> I see people using benefits cards to buy groceries that I would never buy because they are so expensive or unnecessary. I hear people make claims like this f

> I see people using benefits cards to buy groceries that I would never buy because they are so expensive or unnecessary. I hear people make claims like this frequently and I always wonder if it could possibly be true. I can't remember the last time I paid any attention whatsoever to what other people were buying in the grocery store, much less their mode of payment. This sounds more like the repetition of a certain strain of conservative mythology (with a strong family resemblance to the infamously fictional "welfare queen") than actual anecdote. And if it is true: 1) Maybe consider giving your fellow shoppers a little privacy. And 2) I wonder: exactly what groceries are we talking about here that you can be so sure another person, whose life and preferences you know nothing about, is making not just a mistake, but being "economically offensive" by buying them? Voss bottled water is about the only thing I can think of that might fit the bill here.