to think its a disgrace that marks n spencers do not accept healthy start vouchers?

[superv1xen]

i think its disgusting.

as if they are saying, we are marks and spencers and are posh, therefore don't want you single parents shopping here with your "poor people's vouchers", piss off to asda, you are lowering the tone.

the look on the cashier's face when i tried to use my vouchers in there, snobby bitch.

aibu?

"Do you not see the point I am making? You're entitled to your vouchers but don't take the piss, fgs. "

It's not as if she is able to charge her whole shopping basket to the taxpayer though is it. Whether she spends her £3.10 in M+S, the market or Tesco makes no difference to the taxpayer as £3.10 is the same wherever you spend it. The only person losing out by paying more for her shopping is the OP who, presumably, is a grown up and therefore able to decide these things for herself

Erm yeah. I work in exchange for wages. I EARN my money so you're damn right I can piss it up the wall if I like. If I was/ever get into the same situation as the OP, I will not be getting my knickers in a twist because I cannot spend my free vouchers in M&S.

I used to work in a women's clothes shop when I was a student and we used to get lots of women in with vouchers from JSA entitling them to buy £200 of clothes to be worn at job interviews. A vast majority would spend the vouchers on going-out clothes and because the receipt didn't give a description of what the items were, they got away with it. That used to fuck me off no end too. Get the gallows out.

YANBU

"Would the OP be shopping in M&S if it was money out of her own purse? "

And it is money out of her own purse. If she spends it in M+S on starfruit she can't spend it in Aldi on baked beans.

Presumably you think she should be tugging her forelock to you and prostrating herself on the floor giving thanks for your largesse as a taxpayer

No, Butterpie. I'd prefer it if people in benefits didn't get pissy just because they can't get their hands on some free fruit and vegetables in a store that most people on an average wage can't really afford to food shop in.

My mum was a single parent and she struggled to make ends meet. Presumably the OP struggles to make ends meet. My mum used to walk to the closest cheap supermarket because she could get more for her money. If you are struggling to make ends meet, you don't shop in M&S.

cupcakes, that story is bullshit.
I recieved help to buy clothes for interviews and the voucher clearly states that they are to be formal clothes- one top I picked out was even questioned by the sales girl who had to call the manager over
If you were selling them going out clothes, that is your fault I'm afraid

I have to say I didn't get any sense of entitlement from the OP, except the entitlement to go into M&S if she wants, and pick up some fruit.

She actually made it clear that she usually shops in Tesco/Asda, but happened to be in M&S buying something else.

I think it's fine to advise the OP that she may get better value elsewhere, but am genuinely shocked at the attempts to make her appear unreasonable by choosing to pick up the occasional bit from M&S. It just comes across as really quite controlling - I just don't think it's okay to try and impose your values on other people like that.

And by the way, the fact that she qualifies for Healthy Start doesn't preclude her from being a tax payer too!

And while we're at it, I am a single parent on benefits too. Today I went to M and S to buy a pack of sausages. No 'poor person' alarm went off when I entered the store as far as I'm aware. And yes, they were cheaper than Tesco ones

It most certainly is not bullshit, Smallishsheep. The voucher states it is to buy formal clothes, doesn't mean it got spent on formal clothes. And if we questioned it, it was "what is it to do with you? it's not YOUR money"

But yeah. It's my fault, not the fault of the scumbags abusing the system. Those vouchers have been done away with now because of idiots abusing them. Shame for the people who did use them properly IMO.

scumbags you are a charmer cupcakes

Oh for FFS, I work, my dh works, and if she want to spend the voucher in M&S then so be it!, how shallow and pathetic to get into a hump over fucking vegetables, fruit and milk for their family!

Green eyed monster anyone, and ignorance and self centred also too boot!

OP, tbf, you would get better value for money at the supermarkets, and the scheme is voluntary for retailers.

I actually agree with your main point Butterpie, but not this;
She was given the vouchers to spend on fruit and veg of her choice, just like you are given your wages (I presume you work for an entirely private company) to spend how you like"

One works for wages and earns them. Nobody gives you wages for nothing.

Oh stop acting so hard-done-by, Smallishsheep. I could not give two craps about "poor" people. They do not offend me. I am not exactly minted myself and my mum lives in a council house. I simply have a problem with low incomers whining because they can't afford/buy products that are sold at a price that makes them consistently affordable to more affluent people.

Again, I call bullshit
The vouchers are still used. You go to the shops. You have a look at what you want to buy. You go back to the advisor, tell them the total. They then write down the things you want and the price, on a form which explicitly states that the clothes bought are at the discretion of the shop selling them.
And yes, I did feel like fucking scum using a DWP form to buy clothes. But you know what? I had to, because I want a fucking job, and none of the clothes I wore to work before I was made redundant fit me. Glad to know the shop assistants would have been sneerign at me, as if I didn't feel shitty enough

Get the gallows out.

whatever fo cupcakesandbunting??

Yes the vouchers are still used to help scumbags get back into work

usualsuspect, sorry but most of the girls using these vouchers WERE scumbags. The ones that I dealt with were scumbags. Sorry but they were. We had to call the police out on one occasion because one girl pulled a syringe on my manager because she refused her a leather jacket on her voucher. Lots of them used to try and return the clothes for cash refunds after creating faults with them.

Not saying that anyone who has ever used these vouchers are scumbags by proxy but in my experience, most were.

Blimey Cupcakes -your attitude nearly makes me want to vote Labour - just for the sheer pleasure of watching you spontaneously combust over a mango

The OP wasn't whining becuase she 'can't afford/buy products that are sold at a price that makes them consistently affordable to more affluent people' - she was making a point about the fact that M&S wouldn't accept her vouchers, making the assumption that they didn't accept them because they are a snobby store.

The thing is, the OP can afford to shop there, anyone with money can, it just depends if you choose to. You don't, she, on occasion, does. It doesn't make her wrong, or deserving of everybody's rather mean value judgements.

M&S food isn't always that expensive. They do a bag of small apples for 99p that are nicer and better value than equivalent from sainsburys.

OP I don't think yabu. But as gigantaur said - its probably just down to staff training.

No excuse for the assistant being rude though.

I know so much angst over a banana

if you carry on the argument the OP should never buy meat other than the cheapest cuts
make all own bread and grow own fruit & veg as far as possible
Never buy wine or chocolate