A couple using EBT cards for luxury food caught by an Army officer

 Money has become the essence of today’s capitalist world and a wealth that is only appreciated by those who work hard for it. Only people who had financial struggles can understand its value and the dreadful feeling of danger when it’s short. What’s even worse is seeing others misuing it and taking it for granted. Money is vital to some, and a mere toy to others.

 

A regular Walmart store has witnessed an incident that didn’t go by unnoticed, when an Army officer rushed out of the store to follow an elderly couple who seemed as normal as every other customer, which wasn’t the case, as we will find out.

Patrick Gibson is a loving family man who has sacrificed a lot for the sake of his wife and children. He is also a dedicated citizen who observes his surroundings and noticed the smallest detail about what happens around him. Patrick is the army officer who noticed the unusual elderly couple, on a fine day at Walmart.

Patrick Gibson has never known wealth, he’s always been middle-classed man, having barely enough to finish each month. He’s been raised by hard-working parents who spared no effort to ensure a decent living for their kids. Which is why he grew up to value hard earned money.

Patrick joined the U.S. Army to help alleviate his family’s financial burden. He spent several years as a soldier, forging his personality within the military and building up his confidence even more, making him equipped for moral situations, as what happened in the store.

He soon got married to a lovely lady, who bore him two children, making his little family expand and with them their expenses. He sometimes had to deny breakfast in order to ensure that his kids and wife didn’t miss out on meals and essentials.

He had a long list of household expenses from diapers, toiletries to car payments, gas and housing, without mentioning the food expenses and basic groceries. His tight schedule hasn’t affected his happiness, as he knew things would turn out the way they were supposed to, soon or later, and he only had to be patient for a little more. 

The end of the month was approaching rapidly and Patrick had only a little balance left in his salary account. He had to go grocery shopping with a very limited list, as he didn’t have the luxury of choice.

Little did he know he would be least concerned about his own purchases but will be offended by an old couple’s selfish actions. 

Patrick always makes sure that his children stay fit and have healthy food at their table, he was most content when he added some red grapes to his cart. But this wasn’t going to last for long.

 

The store was getting more crowded, and he just wanted to get done with the shopping. On his way to the cash counter, a couple made their way to it before him, with loads of fresh food and expensive meat and fruits in their carts.

Patrick wished he could afford to give his children all the sweets and fresh meat without having to abide by a list every time he went to a grocery store. The couple in front of him took all their time putting every item on the counter. 

When the payment time came, something confusing happened, leaving him stand there in awe.

The couple’s special payment method caught Patrick’s attention. Usually, people pay with their debit cards, credit cards, or in cash, however, this couple didn’t use any of these methods to make the payment. They chose to use an EBT card instead, an EBT card for a total of 800 $, an amount they could’ve paid easily, judging from all the 100 $ bills in the man’s wallet.

The term EBT card stands for electronic benefits card. It is based on an electronic food benefit stamp system which gives the state welfare departments the authority to circulate benefits through a payment card. This card is supposed to be used in case of emergencies and to meet the basic requirements. Basic requirements many people can’t afford, unlike the couple who chose to use it for luxury items almost no one has access to.

Patrick tried his best not to be judgemental about it and leave room for interpreation.  He tried his best to remain chill and still, but his instinct pushed him to follow them, what he saw next was even more outrageous. They owned a brand-new Hyundai Genesis, according to Patrick, the cost of this model is around $15,000 to $20,000 which is way more than his own family car. At this moment he decided that something had to be done. He took out his phone and took a picture of the scene in front of him.

Patrick shared this incident on a Facebook post stating: “Sorry but I had to vent. The picture you see on the left is the amount of groceries including diapers that I was able to afford during this pay period for my family. (wife, son, daughter,myself) which was paid in cash since I actually work hard for a living. The picture on the right is of the purchase in front of me in line.”

He further added, “If you can’t tell in the picture there are 2 full buggies of groceries including such items like steak and some other very nice choices of food. Here’s the kicker. This purchase was made on food stamps. Which I wouldn’t have a problem with if I didn’t see the person move their big fold of cash out of the way to get to the ebt card and then load them into the back of a brand new Hyundai Genesis.”

“That is about 15k-20k more than my car. I just thought I would take the time to tell this person/family that you are very welcome from all of us hard working/ struggling to buy food Americans that have to foot the bill for your fancy steak feast while I skip breakfast and lunch every day that way my wife and children have food to eat every day, because $50-$75 dollars doesn’t go very far. So you enjoy your $800 free grocery purchase,” he mentioned, not expecting the effect his post was going to have.

A commentator went on saying: “Food stamps should be to get a family on their feet. It should not be expected and it is NOT meant for people to be on for their entire life. Makes me sick too!! There should be a limit on the types of food they are allowed to buy. Bread, milk, eggs, ground beef. They shouldn’t be allowed to use them to buy things like steaks, shrimp, cokes, etc.” 

A lot of people even started criticizing him, commenting things like: “Do you really know their back story. Don’t be quick to judge someone ’cause you’re angry. How do you know if that person works and their spouse doesn’t work because of problems? That all the money in their pocket is to pay their bills that the new car was a gift. How do you know that’s not the case?”  However, Patrick wasn’t in the mood of taking any blame for it. He knew he wasn’t wrong and he soon replied to them all.

His reply was clear and just,  “Well the odds of that being the case in this situation much like many other situations with food stamps are almost as likely as me being approved for some government assistance because we are struggling…..oh wait I forgot. We already got denied so I’m pretty sure the chick isn’t dying and no one gave her a free damn car. I am sure that hard-working people such as myself are giving her a free life though.”

He strongly values working hard and earning money by himself, he would never ask for governmental assistance unless things urgently required him to. The question that remains to be answered  is whether the couple was exploiting the government benefits or was it all a huge misunderstanding on Patrick’s side.

His post went viral on other social media sites as well, it was shared for more than 100,000 times. 

One person took this matter seriously and shared his own views about the entire incident.

“My point is, a picture paints a thousand words and your version is highly bias. No one needs to thank you or anyone else for working for their grocery bill when the fact is that a majority of families participating in the program are working families struggling to make ends meet just as you are,” said the Facebook user. We would know your point of view on this…