *sigh*
 
I have a petty vent about myself today. Went to the grocery store. I had $20 left on my EBT card, $5 in cash on the EBT card, and $7 in real cash.

So I got $20 worth of food, some paper towels and freezer bags that added up to $5, and a head of lettuce and two packs of cherry tomatoes that totaled $7. How hard can this be?

So I go to pay and surprise, surprise, I forgot that I had bought $7 worth of bacon (on sale) a couple days ago and I don't have $20 on my EBT card, I only have $13. So I had to make a quick decision and passed back the lettuce and tomatoes.

Then I was so flustered, I forgot to ask for three separate transactions. Reason being, because now all the items are totaled together. This means that I'll use the food amount up first, the cash on the EBT card up second, and then pay what's left with what cash I have in my wallet. Problem is, when the cashier does this, she needs to know exactly how much the food amount on the card is so she can put that total in manually, or the card rejects the amount because the amount is more than what's on the card.

The only way to get the amount left on the card to be entered manually, is to run the card the first time and let it be rejected. Then we redo the transaction for the food. This is the same scenario for the cash left on the card. FINALLY, what's left over is $7 to be paid and I pay that with cash I had in my wallet. The worst thing? I had managed my money so well this month I have food to last till the middle of July and what am I buying at this store? Well, I had decided to treat myself. I was buying shrimp on sale.

So now I have had to give back two perishable food items and run 5 transactions for what normally would have been one transaction and the line had 8 people in it, all watching me use an EBT card to buy shrimp. I was so mortified.

I usually keep the previous transaction of my EBT card on my bulletin board, so I always know how much is left on it, but I had forgotten to check that day. I guess I'm not going to forget again real soon. :blush:
 
One more petty vent for the day and then I'm done.

It's June, and the HEAT JUST KICKED ON!

Two weeks ago we were breaking heat records, today it's so cold the heat goes on. What's with this crazy weather?!?
 
None of those old spice jars I got had labels, either. So I just put the spices in them and set them in the order I thought I could remember them. The only ones I ever got mixed up were onion powder and garlic powder (and I got those two straightened out) and the allspice and nutmeg. I'm pretty sure I know which is which though.

The dumb thing I did was get orange peel and lemon peel from McCormicks. I can't tell which one is which either by taste or by sight. *sigh*

It would drive me crazy not having labels on my spice jars. Here - all you need is some printer paper and some packing tape.

http://blog.worldlabel.com/2015/pantry-spice-jar-labels-for-your-spring-redo.html
 

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One more petty vent for the day and then I'm done.

It's June, and the HEAT JUST KICKED ON!

Two weeks ago we were breaking heat records, today it's so cold the heat goes on. What's with this crazy weather?!?

Perfectly good reason for it. Mother Nature's hormones are running amok! :angel:
 
One more petty vent for the day and then I'm done.

It's June, and the HEAT JUST KICKED ON!

Two weeks ago we were breaking heat records, today it's so cold the heat goes on. What's with this crazy weather?!?
It appears Mother Nature sent us your heat to help evaporate the standing water from Saturday night and Early Sunday morning storm. I will gladly tell her to give you back at least 10 degrees. Yesterday was over 100 here.
 
One more petty vent for the day and then I'm done.

It's June, and the HEAT JUST KICKED ON!

Two weeks ago we were breaking heat records, today it's so cold the heat goes on. What's with this crazy weather?!?

They say we might break records beginning the tail end of this weekend.
But at least for now I'm enjoying the low 70's daytime highs for now here. In fact, I'm doing a hike/bike overnighter camping tonight instead of this hot weekend.
 
I have a petty vent about myself today. Went to the grocery store. I had $20 left on my EBT card, $5 in cash on the EBT card, and $7 in real cash.

So I got $20 worth of food, some paper towels and freezer bags that added up to $5, and a head of lettuce and two packs of cherry tomatoes that totaled $7. How hard can this be?

So I go to pay and surprise, surprise, I forgot that I had bought $7 worth of bacon (on sale) a couple days ago and I don't have $20 on my EBT card, I only have $13. So I had to make a quick decision and passed back the lettuce and tomatoes.

Then I was so flustered, I forgot to ask for three separate transactions. Reason being, because now all the items are totaled together. This means that I'll use the food amount up first, the cash on the EBT card up second, and then pay what's left with what cash I have in my wallet. Problem is, when the cashier does this, she needs to know exactly how much the food amount on the card is so she can put that total in manually, or the card rejects the amount because the amount is more than what's on the card.

The only way to get the amount left on the card to be entered manually, is to run the card the first time and let it be rejected. Then we redo the transaction for the food. This is the same scenario for the cash left on the card. FINALLY, what's left over is $7 to be paid and I pay that with cash I had in my wallet. The worst thing? I had managed my money so well this month I have food to last till the middle of July and what am I buying at this store? Well, I had decided to treat myself. I was buying shrimp on sale.

So now I have had to give back two perishable food items and run 5 transactions for what normally would have been one transaction and the line had 8 people in it, all watching me use an EBT card to buy shrimp. I was so mortified.

I usually keep the previous transaction of my EBT card on my bulletin board, so I always know how much is left on it, but I had forgotten to check that day. I guess I'm not going to forget again real soon. :blush:

I would much rather see a person buy shrimp instead of a frozen meal or worse frozen P B & J sandwiches.
Plus the fact you said you had cash. For all I know you might have FS, and money on the Ebt, and somebody gave you the cash to buy the shrimp. Or in other words none of my business.

Once when I was on food stamps, I needed formula and nail polish. The cashier refused me until I said I will go find your manager. I need the less than a dollar nail polish for my work.
And it is baby formula so you would let a baby go hungry because you don't approve of my purchases. She said well this time you can buy the formula.
Strange, there was another employee standing behind her. I never saw her in that store again.

Funniest one I ever saw was went to a cafeteria. My two year old was very picky about meats. So I just asked if I could substitute a vegetable for the meat. The lady doing the serving told me that I must feed my child meat. The manager heard and made the woman hand me the money for my daughter's meal. Oh and it was 2 vegetables for the one meat and if the child wanted she could have more.
 
I would much rather see a person buy shrimp instead of a frozen meal or worse frozen P B & J sandwiches.
Plus the fact you said you had cash. For all I know you might have FS, and money on the Ebt, and somebody gave you the cash to buy the shrimp. Or in other words none of my business.

Once when I was on food stamps, I needed formula and nail polish. The cashier refused me until I said I will go find your manager. I need the less than a dollar nail polish for my work.
And it is baby formula so you would let a baby go hungry because you don't approve of my purchases. She said well this time you can buy the formula.
Strange, there was another employee standing behind her. I never saw her in that store again.

Funniest one I ever saw was went to a cafeteria. My two year old was very picky about meats. So I just asked if I could substitute a vegetable for the meat. The lady doing the serving told me that I must feed my child meat. The manager heard and made the woman hand me the money for my daughter's meal. Oh and it was 2 vegetables for the one meat and if the child wanted she could have more.

Regarding that cashier, she was completely right about not allowing you to purchase nail polish. If I were the manager, I would of backed up that cashier, as the Feds could take away my ability to accept food stamps for selling items they can't be used for.

Quite honestly, I can't swallow your cafeteria incident because the manager could have told the server to go ahead with the substitution, but can't force the server to pay for a meal out of their own pocket. That would be illegal.
 
Regarding that cashier, she was completely right about not allowing you to purchase nail polish. If I were the manager, I would of backed up that cashier, as the Feds could take away my ability to accept food stamps for selling items they can't be used for.

Quite honestly, I can't swallow your cafeteria incident because the manager could have told the server to go ahead with the substitution, but can't force the server to pay for a meal out of their own pocket. That would be illegal.

Craig, I have been in some cafeterias where you pay before you get in line for your food. :angel:
 
Regarding that cashier, she was completely right about not allowing you to purchase nail polish. If I were the manager, I would of backed up that cashier, as the Feds could take away my ability to accept food stamps for selling items they can't be used for.

Quite honestly, I can't swallow your cafeteria incident because the manager could have told the server to go ahead with the substitution, but can't force the server to pay for a meal out of their own pocket. That would be illegal.

I was paying cash for the nail polish. Even paid for it first. I had the CASH in my hand. Do not accuse me of cheating the government.
So I was not trying to buy it with food stamps.

Now I remember why I left. Accuse first.
 
Craig, I have been in some cafeterias where you pay before you get in line for your food. :angel:
How is that possible unless it is an All-You-Can-Eat buffet? Is the prime rib the same price as the creamed corn? Even with the All-You-Can-Eat buffet, drinks aren't included and the bill doesn't come until the end of the meal.
 
How is that possible unless it is an All-You-Can-Eat buffet? Is the prime rib the same price as the creamed corn? Even with the All-You-Can-Eat buffet, drinks aren't included and the bill doesn't come until the end of the meal.

Back then it wasn't all you can eat.
 
I was paying cash for the nail polish. Even paid for it first. I had the CASH in my hand. Do not accuse me of cheating the government.
So I was not trying to buy it with food stamps.

Now I remember why I left. Accuse first.

You did not state that you were going to pay for the polish with cash! Read your own words:

"Once when I was on food stamps, I needed formula and nail polish. The cashier refused me until I said I will go find your manager. I need the less than a dollar nail polish for my work.":rolleyes:
 
How is that possible unless it is an All-You-Can-Eat buffet? Is the prime rib the same price as the creamed corn? Even with the All-You-Can-Eat buffet, drinks aren't included and the bill doesn't come until the end of the meal.

Craig, we have one up on Route 1 in Saugus. Wednesday is Senior Citizen Day. Every week. When they first started this practice, they had to quickly change their way of service. The elderly were piling their plates with food. Much more than they could eat. No doggie bags. So they would grab a pile of napkins and wrap it up to take the food home. The meats were always cut by someone standing behind to cut it.

Now on that day, the meats are precut and there is still someone there to watch how much they each take. The old timers know what the new limit is per person. There is a floor person who floats around to help any that may need it. Handful of napkins are no longer available. They are handed one napkin at the end of the line. If you need more as you are eating, the floater will bring you one. You can go back for seconds, but bring your empty plate.

I am sorry to say, they ruined it for themselves. I have been there on a few occasions. The food is good and being a small eater, I only take a piece of meat and a veggie. One time when the person I was with saw how little I eat, got upset because he thought he wasn't getting his money's worth. It is a buffet. According to his logic, I should have taken a full plate of food along with the dessert. (which is included in the price.) Needless to say that was the last time I saw him.

If you asked the elderly why they took so much food home with them, they will tell you it is for their pet.

Other than Wednesdays, the price for the full buffet is higher. And yes, it is all you can eat. But the clientele is a lot different. A bit more class. And it serves all day long to their customers from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Whereas for the elderly, it is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. :angel:
 
We used to go to Old Country Buffet and we paid first, including for our drinks, then ate. The plates were sort of small, so we'd just get what we felt like eating, finish that off, then go back for seconds. It's easy to jam a lot of food on the plates, but I would rather take a little and make sure I could eat that and then go back to seconds rather than get a bunch of food at one time I might not be able to eat. I don't think it ever occurred to me to eat everything I could just because it was all-you-could-eat.

I wonder if all the elderly people were taking food home because they didn't have enough to eat at home.

The people I went with were what was left of my mom's family - my mom and her twin sister were the youngest and they were 82 at the time. I never saw anyone wrapping up food to take home.

You did not state that you were going to pay for the polish with cash! Read your own words:

"Once when I was on food stamps, I needed formula and nail polish. The cashier refused me until I said I will go find your manager. I need the less than a dollar nail polish for my work.":rolleyes:

Sometimes it's worse when you do have cash in hand to pay for some stuff. Then you get the "if you have money, why are you using food stamps?" look.
 
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I have never heard a cashier make any comment on the method of payment. If there are any remarks to be overheard, it is usually the folks standing in line behind the one with food stamps. When I see a young Hispanic using food stamps, she usually has a heavy accent. So I can pretty well guess without asking, that she has a low paying job and most likely from the size and contents of the order in her carriage, has small children.

For the elderly, there were two years in which there was no increase in their SS checks. Yet the cost of food started climbing that first year that there was no increase. I have helped more than half the residents in this building apply for food stamps. I have heard it all. "Oh no, I don't want charity." Or "My children won't let me apply." I have to remind them that it is their tax dollars they paid over the years that allows them to now get the benefit of those taxes. Depending on the amount of your income, the least amount you will receive is $10.00. That ten dollars is a roast for Sunday dinner, milk, eggs, or bread, if spent wisely. :angel:
 
When I first started using food stamps, I didn't know what could and couldn't be bought with them. So I had some paper towels with me about the second time I used them and the cashier said I would have to pay cash for those. I told her I hadn't known and in a snotty voice she said, "Well, that's why they're called food stamps."

Addie, they're basing the COL for Social Security on the price of gas, if you can believe it. So when gas doesn't go up or drops, there's no COL for those on Social Security. Like people can eat gas. Jerks.
 
Actually, rr, there are all sorts of goods and services that comprise the Consumer Price Index, which is used to figure Social Security Cost Of Living Adjustments. Not just gasoline.

That is an old chart, from 1-2014, but you can see the percentage shift from the previous year for all the items used in the "basket" that the CPI is based on. Social Security benefits don't increase when "the numbers" say there hasn't been any inflation. Sadly, each year the deductible for Medicare coverages DOES increase. Those who rely on only SS as their income take a hit.

I'll be moving from self-pay individual health insurance (purchased through the ACA Health Connector since I can't be trusted to actually shop on my own.. :rolleyes: ) and my insurance costs will plummet. Old rate? $528.00 a month. New cost to me for both Medicare A & B AND my own supplemental C & D? Just under $200.00 a month. It's a Buy One/Get One (and a half) Deal!
 
Sometimes it's worse when you do have cash in hand to pay for some stuff. Then you get the "if you have money, why are you using food stamps?" look.

You do understand that a store could loose taking Government issued assistance for accepting it for products they aren't supposed to. How inconvenient would it be if the store closest to you lost the ability to accept FS, EBT, etc.?
 
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