Black shopper in Irvine wants damages from Albertsons b/c they assumed she was paying with EBT (Orange: attorney, club)

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Sunny_View

The coupon question is a good analogy (yes), but we're not talking about coupons here. We're talking about EBT/Food stamps/Govt assistance. There is a HUGE difference between that and cutting up coupons that everyone can find in the Sunday paper.





Wow....many of you all don't realize what discrimination really is.

WTH? YOU are the one that brought up coupons, saying asking about them was rude and demeaning and comparing it to asking about EBT. I pointed out that there is a legitimate reason to ask about coupons on the front end of a transaction and that it is NOT the same as asking about people using EBT.

[Sunny_View]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

I never said I thought the cashier was trying to be funny. You must be confusing me with someone else.

We do not know that the cashier actually used the word "your".

The reason given by the store mangement for asking about EBT in order to charge for bags (or not) before the total of the order is added up. That appears to me to be a valid reason to ask.

We do not know that the cashier only asks African American customers about EBT or that the customer in the OP is the only person that cashier has ever asked about EBT.

It's not right to discriminate, but it's also not right to see discrimination where there is none intended. I am not convinced this cashier was assuming anything about the customer. As far as I am concerned, totalling the order without asking and then not charging for bags would be making an assumption. Why ask the question at all unless you see a possibilty that the answer will be "no"?

Seeing other customers being checked out without being asked is pure speculation on your part. The customer has not been quoted as saying that. It would not mean anything because the cashier could easily know which of her regular customers use EBT and which do not. She would not need to ask them. See, I can speculate as easily as you do.

Stores here do not have to charge for bags, so, no there would be no reason to ask the question.

People usually sue because they are hoping to win some money. I do not consider this event worthy of a lawsuit with a big payout, though. The customer was not refused service. She was not followed around for fear she was a shoplifter. She was asked a simple question that she has read discriminatory intent into that I just do not see was there, considering the bag issue.

The problem isn't JUST that she was asked "do you want to use YOUR EBT card" (even though, that's bad in of itself), but more so that she was asked that question PERIOD. Idk how many times I have to repeat that, but this is my main argument. I dont' think that question needs to be asked period...bags or no bags.

I could perhaps see if this was in some low-income area/backwoods portion of Montana or something where the majority of people shopping in the area probably ARE low-income. But this is IRVINE we're talking about here. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse than that in order to defend this cashier lol.


And let me get this straight... you feel that you KNOW for sure the cashier wasn't assuming anything by asking her that question?


HOw do you know for sure?? Also the lady asked (maybe in shock that perhaps she didn't hear correctly) : "excuse me?" and the cashier repeated the question and then mentioned food stamps (so there was NO doubt). Are you saying the shopper is LYING? So the shopper is somehow "lying" and didn't "hear correctly", but yet the cashier is completely innocent. Riiiight...

And based on some on this board who think the woman looked "haggardly", what makes you think the cashier didn't ASSUME the same thing??

Haggard = must use food stamps

IF that is the case (and the woman did come in looking plain or "haggard"), why judge someone by their looks anyway? This is a grocery store, not some upscale club where you need a strict certain dress code. I go to the grocery store in sweats, t-shirt and sometimes not even much makeup on all the time. I've NEVER been asked if I wanted to use my "EBT card" or "food stamps". I bet MOST of you have never been asked that question either. Because it usually doesn't happen!

All you guys are proving on here with that argument is that people DO judge you and make assumptions based on your look/appearance (or even color of your skin!).

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

That's a STAGED interview picture with OC Register. In her real pictures via her Facebook and social media postings, she comes off as pretty ghetto.

Even if she looked like a foreign princess, it still doesn't do anything for the fact that she's basically inventing a story to try and make some pity lawsuit money based on a huge fat lie.

Just out of curiosity, what is "coming off as ghetto" look like to you? How do you describe a "ghetto looking" person just based on their pictures?

I'm just curious. You know nothing of this woman but her pictures and her news story. But yet you assume she's coming off as "ghetto".

What's a ghetto person in your opinion??

Just curious....

Originally Posted by DubbleT

WTH? YOU are the one that brought up coupons, saying asking about them was rude and demeaning and comparing it to asking about EBT. I pointed out that there is a legitimate reason to ask about coupons on the front end of a transaction and that it is NOT the same as asking about people using EBT.

I only brought up the "coupon" example to show that sometimes you're not asked those types of questions at cashier registers. The most I've been asked at a register is if I want to open a credit card account with them. I've never even been asked if I want to use coupons! Why would the store "remind me" about using coupons?? LOL!

But in no way shape or form do I believe that asking if you have coupons vs. asking if you're using your EBT card/food stamps is the SAME thing. You don't see a difference in that?


Anyway...I'm done trying to convince people that this is abnormal and was uncalled for. I don't know if it warranted a law suit, but I DON'T for one minute believe that what happened to this woman is right. If you all think it was just "normal" protocol, then I can't change your minds.

According to most of you all anyway, black people NEVER get discriminated against and blacks and other minorities are NEVER treated differently or unfairly due to their race. I forget...we're living in "post-racial" America where racism never happens!


Just ONCE it would be nice to see a story where an African American or other minority was treated differently or unfairly and people actually AGREE that "yes...you know what, that person WAS mistreated/discriminated against/or that was racist". Usually all I read is people sticking up for the OTHER person and not even for the victim who felt slighted.

Wow...what a world we live in smh....

[bryan85]

Please understand- she is a VICTIM!! She does not know how to let go, or get over it.

[RoadTripGurl]

While I don't agree with this chile suing over this incident, I think your comment is a Reflection of your character. I checked out her Facebook page and she looks like a regular ole working class Female with a beautiful family. I don't know where you get that she comes off ghetto. People kill me judging people they don't really know their biases!

One of my friends on FB recently posted that he was outside his OWN brewery unshaven and one of the people thought that he was homeless. His fb has all these pics of him with shabby beard and flip flops I'm sure people like you probably think he's poor and ghetto too.

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

That's a STAGED interview picture with OC Register. In her real pictures via her Facebook and social media postings, she comes off as pretty ghetto.

Even if she looked like a foreign princess, it still doesn't do anything for the fact that she's basically inventing a story to try and make some pity lawsuit money based on a huge fat lie.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by RoadTripGurl

While I don't agree with this chile suing over this incident, I think your comment is a Reflection of your character. I checked out her Facebook page and she looks like a regular ole working class Female with a beautiful family. I don't know where you get that she comes off ghetto. People kill me judging people they don't really know their biases!

One of my friends on FB recently posted that he was outside his OWN brewery unshaven and one of the people thought that he was homeless. His fb has all these pics of him with shabby beard and flip flops I'm sure people like you probably think he's poor and ghetto too.

If your friend doesn't shave his face, and dresses like a bum, people will think he is a bum.

What's wrong with that?

You expect people to delve deeper into whether that person really is a bum? Tell your friend to buy a razor and take a shower.

[Sunny_View]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

If your friend doesn't shave his face, and dresses like a bum, people will think he is a bum.

What's wrong with that?

You expect people to delve deeper into whether that person really is a bum? Tell your friend to buy a razor and take a shower.

Soooo wearing a beard now or wearing facial hair is considered "bum-like"?? Is this an Orange County thing??

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by Sunny_View

Soooo wearing a beard now or wearing facial hair is considered "bum-like"?? Is this an Orange County thing??

Look, you can take a shower or not. Wear nice clothes or not. I don't know what you want from society. Do you want to look like a bum and have people assume you're a princess?

Good luck.

[PinkString]

I say it's a stupid lawsuit. People are so easily offended by everything these days. People are so afraid of talking to others in fear they will be sued for saying the wrong thing. The customer is not always right, contrary to what many companies pretend to think. So what if the clerk assumed she was on food stamps when she wasn't. Just laugh about it, shake it off and go on with your life. Simple. People have done it for centuries. Quit being offended by every damn thing in life.

How about when I was on food stamps awhile back in a very hard time in my life, and I am white, the clerk assumed I would be paying cash. So I completely horrified her when I pulled out the EBT card. lol But we both laughed and went on with our day.

[Sunny_View]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Look, you can take a shower or not. Wear nice clothes or not. I don't know what you want from society. Do you want to look like a bum and have people assume you're a princess?

Good luck.

But all she said was that he was unshaven and standing outside of his shop with flip flops. Not rummaging through trash cans or talking to himself or asking people for money. I don't see how "unshaven" constitutes as "not taking a shower" (so men who wear facial hair don't shower either?? LOL!
WOWWWW..... Huge assumptions there! ) or "looking like a bum".





Here are men wearing facial hair. These men look like "bums" to you?? Seriously??

[CaliRestoration]

Right, you went and googled pictures of models with beards, and Abraham Lincoln, and assume that's what people saw. Do you even think before you type sometimes?

The reality is he probably looked like this:



which is why people thought he was homeless.