Certain items (e.g., cigarettes, alcohol, etc.) are supposed to be off limits for food stamps, but I see them used all the time. Checkout people either don’t care or are intimidated and don’t push the point. One time when I saw it happen in the checkout in front of me, I told the lady (?) that my money paid for those food stamps and that I’d appreciate it if she bought food with them. She told me to “F@## off”. I called the manager over and she was not allowed to check out. She was more than a little miffed.
Automated registers with scanners are supposed to know about this, but it doesn’t get around the checker in on the scheme who rings up so many pounds of beef or kiwi fruit in place of the bottle of wine, etc.
I think you might be lucky that she didn’t use the latest and priciest smartphone (remember the Gore Tax to provide cell phones to the professionally poor) to call her friends for a meetup outside the store. After all, these are not “normal” people.
Just FYI there are two kinds of “EBT” cards. One, the SNAP Card does have restrictions on the food items that can be purchased. That is the old Food Stamps card.
The other card looks like the one above but is a welfare payment of cash that can be used for anything.
So it would depend on which card the individual was using.
Around here I’ve seen people use both at the same time.
What chaps my but is when they drive off in a better car than mine.