Sunday 21 August 2016

What is it about the Pioneer Woman?


They say what you like or hate about something or someone says a lot more about you than it does about the adored/hated.
Pioneer woman is my alter ego's frenemy.
She's everything I am not.
She lives out in the plains of the Oklahoma.
I live in one of the most congested areas in one of the largest cities in the world.

She has 4 children whom she home schools with a cowboy ranching husband.
I have a canine niece that I babysit once a week and need to recuperate for two days after the event and married to a bloke who can't put up a shelf.

She is so sweet.
I am a bitch - to name a few differences.

I should kinda hate her or at best sneer at her but I don't.
Yet I can't say I exactly idolise her either.
I respectfully admire her more like.

Unlike sexual relationships where the people involved think it a very complicated situation but it very simple, I consider my relationship with her to be complex.


My mother watches her on the food channel network in Korea and as a non native English speaker, she says she understands every single English word the Pioneer woman utters unlike the few questions asked to her by a Glaswegian immigration officer at Heathrow airport.

Unlike Nigella, she doesn't pepper her dialogue to camera 
with articulate alliteration but 
punctuates the majority of her recipes with,

"So yummy."

"It's soon darn delicious!"


My mother and I reminisced about the old days where we attended the English speaking Catholic Church on the U.S. military base in Seoul where despite its physical location, the people were very much the heart of middle America and you could have easily thought you were in Kansas.

My mother and I agreed she reminds us of those really busy and booked to the hour in her diary housewives who used to bring a casserole to the monthly potlucks that our Church would like to hold.

They were always so sweet and so enthusiastic - 
just like the Pioneer woman.
She reminds of the housewife from Little House on the Prairie but with a super mod-con kitchen and good pots.

It must be a Pavlov thing - I feel really safe and know the food may be garnished with potato chips but by jove I will be fed.
The only time I witnessed my mother lie was at one these potlucks where she bought some Korean style double fried chicken and passed it as her own.  Despite people's cultural preconceptions about Asian women, they share some similarities with the French and believe that homemade isn't always best. 

She didn't mean to tell a lie but she overheard some ladies complaining about someone who brought a store bought item so I never judged her for it because there was the suburban Bible belt alpha housewife prejudice about buying something intended to a church potluck.  

Believe it or not, 
Asian women on the whole aren't that competitive nor surprised by another women's cultivated culinary nor inept cooking skills.
Most meals are always partly bought, partly self made, and party given by relatives and friends.


"Why is everything fried?"
My mother keeps repeating during every single episode we watch!
"Why is everything with butter, cream, flour, and eggs?"

I had to tell her that Korean food was always soy, garlic, chilli, sesame oil as a base.

We don't watch Pioneer woman for any of her recipes nor her kitchen tips as we don't watch her for fashion advice.


It's simply voyeruism.

Let's be honest...
she isn't so much a cook as she is an assembler of food that you buy at the centre aisles in any given supermarket in the U.S.A. 


I hate Oreos and this cake is probably why American food gets a bad name.


But it does seem to give the Pioneer woman a perpetual sugar high.

Oddly, my husband can't bear her and while he will suffer through a documentary on the NHK channel about the purest form of black dye that originates in Kyoto, he will grab the remote and change the channel when Pioneer woman is on.

But I think that's because he wishes he secretly had a wife like her.


One of these days, 
I am going to be like Pioneer Woman and make trifle in kilner jars like one of those super popular pictures on Pinterest.


Lay down my home made quilt.


And admire my garden that is the size of Hyde Park.


While talking about my favourite sex and the city episode drinking some white wine cocktail.
No, I'm not.
But good for her I say!

48 comments:

  1. I'm a huge Pioneer Woman fan from her blog and recipes. Haven't seen her on film as of yet but I think I need to.

    SSG xxx

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    1. I find her lifestyle so interesting which cooking shows now are - funnelling your home and family life transplanted onto food. The drive to the store makes me hyperventilate - it's an hour and have you seen the store? There's hardly any fresh food. But then again she has horses and dogs and enough room to let the children run free without worrying I suppose x

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  2. Ha! This made me laugh. I personally hold a deep suspicion of super perky American Mid West housewife types that can do everything, so have never warmed to Pioneer Woman. My Australian cynicism always makes me think they have some sort of Stepford wife agenda on the go, and all the nice platitudes they say are so over the top and happy and saccharine that it makes me inherently suspicious as to what their motivation is and that they are in fact being very false. But I get that if you grew up with this at church, it would make you feel comfortable. My personal favourite to watch on the Food Network is Sandra Lee and the Semi Homemade Cook. You would love it! I can't stop laughing whenever I see it. One episode she had gone on a trip to Paris, France (said like that with a Southern twang), and was using it as inspiration for one of her dinners. She used cream of mushroom soup, crackers that were crushed up and all kinds of other things to make food that looked nothing like anything you'd get in France, and that would make French people gouge their eyes out if they were to have watched the show. Then while it was cooking, she tablescaped her dining table picking up "French" things from around the house, like mini eiffel towers that happened to be lying around, a pink feather boa etc and arranging it in the middle of the table. It was really quite unbelievable. Watch it if you haven't! x

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    1. I have seen Sandra Lee but only once - she is married to a governor or senator and so it is all rather incongruous yet convenient she plays the perfect housewife. She lacks any energy though and it must be because she has the political image to uphold. I do miss the those super sweet housewives who were just the most productive women especially during the cold war 80's! Odd thing is that there are many who take PW very seriously though and in Oklahoma ranks up there with Martha x

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  3. i detest the pioneer woman. She acts as if it's a piece of cake to throw her food together to feed the entire prairie. She creates food that looks to be yes - heart of america - bad for anyone's health. In my mind, she adds nothing to the Food Network. I got the impression they put her on when they had to ax Paula Deen, they needed a howdy y'all type. Detest is exactly the word for how i feel about her.

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    1. To be honest, I can see how it is rather easy to and if it wasn't because she reminds me of family Sundays I wouldn't understand her at all. I don't think she is a very good cook even with that butter. But yes I think she fills the vacuum Paula left behind!

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  4. Somehow can't relate to Pioneer Woman as described - though of course have never seen this show. Sex and the City is more my line or Ab Fab. Definitely a city girl - for me the country is only for holidays and admiring the gardens and natural beauty. Really admire all this, but could never live there. Though of course admire and respect those who work so hard on the land (hubby's maternal side come from the land originally). Also have empathy for their struggles with climate (change), drought, bushfires, agricultural pests and diseases, poor returns on crop prices etc.

    In regard to education, unless families do live in really remote areas where there are few if any educational facilities I find it hard to understand people who want to homeschool their children. Where these isolated conditions don't apply, I'm thinking the parents must have given considerable thought to the issue. But it also suggests a wish to remove their children from the "contagion" of the modern world.
    These children are eventually going to grow up and will almost certainly have to join the rest of society when they do. A good school as well as providing education should also help children to get used to socialising with others and learning them to adjust to life's ups and downs.
    My grand-daughters go to their local government primary in the suburbs - they receive an excellent education there. They're also learning French and a little Mandarin as well as musical instruments, joining in school band and choir, learning art skills and sports. They love school and have made lots of friends. As a result of their school they lead a very active social life with all their friends, under careful supervision. Also, often with these girls, taking extra lessons in drama, karate, flute and art. The Mums share responsibilities for chauffeuring. Our DiL works from home as an artist and running her own business, she also helps (unpaid) another Mum working fulltime with pre and after school childcare for three days a week. Of course at times the children have squabbles and come up against mean or disturbed girls but they learn to sort things out themselves, or when necessary with help from parents and even school, if parents think necessary. Most parents in this area are professionals or run their own businesses. On the whole school is a wonderful opportunity for the children. So many things homeschooled children miss out on. As a former time secondary teacher years ago, I can really see the difference in what primary children are being taught now, including in some cases, basic computer coding. I've lost so much of more advanced maths from my school days and would hate to try and teach it to children now. This parent anyway would seriously disadvantage them if I tried, much as I love them. Is great fun helping with homework in things like English and French though. Pammie

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    1. I can't speak about education for kids these days as I don't know very much and the school system here is a bit crazy and complicated. I can see pros and cons to home school too and I think it depends on the child. Two of the most amazing children I had met - objectively speaking as I am related to neither - one was home schooled and one went to one of the best private schools in the world so based on my own anecdotal experience - it seems neck and neck. Mind you I think the PW has to drive an hour to her nearest store!!! egads. to think i sometimes can't be bothered to walk the 2 minutes to my local store!!!

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    2. OOPS! - TEACHING THEM to adjust. Played around with the words and came up with an egregious error.
      Must look at this Pioneer Woman sometime - I'd never heard of her either - also at Heidi's "fave". They do both sound like time travellers from the 50s. Pammie

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    3. My first fulltime job for a year was teaching in a girls' boarding school. Many of our students came from the far outback where a little town might be at least two or three or more hours away by small plane. They grew their own fruit and veggies as far as possible and had their own sources of meat, chicken, eggs and dairy from their own property. The girls all had their horses and go-carts, could drive a jeep and even were taught to fly the family plane from when they were about 11 or 12, in case of emergencies. Most were homeschooled up to at least 8 years old, sometimes with the help of a governess or through the School of the Air - or government correspondence school. After finishing primary at home or a bit earlier they were mostly sent to boarding school or to a city to live with relatives to attend school there.
      Those girls were really something else, so independent and self-reliant and mature and fun - but terribly homesick for their properties, family and animals. They must have found school so constricting. I liked and admired them and their mothers who really were pioneer women, miles from healthcare, shops etc. One woman had 8 daughters, all with crazy nicknames, she managed her huge property herself as her husband was killed when his small plane crashed. This was in the days before computers, email or the internet so they were very isolated except for their pedal radios. In the event of a medical emergency they could call the Flying Doctor Service on their radios. But they could often deal with small emergencies themselves, not just the odd band-aid and bottle of antiseptic. They could also dish up huge traditional meals for visitors and in some cases for the jackaroos (kind of like cowboys - workers on the properties), though often the bigger properties employed a cook for the men in the old days. Pammie

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    4. I think that is a whole other type not really part of the homeschool crowd but proper no nonsense outback folk who would be fine no matter what circumstance. I really respect that and their graft!

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  5. I never heard of the Pioneer Woman. She seems like one of those 1950's recipe booklets come to life, making revolting concoctions from packaged ingredients. I would discount her influence, since I don't feel that domesticity is the diametric opposite of sophistication.
    --Jim

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    1. She lives in a huge cattle ranch in Oklahoma and is a blogger turned Foot Network presenter for her recipes and indeed her food is like those free recipes you get at the supermarket! I think as most cooking shows are just a promotion of a lifestyle rather than anything about food Jim!

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  6. She started as a blogger, describing her life, scenes from her marriage, cute stuff her kids did, animal care, fence repair. Occasional recipes. Before she married Marlboro Man, Hearthrob of the Golden West, she had a show business background. Great excitement among her readership when the network reached out to her for her own show. She also has a cheerful tabletop line at Walmart, reminds me of early Demery goods, no kidding.

    As to home-schooling, education is left to the states, which fund it and regulate it as they see fit. Or not. IHomeschooling would not be my choice, but I understand why others choose it.

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    1. I saw her blog once but her accent doesn't really come through on it :) Her husband is not my type at all but I can see he would have been the most eligible man in Oklahoma! I didn't know about her walmart line and only saw episodes of her new shop in town that she restored. I can't blame her for homeschooling bc with her 4 kids her school run would be atrocious!

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  7. I'm not a fan of the Pioneer Woman but both my parents like to watch her show, isn't that funny. They are probably responding to that midwest scenery. I think Ree is too studied and branded for my taste, she was on her way to law school in Chicago when she met the guy she is married to. I think she cooked all of this pioneer woman stuff up (pun intended). As for Sandra Lee, she is NOT married to the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. They both had bad prior marriages (he was married to a Kennedy, Sandra was married twice, I think). We don't see her much in the city, she does turn out for the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving though, always dressed in white. I think Sandra is probably a lot richer than Andrew, to tell you the truth! My favorite lifestyle guru/cook is Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I actually believe everything I read from her and see on her show because of the catering business she had before she turned to TV. I want her to adopt me as a niece so I can go live in her Hamptons house and drink Champagne and hang out with all her friends. I met her at a book signing once and she is exactly like she is on TV! I love her. She is doing a talk with Tina Fey in Brooklyn this October and I hope I can get a ticket. Ina and Tina! What a fun night that will be. x

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    1. I agree - I like Ina a lot. She's like a much nicer and more cuddly Martha personality wise, but similar aesthetics, and her food is pretty good too. I had a couple of her recipe books and now kind of wish I hadn't decluttered them.

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    2. Ina is adorable and of course she is another one that has a niche lifestyle with the hamptons house. I like her recipes but at times I find that her recipes are more suited to american supermarkets as I have to wonder where I would source that much boiled shrimp as that isn't a huge thing here for example. I like her gorgeous guy friend - forget his name but he was a model. The tina talk sounds like it is going to be amazing and hope you get a ticket so you can tell us all about it x

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    3. TR. I am obsessed with TR and he is the jewel in the crown of the IGNOGG (Ina Garten Network of Older Gay Gentlemen). TR was most recently spotted in a cialis or viagra commercial.

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    4. I got so excited about TR that I forgot I came here to originally comment on Satan herself, Sandra Lee. A lot of people hate and blame Rachel Ray for the demise of Food Network but I blame Sandra Lee. RR had a concept and knowledgeable point of view. Sandra Lee had similar name to boxed processed cakes and poorly matched artificial "table scapes".

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    5. Yes! TR - swoon swoon. He is just so bloody handsome and has a small pier in his house if i recollect. You can tell in the episode where she goes to cook him dinner at his house she adores him and if he wasn't gay and if she wasn't happyily married - she would have taken him as her lover. Like all of us would do the same. Sandra Lee wasn't authentic and pretended to be homegirl in an age where homegirls pretend to be rich blondes. It didn't vibe with me at all. We didn't get RR but I saw her when I was in the States - I just recall she like andouille sausage a lot then found out she was a vegetarian. I was very confused.

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  8. How funny, it did take me a while to realise you were writing about a real person rather than a generic type to illustrate a point.I was going to snarkily say that it all sounds quite odd, then I realised how much I love (or used to love, a few years ago) watching Nigella...I can't cope with putting canned/labelled foodstuff into recipes, though. Reminds me of all that sort of British postwar cookery propaganda in eg Margueritte Patten's books (ha! my MIL gave me a copy once, many years ago)

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    1. Oh she is very real but even though she is on the food network her she hasn't seemed to caught on in anyway. I still love Nigella though I wasn't impressed with her recipe in her last series where she cooked pasta with mackerel and raisins. But Pioneer woman has two houses in her ranch that Nigella doesn't have so those things are so foreign to me. I associate canned food with off grid war prep living. Postwar British wasn't a great time - fanny craddock scared me!

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  9. This is so funny because I haven't watched or thought about the Pioneer Woman in years but I was just thinking about her the other day and thinking I'd love to watch a couple of shows. I have found the episodes I have seen very comforting, but I don't often watch the food network and usually only do so when I'm exhausted or ill. So her friendly voice and those big pans of lasagna and vats of soup or whatever seem just so nice. But I would never cook those recipes for my family even though when my kids were younger I had to whip up similar quantities. In fact I'm still in that stage because my 14yo daughter has a million friends and they are usually at my house, so I'm looking for the perfect giant lasagna recipe but it cannot contain anything processed. I'm hoping Jamie Oliver's new book will help me this fall but I find his serving sizes are always too small for my family and friends, I have to at least double every single recipe! Geez maybe I should try the Pioneer Woman's recipes.
    Love this post Naomi XOX

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    1. Funny you mention portions bc those kids actually don't eat a lot I noticed too - their plates were quite small. Jamie Oliver also has a very tight measurement base. I personally hate that sort of exact portion stuff and in fact I stopped eating at one of my friends house bc she gave such small portions but she was the wife of my friend so i couldn't be blunt with her and it was always torture bc i wanted to get home and eat. I say dips like taramasalata and guacamole is great for teens then everyone can have their appropriate gluten free / wheat free cracker to go with - you just won't be able to stomach one of her recipes truth be told Dani - it's just a more labour intensive microwave meal! xx

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  10. Please, never become like Pioneer Woman. Weird food, weird hair, and can't tell a Biedermeier from an Oscar Meyer. But I get tv voyerism: I love Country Music TV reality shows

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    1. Puhahha - Biedermeier vs oscar Meyer - i like both though Jen! I watched nashville to for the prescriptive yet soothing story arc and that woman's hair!

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  11. Omg I love this post. We could talk about this for weeks and still not cover all the ground. I will admit to hate watching the Pioneer Woman. I cant tell you why 1) I hate her 2) I love her show. I think people feel she is the essence of Ina-the sweet celebrate every day woman--but without the liberal east coast Jewish and gay WASP undercurrents. I think her life seems like an approachable fantasy because we all know people kinda like her. And she shouldn't be using expensive cookware anymore because now she has a line of pots at Walmart in turquoise and jewel purple with butterflies and bandanaesque paisley emblazoned on them. I hate her show for the Boys do This and Girls do That nature as it reminds me of defending my preference for the fab girl toy at McDonald's instead of the bleak and stupid boy toy. My parents got it but other parents had questions/objections. i watch like one episode of TPW every six months or so and it's plenty reclaimed wood and mason jars to see me through another six months. I do love her stockpile shopping trips though as you know how much I love a stockpile of anything.

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    1. You just gotta fly over - the dollar here is like a thousand pounds now! Ina and her past physics consultant career with the Carter administration is such a decoy - she is out for proper world domination with her frittata and her hamptonised french food. Cooking shows are now such exaggerations of lifestyle though isn't it? I mean does anyone actually watch a show for the recipes? I do think that there is a sense of a certain homemaker type that i have an issue with but the dad seems to be more fair with his girls and made them put up fences. I must say I am surprised she got more than 2 seasons made but it is probably bc Paula is gone. I used to stockpile too and I love tagging along her hour long drives to that dreadful grocery store with the most basic of produce. I nearly cried when I saw her make chinese takeaway good bc delivery would take an hour. I just can't fathom the thought.

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  12. OH GOD,More TRASH on the TUBE!
    I have NEVER HEARD of this but I do not see much TV as THE ITALIAN HOGS the REMOTES!YES< you heard me right REMOTES!!!!!!THERE ARE SIX remotes to use for the TV and the SPEAKERS!!!!!!
    I'm LUCKY if I can turn it ON!
    XX

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  13. I'm an American, fortunately raised in a family with a multitude of good, Italian & Italian-American cooks. Her food offends me. Just yesterday I heard a recipe for potato salad with the potatoes put through a ricer. How is this a meal? To me it looked like some sort of savory blancmange, with hardboiled eggs. Almost all the time I search for a recipe online, if hers comes up, I turn it off. I have watched in horror as she made "cowboy lasagne." I assume -- quite correctly I hope -- there were very few Italian cowboys. If there were I doubt they dared bother to make sheets of lasagne.

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  14. heeyyy, I must say I'm not familiar with this lady. I'd say I too am quite the opposite of how you have described her, except for the Kilner jars - I love a good old Kilner/Mason jar and would happily make my trifle in them - have a good week! xx

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    1. She is on daytime and hasn't made an impression with the British public hence her time slot here hehe xx

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  15. I have never heard of Pioneer Woman but I had a very good laugh at your description and I don't think I will be watching any episodes soon! I stopped watching Food Network some years ago when it seemed like every other show was a reality-type elimination/competition. There were barely any shows about actually trying to teach the audience to cook! Nowadays, I watch episodes of Nigella and Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) when I get the chance.

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    1. Well you should watch her at least the once Louise!!

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  16. I have quite a few PW and SL recorded on my DVR, and they're a go-to lull on a rainy afternoon. I love Sandra's never-failing cheer and endless ideas (did you know that she designed and single-handedly created the eighties/nineties boom/craze for those huge puff-shouldered curtains and drapes that always seemed to come in maroon florals and black prints. She dreamed up all those metal or plastic rod-loops and the intricate loopings of fabric which swept the Western world and helped make Laura Ashley prints a household THING. (most of the while having custody of her several orphaned siblings from the time she was a teen).

    And her ever-changing pastel kitchen is the stuff of my girlie-girl dreams. I LIKE her---she BRIGHTS me.

    And just mentioning that the two pictures of the long slim "dish" in the photos above is a six-foot RAIN GUTTER, lined with aluminum foil and used as a Sundae Trough for all manner of ice creams and sweet-flavored syrups for a children's party. Just a little quirky innovation. I think it's called Keepin' It Real.

    rachel

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    1. They are easy viewing but they don't show Sandra here and I only saw her in the States. I haven't seen this rain gutter but if it works!

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  17. I have never watched the PW (until now after reading this post!) but I had been exposed to her blog online. She never appealed to me because her recipes seemed so basic, unhealthy and often with lots of processed ingredients. I just can't respect someone who is trying to sell me that kind of lifestyle. Apparently her husband's family are rather wealthy landowners? My kitchen hero is Ina Garten....I pretty much want to be re-incarnated as her lol! I am truly obsessed. Came across her about a year ago (she is not widely known here in Oz) and she pretty much changed my life. Though certainly a lot of her recipes have butter, carbs etc...she is very focused on cooking with the best quality fresh ingredients you can find and I love that. Plus even though her things are often relatively simple, there is no sacrifice of flavour. plus just love her aesthetic with the hamptons vibe and her house.,,to die for beautiful. Not to mention her Paris apartment! I am very curious about her as a person though. Despite her public image, there is very little out there on what her real opinion and thoughts are. Also curious about her relationship with her hubby because they market it as the perfect marriage - and I'm always sus of anything looking too perfect!

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    1. I love Ina's vibe too - although I just find her relaxing I have never used any of her recipes as such. Yes it is interesting to see how guarded she is even though she lets us into her house and apart from her recipes and her old job at the white house one doesn't know anymore about her!

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  18. I stumbled over here from Faux Fuchsia. As an American, it is fascinating to read other’s thoughts on someone who has become a polarizing media figure here in the US.

    Pioneer Woman has built herself a powerful brand. I started following the blog years and years ago. Her recipes never appealed to me but as a born and bred country girl, I enjoyed her blog. (My grandfather was a cattle farmer.) I will give her credit for being constant with her brand.


    Her background is privileged and the Drummond family is the largest land owner in the state of Oklahoma, which is saying a lot as Oklahoma is a large state. The family is very rich, powerful and influential. They developed and financed the show on their own, hired a British production company and sold it to Food Network after producing the first season. They are smart business people. In addition to the cattle business, they have government contracts worth millions of dollars annually to take care of wild mustangs that roam Oklahoma and various other interests like pharmaceuticals.

    After the New York Times and other national media profiled her, there was a social media backlash as some very vocal fans felt deceived by her “aw shucks” shtick. Some of it got quit nasty, people posting legal documents and such on line.

    Wal-Mart (the evil empire of American retail) has an aggressive commercial campaign for her new line of house wares running continuously on TV. Her book was optioned by a major production company in Hollywood but she has been mum on that for a while. If there is an American blogger success story, it is the Pioneer Woman.

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    1. Hello Heather - if you are there - thank you for your fantastic comment and letting us know so much more about her! A few things make sense now. I would say you could still be aw shucks and be wealthy - I think certain places by geography don't have time for pretensions - Australia is a bit like that. ( well in the old days ) I suppose Walmart is the biggest retailer so she would go with them although I was curious to see what she did with that building she featured on her show many seasons back where she restored an old store? Thanks again for your input Heather!

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  19. I was very surprised to that she went with Wal-Mart as most of the home and kitchen items she blogged about over the years was much higher end. I expected her to partner with Williams Sonoma at the higher end or Target in the mid-range.

    I know what you mean about how down to earth/aw shucks pride can go hand in hand with established families. That definitely holds true for much of America outside of the east coast, snobby establishment.

    American media machine twisted her image. She never deviated but the snarky media people that weren't familiar with her blog history crucified her. Thru it all, she has stayed true to her brand. This commitment definitely sets her apart from many American bloggers who,self-destructed over the years.

    I have enjoyed reading about the building they renovated in their hometown for a mixed use family business office and retail space. I live in an area that could greatly benefit from similar initiatives.

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  20. Hi Heather, my only reservation about walmart is that they don't pay their workers very well and for someone who is already wealthy you would think that they would not be so cut throat but then again what do I know? But I see your point about williams sonoma as she does like her le creuset or Target. She doesn't really have an image over here and if it wasn't for my exposure of midwestern housewives at my military church I don't know if I would have "gotten" her either or even been able to place her ( both good and bad ). In the UK, we don't really have the similar super duper housewife stereotype as such so she is a novelty in all sorts of ways!

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  21. I won't set foot in a wal-mart because I find their business practices so horrible.

    I worked in banking for years and had several clients that were bankrupted by Walmart via their business practices as it relates to how they screw their vendors.

    And then there is how little they pay their workers..... there was a big story in American about how walmart told their employees in certain states that they should apply for food stamps to bridge the difference between their low wages and basic needs such as feeding themselves. There are some states where the majority of welfare and food stamp recipients are full time walmart employees.

    As a business owner myself (40+ employees) I feel strongly about providing a fair wage and good benefits.



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    1. Me too Heather. I don't even use Uber despite the cheap fares. Custom is the only true way to make people learn!

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  22. I apologise to someone from Ft Lauderdale I think it was? I deleted the comment by accident bc I was on my phone!

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