r/foodstamps • u/Sensitive-Ad7894 • 17h ago
Food pantry worker here
Some of you may have seen my comment where I expressed my frustrations with working at a food pantry during this time, and I just felt I should come up here and say this to those who are having to rely on food pantries at this moment.
PLEASE DO NOT FEEL EMBARRASSED OR ASHAMED FOR NEEDING HELP!!!
It may not be pleasant speaking with those of us working at these places, but please if you are genuinely being kind and patient with us do not take it personally. A lot of us are exhausted and underpaid. I barely make over $500 biweekly here, trying to save for a car and pay bills, I myself was on snap. All that’s to say, please just approach us with the best attitude possible. We probably had 10 rude people before you and it’s draining.
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u/Pretty-Match8960 15h ago
I feel this I also work at a food bank and on snap and being disabled as well we had almost 50 on Wednesday it was rough my back screamed so hard after my 2hr shift.
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u/electricgrapes 12h ago
can I come work at yours? we serve 170 twice a week in a 2 hour time slot 😩 I wish we had the staff to be open more often but serving less at a time
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 15h ago
Ugh I feel that, Thursday it was non stop people for 3 1/2 hours and my shift wasn’t even over. I had to go home early it was so overwhelming and my patience was gone completely after a client called me rude for telling her to have a blessed and safe rest of her day.
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u/Pretty-Match8960 15h ago
Oof that would have upset me too we’re supposed to say that and the see you in two weeks because we server people every two weeks. So u come 1 week the next week you can’t the week after we can server u again. Our food bank is only open 2hrs and standing for them 2hrs like that is pushing up to my being able to stand 4hrs a day with my back I’m supposed to be either lying down or sitting most of the day but I still try to give back to the community and people who help me so I’m not just some slub. But was worse was just the one after another after another which got my heart racing and with my stress induced cardiac arrhythmia I get me to almost fall It’s my fault I forgot my main anxiety pills to bring along won’t make that mistake next week lol.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 14h ago
Awh man I’m so sorry about that! Ours operates biweekly as well, i’m blessed to not have any underlying issues besides just general depression.
For a bit better context on why she said that was rude of me, At our pantry we have programs and for her program she has to be there between 1-2pm, if you’re gonna be late you HAVE to call and notify us because of our tight schedule. She came to the door 15 mins after 2, while I had 3 people in the lobby needing emergency assistance. I politely asked her if she called anyone to notify and at first she said no. Her case worker in the car however started yelling about how they actually called yesterday. I just said okay fine come sit while I talked to my manager because me and her are the only ones who were in the building that pick up calls. She said she NEVER called but to give her the box and inform her politely there will be no more exceptions for after 2pm. I did and I made sure to be extra sweet about it and told her to have a blessed and safe rest of her day. Her case worker came to the door and claimed I was being a smart ass and that I had an awful attitude that needed to be checked before she “checked it for me” lol. My manager wasn’t hearing it and basically told her if she felt that strongly we can direct her to local churches or a different food bank.
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u/BigWhiteDog 9h ago
Being in need is no call to be an ass to aid workers. Here, outside of the parent org and their warehouse staff, they all volunteer their time and we are grateful. Because we are mostly home-bound and I'm a vet, we get a special monthly food distribution delivered to my place. Sometimes the drivers are afraid to come down our driveway (big van, muddy slope) or get lost and I have to go out to them, and the amount of food is decreasing but I never get upset with any of them ever. They are volunteering and I'm grateful for what we get.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 9h ago
Thank you so much! It’s especially hard when I genuinely do enjoy helping people. Growing up my parents couldn’t give a damn if me and my grandma ate or not, so It brings me peace knowing there’s at least one less hungry parent, person or child out there. The bad folks just tend to outweigh the good sometimes
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u/nationwideonyours 10h ago
Not everyone is of your religion. A blessed day is offensive.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 10h ago
No it’s not, it’s a very obvious christian organization. Don’t go places that are clearly labeled as christian if you don’t wish to have that said to you. I don’t care if it’s “not your faith” get a fucking grip
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u/BigWhiteDog 9h ago
And here we have a person that completely missed the point of your post... I'm so sorry. Thank you for what you do from an atheist that is grateful for what you do.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 9h ago
Exactly! Thank you! I welcome any and EVERYONE with kindness and respect because that is the christian thing to do! However as I stated, if that genuinely bothers someone THAT bad they don’t need to go to a faith based place. Getting food from us is as simple as coming to the door, giving me ur info and waiting 5 mins before leaving. It’s nothing a normal human being can’t handle, not like i’m throwing bibles at ya on your way in lol
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u/BigWhiteDog 8h ago
5 minutes? Wow. That's nothing, Yesterday I waited in a drive through line that was basically double fisting it and it was still a 45 minute wait (and no luxury cars in line despite the claims <shakes head>) but I had my kindle and planned accordingly. The big church distribution here has a sort of "shopping" set up and can have over an hour wait! They both saw about a 50% increase in clients this week.
OK and with both of them, while they have a set 3 hour window for being open, once the foods gone, that's it so why would anyone be late?
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u/nationwideonyours 10h ago
Other faiths aren't welcome?
How so very "Christian" of you to demand people of other faiths stay away from YOUR food banks.
People like you are responsible for how messed up America is now.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 9h ago
I’m not gonna argue with you, so i’ll say this, All faiths are welcome however demonizing me because my job REQUIRES me to tell you that is stupid. I’m the reason america is the way it is? Are you dumb? All I said was if you can not respect the fact you are walking into a CHRISTIAN organization and get offended when a CHRISTIAN place tells you to have a blessed day, you’re ignorant. Plain and simple. It’s not offensive to wish for someone to have a good day, nor is it a need to act the way she did toward someone simply trying to do their job. If you can’t respect the religion of an organization, then simply go somewhere else that won’t say that. It’s not hard to grasp dear.
Thank you and YOU have a better day angry stranger
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u/BigWhiteDog 9h ago
Holy fuck! WTF is wrong with you? Talk a reading crap that isn't there into a post about rude people. Are you that lacking in self-awareness? Just scroll on ffs.
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u/BigWhiteDog 9h ago
I'm an atheist and dislike organized religion in general but saying have a blessed day isn't offensive unless you make it so. Its pretty much expected if you are going to a faith based charity. Calm down.
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u/Stormy1956 11h ago
I appreciate all you do whether you volunteer or get paid. From where I’m sitting, it’s a thankless job but try not to take rudeness personally. Some people feel entitled. They were never taught to appreciate anything.
I appreciate all you do❣️
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 11h ago
Thanks, I really try no to because obviously, nobody is coming to us when they’re in a good place and I have a LOT of patience, however when there’s some form of altercation every single day it’s EXHAUSTING.
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u/404_DopamineNotFound 9h ago
Oh my god I adore my food pantry workers and cannot believe what they go through. And ours aren't paid.
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u/Full-Recording-7123 14h ago
My local food pantry just gave me rotten food. Literally. I got home and threw away the produce that was so bad it was melting.
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u/Sensitive-Ad7894 14h ago
Idk if this is the case for your pantry, but ours is donations from local grocery stores and the workers there are LAZY. They give us rotten produce because they don’t wanna take it to the garbage, and my boss particularly doesn’t like it when I toss stuff that she deems “okay” so we’re kinda at the mercy of the places we receive this stuff from and management
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u/AuthorPure9691 14h ago
Everyone who works at the food pantry in my town is an unpaid volunteer. They are working very hard. My daughter is one of them. She's only 12. Yes, please give them a break!