At approximately 2:30ish pm, September 6, 2012, I entered the Kroger store on SR 28 in Goshen Ohio to pick up a few items.  I gathered my items and went to the "10 and under" register to check-out. 

The person in front of me (white female, approximate age 35-43, fake nails, big braided hair do, clean clothes, carrying a purse and a plastic drinking cup) put her purchase on the check out surface – ONE GRAPE.  Yes, that is correct ONE GRAPE.  The cashier asked if that was all, she replied yes.  

The cashier then weighted the GRAPE and told the women the cost was $.02 (TWO CENTS), the women then pulled out her EBT card (credit card for food stamps) and swiped it through the credit card machine, requesting $24.00 in cash back.  

The cashier asked if she wanted the GRAPE, the woman replied no and the GRAPE was put in the garbage can.  The register recorded the sale as .02, cash back $24.00, credit .02, total $24.00 cash back.  The cashier then asked if two fives would be okay because she was out of tens, the woman agreed and took the $24.00 folded it up and put it in her pocket and left the store. 

As the next person in line I asked the cashier “as a tax payer what in the world just happened here?”  

She said she was on the clock and could not comment.  

I then asked if I had actually seen this person purchase and discard a GRAPE, then get cash back on her EBT card.  

The cashier responded that it happens all day every day in their store.  She also said that if the person buying the GRAPE has it ring up over .02 they get mad and make her reweigh it.

My next comment was to ask the cashier if she planned to vote in November and she said she could hardly wait for 11/6/12 to get here as one tax payer to another.  I paid for my groceries, in cash, and left the store madder than 10 wet hens. 

This is not one of those stories that a friend of a friend told a friend – I WITNESSED THIS AND WOULD LOVE TO TESTIFY IN COURT TO WHAT I SAW, however, it is apparently not illegal to go into a grocery store and buy a GRAPE, throw it away and take cash back from a food stamp EBT card and walk out the door.  If she is so poor she needs food stamps why in the world didn’t she buy groceries? 

Please send this to everyone you know.  This needs to get out to the public.  

If we don’t get the takers stopped, we are all doomed. If you are sick of being "taken," you know how to vote on NOVEMBER 6!