
Everywhere you look today, it seems prices have gone up. From the grocery store to fast food restaurants and clothing, life is a lot more expensive today than many of us are used to. Some families are just trying to make ends meet, but as inflation continues to rise, it's getting pretty hard, and no one is immune to it.
TikTok mom Britney Taylor, who posts as @thatpositiveb, feels the crunch like every other mom, but she is doing her best to keep the status quo for her kids. She explained in a now-viral video that she deposited $500 in her daughters' lunch accounts in December, and she recently found out that not only had they blown through that in a matter of weeks, but her twins' accounts were also negative more than $200 apiece. Nope, this isn't a joke, and yes, she is ticked!
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This mother had no idea what was happening at school.
She explained in her first video rant about school lunches, which has 672,000 views, that she put money in her girls' accounts before Christmas and hadn't heard a thing about it since. They each got $250, which she thought would hold them over for a while. Instead, she was shocked to receive two phone calls months later, informing her that each child had spent the $250 in their account and more than $200 additionally each.
Taylor asked in her rant, "Are you telling me that school lunch has cost me over $1,000 in less than three months? Who the f— is out here being able to afford that? What are you feeding my children, five-star Michelin meals?"
People on TikTok were shocked.
Not surprisingly, people couldn't believe what was happening at her daughters' school. A lot of people suggested she get an itemized list of what her girls bought.
"Cafeteria manager here … ask for a printout of each transaction from the beginning of the year. That does not sound correct," someone commented.
It didn't make sense. "WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING THEM?!? " another person questioned.
Lots of kids do this kind of stuff. "I had to put restrictions on my child's account. I swear my kid was running a store out of his locker," one person wrote.
But most people needed clarification about why the school seemed to ignore the negative accounts.
If their accounts were getting so out of control, why hadn't anyone from the school contacted her before now? There were lots of comments on this.
" wait what? HOW can they be that overdrawn. And why did they wait until it got to those amounts? " someone asked.
The mom explained in a follow-up video that the school used to have an app that allowed parents to see every transaction, but this year, the school switched to a different system. Instead of getting reminders that her daughters only had $20 left and she needed to reload, she got two way-after-the-fact voicemails about the extreme overages.
Taylor clapped back at the haters.
Several TikTokers didn't believe the story, and Taylor came with receipts. She posted a voicemail from the school saying she needs to pay. The recording asked Taylor to send money to the school to clear up the account, but some TikTokers thought it sounded shady.
"I wouldn't send them crap sounds sketchy to me,” one person commented.
This person agreed: "And we are sure this came from the school and isn't actual spam? I'm dumbfounded! That's wild mama. I'd be packing pb&js.”
"Look like spam call the school they want you to go on that website or your kid buying stuff," another comment reads.
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Lots of people are eagerly awaiting an update.
After posting several videos about the lunch accounts in rapid succession, Taylor last posted about the issue several days ago.
Some wondered if the money she deposited in December was accidentally given to another kid.
"Check your bank statement to see if the check was actually cashed. Something is off. Maybe it wasn't credited to their account," one person suggested.
Others suspected the girls were just being friendly and buying things for classmates. "Did you ask your daughters if they are buying extra food or buying for their friends? If not you definitely need to ask for a itemized list," someone advised.
Wow, we really hope this is just an accounting error and that the school isn't letting things get this out of control. Families are struggling right now without this kind of added stress. Please, Britney, keep us posted.