Ken Schram: Stealing dignity from the poor
"Real Change" is the newspaper sold by low-income and homeless people on the street corners of Seattle.
A story in its latest edition caught my eye. It's about a guy who was trying to buy a collar for his dog.
He carefully laid out 30 quarters for the purchase - enough to cover the cost of what he was buying.
The sales clerk was irritated, and verbally berated the guy, who had earned the money selling the Real Change paper.
The guy asked for the manager, who was equally annoyed at somebody using a pile of coins to make a purchase.
Ultimately, he was told to leave the store, without the dog collar he'd wanted to buy.
His plight is fairly typical of low-income and homeless people who have the audacity to try to use cash and coin to buy things.
Many stores don't want to bother with a pile of pennies, nickels and dimes, and there's no law that says they have to.
So when the poor try to use coin instead of flashing a credit or debit card, a merchant will all too often just kick the low-income customer to the curb.
Just one more example of how the homeless are considered disposable people.
Just one more example of how the poor must endure not only a lack of money, but how determined some are to take away the last remnants of their dignity.
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Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
A story in its latest edition caught my eye. It's about a guy who was trying to buy a collar for his dog.
He carefully laid out 30 quarters for the purchase - enough to cover the cost of what he was buying.
The sales clerk was irritated, and verbally berated the guy, who had earned the money selling the Real Change paper.
The guy asked for the manager, who was equally annoyed at somebody using a pile of coins to make a purchase.
Ultimately, he was told to leave the store, without the dog collar he'd wanted to buy.
His plight is fairly typical of low-income and homeless people who have the audacity to try to use cash and coin to buy things.
Many stores don't want to bother with a pile of pennies, nickels and dimes, and there's no law that says they have to.
So when the poor try to use coin instead of flashing a credit or debit card, a merchant will all too often just kick the low-income customer to the curb.
Just one more example of how the homeless are considered disposable people.
Just one more example of how the poor must endure not only a lack of money, but how determined some are to take away the last remnants of their dignity.
---
Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
