Is It fair that a convenience store clerk to lose her job.After she refused to take a customer’s Electronic Balance Transfer card to pay for cigarettes?
Steverno~POTL~PWCM~JLA
2012/06/28 02:51:55
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113 votes
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61% | ||
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14 votes
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8% | ||
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57 votes
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31% | ||
PETERBOROUGH — Jackie R. Whiton of Antrim had been a six-year employee at the Big Apple convenience store in Peterborough until a single transaction sent her job up in smoke.
The store clerk was fired after she refused to take a customer’s Electronic Balance Transfer card to pay for cigarettes.
Whiton said a young man came in to the store to buy two packs or cigarettes on May 29. When she asked him for his ID, he handed her his EBT card.
EBT cards are used for both food and cash assistance programs. There are two types of cards: one can only be used for food. The other can be spent on anything and used just like a debit card.
Whiton said she did not think EBT cards could be used to purchase cigarettes and refused to sell to him. The two “had a little go-around” as the line got longer behind him, said Whiton.
“I made the statement, ‘do you think myself, that lady and that gentlemen should pay for your cigarettes?’ and he responded ‘yes,’ ” Whiton said.
The next day Whiton said the customer’s foster mother came to the store to complain. Whiton received a call later that day from the company’s home office in Maine, telling her it had received a complaint about her and reprimanded her.
“I said I would bow out gracefully and give my notice because I didn’t want to be a part of it. I’m 65 years old, you know?” Whiton said.
Charles E. Wilkins, the general manager of the C.N. Brown Co. that runs the stores, said the EBT cards in the cash phase could be used for any items, including alcohol, tobacco and gambling. Wilkins said the company gave Whiton the option of staying but she said she would not accept the cards anymore.
“She didn’t think it was right and just wasn’t going to sell to people in that program anymore,” Wilkins said.
Whiton said when she came to work the next day, her manager asked her how much notice she was giving. When she responded “a week,” she was told the home office had just called and fired her.
Wilkins said she would have had to accept the cards within that week.
Whiton said she was not looking for another job.
Whiton said she does not object to using the programs for food assistance, but does not think a person should be able to use public funds to buy cigarettes.
“They can’t even buy toilet paper with the EBT grocery cards but they can buy beer and cigarettes with the EBT cash cards,” Whiton said, “Go figure.”
Read More: http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/clerk-los...
Top Opinion
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Using a welfare card for cigarettes is wrong because....
+14We pay for their food, we do not need to be buying them cigarettes, gambling or booze. Need to go back to the old system. Go down to a federal building and pick up commodities. This welfare system is disgusting.
Good for her.
And I am guessing that the 12 who answered "OK" are on welfare and use their taxpayer funded benefits for similar trash.
I am glad that she brought attention to this issue.
Like I said, store clerks are hired to do one thing- check out the items of the customers. Are you saying that a Vegan can refuse to sell meat to anyone because it's against thier healthy views of staying fit? And still think they will keep thier jobs? I don't think so.
This was taken from the article: Charles E. Wilkins, the general manager of the C.N. Brown Co. that runs the stores, said the EBT cards in the cash phase could be used for any items, including alcohol, tobacco and gambling. Wilkins said the company gave Whiton the option of staying but she said she would not accept the cards anymore.
As you can see, that the woman was given the option of staying- she chose not to. Her choice. She got what she wished for.
Notice that she did not demand to be kept on the job. She basically said, "If I have to sell cigarettes to people using welfare cards, then I don't want any part of it anymore."
It seems to me that most Americans, whether liberal or conservative or somewhere in between, would agree that buying cigarettes, alcohol, etc. is NOT what the welfare system was ever intended for.
This got my curiosity up so I followed him into the store and up to the service counter where the cashier proceeded to give him ten dollars for his return deposit. It turned out that the milk was free(including deposit,) but each bottle he returned netted him a dollar with which he proceeded to purchase cigarettes for his labor. I guess that milk program is cancelled now. Low lifes are everywhere.
Now on the other hand, I don't think welfare cards should allow buying cigarettes, and the man did seem arrogant from the text. Either way, you either do your job, or quit it, or you take it up with your boss, you can't decide to do your job when it's convenient with your own views.
It seems fine when smokers are criticized for their habits, yet it is the smokers that are being penalized by higher taxes on cigarettes, while the rest of the consumers of every other consumed item are not. How is that fair to smokers. Why can't tobacco taxes increase at the same exact rate as all consumer items do. Now that would be more fair. I welcome your comments.