When a person helps out a new neighbor, you would think any gesture of goodwill would be appreciated.
Redditor average_texas_bitch is a 38-year-old mother and wife who decided to alleviate some of the stresses her new neighbor was experiencing by looking after her kids.
But apparently, she went about it all wrong.
After questioning the opinion of her friends, she visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA for not giving my neighbor’s kids ‘good food’?”
The Original Poster (OP) wrote:
“So I know that this is really stupid but some of my friends told me that I’m in the wrong here.”
“To get started, here’s our cast:”
“Me, Neighbor (Female, 32) My Husband (Male, 39) Kid 1 (Male, 8) Kid 2 (Male, 7) My kid (Female, 8)”
“My neighbor moved in not to long ago with her two sons. Seeing that she had a lot of unpacking to do, I went over to her house and offered to babysit her kids for her.”
“She thanked me, and walked her kids over to my house. I kept some of my son’s toys from when he was younger (he has moved out already) and set them up in my yard.”
My daughter is fairly extroverted and immediately went outside to play with them. It was around noon at that time, so I started to make lunch. I made some turkey sandwiches with American cheese. A simple lunch that we always have.”
“I brought out some plates so that the kids could eat outside on our benches. The kids loved it and 30 minutes later the sandwiches were gone and they were back playing soccer and tag.”
“A few hours later the neighbor’s kids and my child marched inside and sat down, tired. I put on some cartoons and told them I would be right back as I left to go get the neighbor to pick up her children.”
“She looked tired, but was happy that she didn’t have to deal with little boys running around while she unpacked. She came over, and took her boys.”
“By this time my husband was parking in our driveway, home from work. My daughter had a fun time telling her father all about her day while I ordered pizza on my phone.”
“About 5 minutes later, while I was still asking what everyone wanted, I hear a knock on my door. It was the neighbor! I thought she was going to thank me again, but she got angry and shouted at me.”
“The following is some basic dialogue from what I can remember, though this did happen a few weeks ago:”
“Me: Oh, hey (neighbor).”
“Neighbor: look, we NEED to talk right now.”
“Me: Oh, sure. What do you need?”
“Neighbor: Well, my sons told me that you gave them sandwiches for lunch?”
“Me: Yes, I did. They really li-“
“Neighbor: well that is NOT enough for my boys. They’re growing boys, and they need to have GOOD food, and not whatever you gave them.”
“Me: Really?”
“Neighbor: Yes.”
“Me: No.”
“And I shut the door in her face. My daughter didn’t really hear any of our conversation, but she asked me. I just told her that the neighbor didn’t like sandwiches.”
“She didn’t bother to ask further and watched some shows in her room. My husband just laughed, and so did I. The lady got mad that I fed food to her sons for FREE, right?”
“But as it turns out, three of my close friends told me that I was rude and I should have just given them something better. We had mashed potatoes and some leftover pork that wouldn’t take more than 29 minutes to heat up and serve, but I didn’t feel like giving them that.”
“I don’t see the problem with what I did, but I trust my friends and I want to know if I should apologize.”
“So Reddit, AITA?”
Strangers on the internet were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
Many Redditors sided with the OP.
“NTA. I feel like an absurd number of people ate a turkey sandwich for lunch today and they’re probably going to continue with their lives happily.”
“No good deed goes unpunished I guess. Hope she doesn’t ever need a neighbor to babysit in a jam.” – gapeach2333
“What the hell is her problem with Sandwiches? Kids need a higher carbo load than adults due to brain and body growth requirements. A sandwich is a perfect lunch.”
“Now, I don’t personally like processed cheese as a diet staple, but it sure as hell won’t hurt a kid to have a sandwich that contains it. Sounds to me like op gave the kids a perfectly healthy lunch and her r/choosingbeggars neighbour is [frustrated] over absolutely nothing” – StGir1
“Guess the neighbor expected OP to make a 3 course lunch menu for her kids from scratch. If OP was my neighbor and she gave my kid a sandwich I’d be happy that she took the time to make him something.”
“Simple meal or not OP did nothing wrong and should not have to apologize to her. If the boys were hungry they could have ask for more.”
“At 8 and 7years old they are both capable of asking for 2nds if they were hungry still. If the kids ever go back to OP’s house again she should send the kids back to their house for lunch since the neighbor doesn’t approve of her food.”
“Also if I was op I wouldn’t help to babysit only because it feels like this neighbor would complain about everything. No one needs that stress. Nta no need to apologize.” – CODE_NAME_DUCKY
“I was a single mom with 2 young children. If a neighbor had asked could they babysit for a few hours so I could do chores, I would not have cared if they tossed out some saltines and a jar of peanut butter in the yard and let them drink out of the water hose, LOL.”
“All teasing aside, OP, you are sweet to have volunteered to watch these boys and to make sandwiches and entertain them as well. NTA.” – NCKALA
“NTA. I thought the issue was going to be allergy or religion related. I do think you should have confirmed with your neighbor about food because that easily could have become a disaster.”
“That being said I don’t know why a turkey sandwich is bad or why your neighbor and friends think they needed something ‘better.'” – pnutbuttercups56
Overall, Redditors thought the OP was not the a**hole in the situation.
Hopefully, the neighbor will find a way to make peace with the OP since their kids seemed to enjoy each other and have become friends.