Everyone knows the old saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.
” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to a woman in front of Lindsay Rae while they were in the checkout line at Walmart. Lindsay had gone to do her usual shopping at the Walmart store, where she met a fellow woman who was struggling to keep her kids close as she rang up items at the same time.
To her surprise, she heard a couple just right behind her throwing all kinds of ugly remarks at this poor woman.point 92 | Lindsay was horrified to learn that in this day and age, there are people as mean as this couple.point 171 | She was very shocked to hear what this smartly dressed couple was saying about the lady in front of her, her lovely children, their financial welfare and so much more.point 309 |
Lindsay decided to keep silent until it got to a point where she could not take it anymore.point 74 | With astounding bravery, she got the courage to stand up to this ill-mannered couple and give them a lesson they will probably never ever forget throughout their lives.point 215 |
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She shared what happened in line at Walmart that fateful night on her Facebook page.
“WARNING: Insensitive people at the Walmart rant ahead.
Last night I found myself sandwiched in line waiting to check out, this is not an odd occurrence. The woman in front of me had 5 children she was wrangling ( which did not seem odd to me), as well as the fact that the children were a mix of Caucasian and Hispanic short people.(again…. didn’t notice until it was pointed out to me).
Yes, I said pointed out.
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The people behind me as I wrestled my own whiney toddler, began very loudly whispering things like:
‘How many baby daddies do you think she has?’ ‘Can’t even dress those kids for weather.’ ‘Just wait until she whips out the food stamps.'”
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“I calmed my 3-year-old with old Altoids found at the bottom of my purse and looked incredulously back at the well-dressed, normal couple spouting such, well, total CRAP.
Lindsay said she looked forward to seeing a woman fumbling with separating clothes items (coats, shoes, socks, and underwear) from the food items with the black plastic separators.
She goes ahead to describe the children, “They were five kids, two that shared her same blonde hair with jackets and warm shoes and three, beautifully dark haired and deep brown eyes, sad, eyes; wearing shorts, and flip flops.”
Lindsay says that she noticed the lady was really having a hard time and struggling, she did not know how to use the food stamp cards that she had and she also did not know what buttons to use to complete the transaction.
Meanwhile, the class-act couple behind her deeply sighed; and said, ‘There are our tax dollars neatly at work.’
She shot them what she describes as the death glare only a mother of nine can execute to perfection. Then she stepped forward and kindly said to the woman, ‘Can I help? These things are so confusing.’
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She quietly asked, ‘Foster or Adopted? I have nine kiddos…. two bios, I get it, please let me help.’
The woman smiled embarrassed and said, “New foster mom, this is my first time using one of these, they came three days ago, gonna be with us for a while. They gave us food, but the kids needed clothes, but no stipend has come through yet.’
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Lindsay looked at her and the kids and smiled at them, then she turned to her, complimented her children and told her how lucky they were to have each other in their lives.
She showed the poor woman how to use the food stamp cards as the couple behind her snorted.
However, Lindsay did not stop there, she further explained to her how she doesn’t have to separate items and that the items get separated by the computer at check out and how she pays the balance after she runs her card.
She said the woman handed each child a new coat, loaded up her cart and as she left Lindsay side hugged her and told her, ‘You’ve got this.’
After they were out of earshot. Lindsay turned with tears to the smug well-dressed man and woman behind her said to them,
“Those children? They lost the right to live with their parents just days ago. Those clothes? Probably the only clothes they own or got to leave their home with. THAT woman? Opened her home to kids, kids that needed a safe place to go, when the one they lived in no longer proved safe enough or secure enough for them. The food stamps? Something health and welfare helps an already mother to two feed three new mouths. There are not nearly enough women or people like her this world.”
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She whipped back around and started slamming her groceries on the belt, and then turned back around, voice shaking,
“And even IF those kids were all hers, and she had a dozen ‘baby daddies’ and was on food stamps…. no child in this country or any other deserves to be cold or hungry, I am sorry, but your behavior? Poorly done, VERY poorly done.”
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Lindsay revealed that her new ‘friends’ left her checkout aisle and joined another, silently.
She grabbed a bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms…. As she finished checking out the girl checking her out smiled and winked, “Single mother on WIC, [and] what you said rocked!”
She grimaced and said, “Thanks, I wasn’t sure I should have gone off like that…. Hug those babies of yours tight tonight.” The lady checking her out said, “ I will, you have a nice night ma’am and do the same.”
Lindsay explains that she cried hard as she found her Tahoe, buckled the baby in the car, loaded up…. and opened those darn M&Ms.
She advises another foster mama’s out there to hold your heads high, you are the hands and hearts that are the strong and the steady for small ones when they need it most.
Thanks to Lindsay who bravely stuck up for the foster and single moms who get a bad reputation, without anyone bothering to ask about their story! Her strong words hopefully stuck in the heads of the rude couple, and her post hopefully reached similar people around the world.
No one should be ridiculed for stepping up and helping the children who need it the most. It takes a special type of person to be a foster parent or a single parent!
Let’s all learn not to judge a book by its cover and accept people for who they are.