GRESHAM, Ore. — A woman who offered to pay the $12 difference in a customer’s grocery bill was admonished by the cashier for trying to help someone who already “gets her free stuff.”
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Jacki Carroll was waiting in line at Albertson's when the woman in front of her ran out of Women, Infants and Children credits to pay for her groceries, leaving her with $12 worth of food unpaid for, according to a Facebook post.
"(I) said, 'I will pay,' and she said, 'No!' Very abruptly," Carroll told KATU. "Literally, she raised her voice and said, 'No, you don't need to do that.'"
Carroll insisted on helping.
"I go, 'Well, I don’t mind, just let her have her stuff,’” she said. “'No! You’re not going to do that. She has WIC. She gets her free stuff.'"
The woman, who was black, left the store with only the items she was able to afford.
Carroll said the cashier, who was a white woman in her 60s, continued to rail against welfare recipients.
“That’s why they have babies, so they can keep on getting all of the free stuff.”
Carroll called the store when she got home and talked to the manager. Then she posted about the experience on Facebook.
Albertsons told KATU the incident is under investigation.
“At Albertsons, we have a policy and a culture of treating our customers, and each other, with courtesy, dignity and respect. It’s at the core of who we are as a company and member of this community. We sincerely apologize that, in this incident, it appears we did not deliver the customer service that we pride ourselves on. While this isolated situation is still under investigation, we are taking this opportunity to remind all of our employees that each and every customer is a welcomed guest in our stores."