Albertsons store clerk refuses to let Good Samaritan help pay for groceries of Black woman on WIC

An Oregon woman’s post about a racist grocery store clerk’s behavior has gone viral.

Friday, a woman at an Albertsons store in Gresham, Oregon, attempted to help out a stranger after she came up short at the register. According to Jacki Carroll, the white cashier on duty refused to let her help a Black shopper and made some blatantly racist comments in the process.

Carroll says was waiting in line when it became apparent the woman in front of her didn’t have enough money to pay for her groceries.

The unidentified woman was using WIC food stamps to pay for her items when she discovered she was only $12 short. That’s when Carroll’s attempts to be a Good Samaritan were thwarted by the cashier, identified only as “Debbie.”

“[I] said, ‘I will pay,’ and she said, ‘No!’ Very abruptly,” she said in an interview with KATU. “Literally, she raised her voice and said, ‘No, you don’t need to do that.’”

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“I go, ‘Well I don’t mind, just let her have her stuff,’” Carroll said she told Debbie, who then responded, “‘No! You’re not going to do that. She has WIC. She gets her free stuff.’”

The shamed mother they were fighting over eventually left the store with only what she could afford.

“‘That’s why they have babies, so they can keep on getting all of the free stuff,’” the cashier continued as she rang up Carroll’s order.

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After a stunned and dismayed Carroll left the store, she contacted the manager, demanded that the store apologize to the woman with the WIC food stamps and requested Debbie be disciplined.

When she got home her daughter, Amanda Arnlund, wrote about the incident on Facebook:

“Today there was an African American woman at the check out stand. She was using her WIC to purchase the basic necessities (milk, eggs, fruits, etc). Meaning, she was either pregnant, or had children under the age of 5 that she needed to feed. Well, she was over by $12 and some change on fruits and vegetables. My mom offered to pay the difference. The cashier said, “no,” very abruptly, with a rude tone. My mother explained it’s not a big deal, and she would like to do this so the woman can have her fruits. Again, the cashier rudely said no. My mom asked if the unnamed shopper was a regular there and this has been an issue. Debbie, the cashier, said, “No, but she got her free stuff from WIC already, she doesn’t need anybody else paying her way.” My mother explained that’s very judgmental and we all need to show compassion. Debbie snapped back with, “well, that’s what ‘they’ do, they keep on having kids and getting handouts.” With the way she said it, it wasn’t clear whether she was referring to African Americans, people on assistance, or both. This woman left, humiliated, without her fruits and vegetables.”

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Albertsons issued a statement and said it is currently investigating the incident:

“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.”

Many on social media agree that Debbie needs to get fired, but we at theGrio can’t help noticing how much this incident resembles a popular scene in ABC’s hit show,  Roseanne’s tone-deaf “Oh no! We have a Muslim neighbor” episode, where Roseanne finds herself in the exact same predicament.

Check out the full facebook post below.