The Glade 4.0

How about just stop there boss?

_________________

The issue as i see it is less around the behavior of the thieves and more around the size of the social segment excusing their behavior.

Nobody would give a rich guy a pass for stealing. Nobody would bring up extenuating circumstances as excuses. "Greed got the better of him" isn't a virtue, and a rich guy would garner universal distain.



I'm not singling out RD, I'm just posting his response 'cause that attitude is very common, but there you have it.

There are those that think the people getting the EBT cards are already receiving something that doesn't belong to them, it's just that those doing the taking are in the government. Adding this episode to the mix is the same as adding gas to a fire. It exacerbates the situation and reinforces the social stigma for those needing EBT cards.

Making any excuse for this behavior insults the honest folks on assistance and makes their lives a bit tougher. I really don't think liberals are aware of the consequences of their bleeding hearts... it's just making things worse for everyone. Promote responsibility and self-sufficiency. Reward good behavior and discourage bad.

_________________
In time, this too shall pass.

I prefer "Master" or simply "Sir." "Boss" is a little too informal

That's a huge stretch. I have not seen anyone excusing their behavior. Attempting to establish a motive, or making comparisons to other crimes (stealing food versus other crimes) does not make for an excuse.

Keep the snippet "harder to get super judgy" in mind then look up the definition of "excuse" when used as a verb if you want to know the basis of my characterization. If you don't agree, well, then you don't.

Even in the quote from Animar, the "but" spreads the guilt wider than the specific folks in the topic we're discussing. Now, he doesn't say WHY he wants to dilute the guilt, but it undeniably is an attempt to spread it wider than this discussion.

_________________
In time, this too shall pass.

Theres plenty of blame to go around. Walmart probably shouldn't have agreeed to accept the cards carte blanch and the government should probably have a policy in place of what to do in such an outage

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

See, to me it's the complete opposite. A stock being sold for 1% of the market rate is an obvious error that anyone can plainly see, so there's really no excuse for taking advantage of it.

Meanwhile, there was no obvious error at Walmart. Before things started getting really crazy, you could easily walk into Walmart, load up your normal groceries, and then go checkout like normal, not even knowing there was any problems with the EBT system. Meanwhile, Walmart did know there was a problem, but they voluntarily chose to continue processing transactions because they didn't want to deny food to those in need (or if you want to be more cynical, they didn't want any bad PR).

So Walmart is being nice and continuing to process these transactions, and there's nothing wrong with customers continuing to use their EBT cards. If they know their limits and they're intentionally spending more because they heard the EBT system was down, then that's wrong. But they're not really stealing, they're just taking advantage of Walmart's generosity. Again, it's still wrong, but it's not as black and white as some of you are making it out to be. I'm sure it could be considered fraud in some cases too, like the one cited in the article where the woman with $700 in groceries only had $0.49 on her card.

But Walmart still chose to process those transactions, and people took advantage of it. But there was no stealing, no disorderly conduct. Walmart's not complaining, the police aren't complaining, the customers aren't complaining. The only people I hear complaining about it are conservatives who like to get upset at welfare recipients for acting "entitled" or whatever, people who weren't even involved or affected by this in any way.

So, obviously it was known that there was an issue with the cards.

What do you call it when someone writes a check, knowing there isn't any money in their account?

What do you call it when folks print images of money and try to use them to make transactions?

Ah, but there was no "stealing". I'm going to put another mark in the "people making excuses" column, thanks!

_________________
In time, this too shall pass.

Except that it might not be an error, there might be some sort of actual tactic being employed.



Initially, that was all true. However, eventually people started coming to the counter loaded up with so much food that Walmart was running out. At that point, the error was known and obvious, and it was stealing from whoever eventually eats the loss.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

It seems to me Walmart will eat the loss here. You could say it's stealing from Walmart I suppose, but they voluntarily continued processing these transactions and they've said they're not interested in pressing any charges. So it seems they don't care, or maybe they just consider it an act of charity.

If Walmart truly kept track of everything, and they submit all that info to the EBT program, and they decide to accept obviously fraudulent charges like $700 on food (I wouldn't if I were them), then maybe they'll just process those transactions and people's accounts will go deep in the red. In that case the people would "eat their own loss" and literally eat their food for the next couple months until they're back in the black again.

If it gets pinned on the tax payers somehow that's **** up, but I see no reason to believe it will be.

And let's not get hung up on the whole "stealing" thing. Fraud and taking advantage of the kindness of strangers are just as wrong as theft in my book. You can call it whatever you want, but we both agree that it's wrong so why argue?

Personally, I hope those that committed fraud are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

If you're on Food Stamps, you're well aware of the amount of money on your card. You know damn well you don't have $700 on it to cover that cartful of groceries you thieving bastard.

That Wal-Mart was stripped bare, like a plague of welfare mooching locusts got into it. Yeah, maybe Wal-Mart shouldn't have accepted the transactions... but maybe, just maybe, the people that descended upon the store like aforementioned plague shouldn't have been trying to defraud a temporarily broken system.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

There you have it.

_________________
"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

this.

I do not get to go crazy and buy all sorts of **** if my bank account or credit card balance is not high enough to cover it. Just because Wal Mart decided to give people the benefit of the doubt... does not give people carte blanche to be dicks about it.

_________________
Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Oh come the **** on. You're telling me you wouldn't go "steal" yourself a new car if for some reason your credit card company declared that for a set period of time you could charge whatever you wanted and it wouldn't appear on your bill?

It goes beyond "benefit of the doubt" when someone comes up with $700 in groceries and Walmart chooses to process the transaction anyway, they know he/she can't possibly have that much on the card and are running it through anyway. That's pure charity/PR and there's nothing wrong with taking charity that someone hands to you.

That's not what happened.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

That's exactly what happened. The payment system was down, goods purchased were not being applied to the EBT balances. People could bring up whatever they wanted regardless of how much money they had on the card and get it for free.

No, the balance on the cards was not being checked. The Issuer did not say "Buy whatever you want, and it'll not be applied." You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Ah, no.

X, I'd not think highly of someone who would do that.



Truer words...

_________________
In time, this too shall pass.

This is perfect:

No, actually I wouldn't, and neither would a lot of other people. Just because something fits your cynicism doesn't make it true.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Give me a **** break! Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something when you know it is absolutely wrong to do it! These people are getting a bunch of (most likely junk)food when they are not entitled to it, ergo they are stealing from the tax payers who pay for those EBT cards! I have no problem giving someone a helping hand to get them on their feet. I do not like paying my taxes to give someone a handout that isn't willing to work to get themselves on their feet.

_________________
"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Nobody was making excuses... until now. This is definitely an excuse.

WTF? No. I'm not a **** thief.

I live in a world where I am used to my actions having consequences. I would assume that me agreeing to purchase $700 worth of groceries would result in me paying for those groceries. If my credit card was over the limit and the transaction was approved I would still have to pay them back because normal people recognize negative actions create negative outcomes. If I had an EBT card I would assume the state would recoup their monies either by reducing future benefits or withholding them completely. Apparently these particular people living on the public dime do not recognize these facts, which may be a contributing factor as to why they are on public assistance to begin with.

_________________