Fuck EBT and the horse it rode in on!

So it's now be over a week as step-mother to a 9 year-old boy.  Upon his arrival, armed with McNuggets, he voiced his love for them.  The following day, he microwaved what he had left of said McNasties and ate them.  For lunch that day he had instant ramen noodles with a slice of processed cheese.  He said he loved the stuff!  We took a trip to the grocery store which I managed to somehow survive without breaking a glass bottle of wine open and drowning my face in it.  While heading home I asked Andy, the step-kid, "What's your favorite food?"  And he quickly replied, "7-11."

I was floored, explained that 7-11 is not food, it's snacks.  Once I got home I figured I would make the easiest, most boring meal, on Earth: Roasted chicken, corn, mashed taters and gravy.  Step-son was not having it, he wanted McGrossfood.  We broke it to him that we don't eat that stuff in our home, it's not healthy or nutritious.  He explained that he did not eat chicken that was on the bone.  It took all of my inner strength and a stealthy shot of Rumple Minze to finish cooking dinner.  My husband pulled the thigh meat off the bone and I served Andy his dinner.  He had a generous helping of taters because he loves them with tons of gravy.  He did eat his corn and managed to choke down the roasted chicken after drowning it in BBQ sauce.  It appears I had won the 1st of many dinner time battles;  I have subsequently won every battle since and kept my sanity.  Yay me!!!

Now what on Earth does this have to do with EBT cards?  Well, let me rewind a bit.  Back when I had Facebook, I was waiting outside of a laundromat that was located near Papa John's Pizza.  On their window was a decal that said, "Now Accepting EBT."  This hit a very raw nerve, I took a picture of the sign and posted it on Facebook.  There was a hate-filled rant about EBT and people abusing it.

What is EBT?

"Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that allows state welfare departments to issue benefits via a magnetically encoded payment card, used in the United States and the United Kingdom.[1] Common benefits provided (in the United States) via EBT are typically of two general categories: food and cash benefits. Food benefits are federally authorized benefits that can be used only to purchase food and non-alcoholic beverages. Food benefits are distributed through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program. Cash benefits include state general assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits and refugee benefits." - Wiki

Who she?  Me, she.

Yeah, I work for what I have, I save to afford extras.  I also work for people on welfare to get Papa John's pizza (or any other place that accepts EBT in California) at the drop of a hat too.  FUCK THAT SHIT!  Seriously, if I want to have Papa John's this week I have to plan for it.  I don't want to spend money that I am saving for travel or fun.  So I have to budget my weekly monies to afford the splurge of fast food.  Some of these folks, not all, that are on government assistance don't bother getting food to cook at home for several meals.  They blow it all on one cheap, fast, empty calorie meal.  This was what angered me before, one of my sisters was on government (maybe she still is) aide and she did the same thing.  I even complained to her about it.  She told me, "Guilty as charged."  She recently had to have her gall bladder removed and probably is rethinking what she is feeding her sons.  One of them who insists he is big-boned.

My nephews used to be picky eaters (they kinda still are) and only wanted their fast food that my sister got them accustomed to on her EBT card.  Now I have a 9 year-old whose favorite food is 7-11 and words like, "I love fast food!" are uttered often.  Why?  Because mommy did what a lot of other lazy EBT recipients do, spend the assistance on crap food.  I used to tell my nephews that if I was going to take them out for fun, they had to eat what I fed them.  I wasn't going to hop in the car and McFeed them what their mother did.  And now I am actually having to live with a kid that is used to being McFed.  Someone who sees instant ramen noodles with processed cheese a lunch time feast.  What really gets me torqued is how Andy tells me of how much his mother drinks, she is on government aide to afford food and somehow has money to drink....  Something smells fishy here and I know it's not the tuna sandwich I packed for lunch.

Once upon a time when I was young, first living on my own I bought food stamps.  I know, I know, shame on me.  A co-worker, who happened to be an alchy, would sell me her stamps at half their value for cash.  So for every $1 value stamp I paid $.50 cash.  It was my first time on my own and learning to budget and this was a deal, so I did it for about a year or so.  But then I realized what I was doing.  I was robbing her kids of food and providing the woman a means to her addiction.  I am sure I was not the first or last person she did this with.  So I know full well Andy's mom is workin' some angle which is short changing her son and allowing her cigarettes and booze.  (Did you know you can even withdraw cash from ATM's with an EBT card?)

This kid has been raised on nasty, processed, fast food and is lucky he is not fat.  Since he has been with us we have taken him off of his ADHD medication and fed him whole foods.  He still has a way to go but he is improving and last night, best thing ever, "Susie I like your cooking."

I am still angry at people who are working the system, off of my hard work.  I feel like wearing a t-shirt to the welfare office that says:
"I work, so you can sit at home eating Fatty McFats Fat Patties."

But that would mean I would have to take time off from work, which would mean less McFatty monies for them.  I would end up lynched by the welfare mommies for not providing for them.

I understand sometimes people need help, but when these people are smoking/drinking, driving to the welfare office in their Escalades with their fake ass nails and Coach purses I get really pissed.  One quarter of my gross income goes to taxes... and of those taxes comes my arch nemesis: EBT.