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Woman Pitches A Fit When Pizza Store Owner Pays For A Homeless Man’s Meal, But Not Hers

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They say no good deed goes unpunished.

And a recent post on the “Am I the A**hole (AITA)” subReddit illustrated exactly how that can look.

The Original Poster (OP), known as ihatemywife20 on the site, laid it out in the title.

“AITA for paying for a homeless person’s food and refusing to pay for a lady?”

It all began when OP noticed someone who needed help. 

“Hello. I [55-year-old male] own a small pizza shop.”

“Last week we saw a homeless person walking around and searching trash bins for food. He was definitely hungry and I felt bad.”

OP didn’t hesitate. 

“I ordered a medium pizza, walked outside and gave it to him. I also gave him 20 dollars and told him that if he ever needs somewhere to rest and eat, he can come here.”

When he returned to work, he was hit with a surprise.

“So, I go back to the restaurant. We have a customer, a lady in her early 40s. My employees tell me that she wants to talk with me.

“I go to her and she says ‘excuse me, your employees don’t want to serve me a free large pizza.’ ”

“I tell her that she has to pay if she wants a pizza.”

But it wasn’t quite that simple. 

“She says ‘but I saw you giving a free pizza to that guy in front of the restaurant.’ ”

“I said that it was not free, I paid for it and gave it to him, and she goes ‘why won’t you pay for mine then?’ ”

OP stayed firm. 

“At this point, I instantly went ‘because I paid for that pizza and I won’t pay for yours, now get the fu** out of my store.”

“She walks out and shows me the middle finger.”

“One of my employees said I went too harsh on her. I think I did the right thing. Reddit, AITA?”

Anonymous strangers weighed in by declaring:

  • NTA – Not The A**hole
  • YTA – You’re The A**hole
  • ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
  • NAH – No A**holes Here

A clear majority of Redditors confirmed that OP hadn’t been an a**hole. 

For them, the distinction was clear. 

“NTA: you fed someone who was reduced to going through trash bins for scraps.”

“That does not make you responsible for also feeding a spoiled woman who can pay for her meal, but doesn’t want to.” — Charger94

“NTA. An act of kindness does not obligate you to do for everyone. I wouldn’t expect you to buy pizza for every homeless person in town because you helped one. This entitled person just wanted a freebie.”

“And she asked for even more. I’d have kicked her to the curb too.” — throwinitallaway101

“NTA. I can’t believe how entitled some people are. They’re enraged because someone gets something they don’t. ‘I have enough, but I want more. And more. AND MORE!’ ” — WildPossumLover

“NTA Ugh that person is such an entitled human being! You did something so amazing to someone and made their week maybe even month, yet there is always someone who just wants to rain on everyone’s parade.”

“ ‘BuT tHeY gOt A fReE piZzA, wHY cAnT i GeT a FrEe PiZzA?¿??¿’ the nerve of some people, should of told her to suck a lemon or something” — AiCeeYouP

Others took a moment to commend OP’s kindness.

“NTA. she obviously went into your shop with the intention of buying a pizza then got mad that you offered an unhoused person who was scrounging for actual scraps something to eat bcs she’s an entitled a**hole with no empathy.”

“and even if it was just a random person that wasn’t in your trash bins, it’s your shop and you can do whatever the hell you want and use your inventory that you pay for as you see fit.”

“thank you for offering a safe, sheltered space for that person to be able to turn to when they need it and food to eat when they are hungry. people can be so apathetic and cruel.” — onearmwonderr

“Definately NTA you treated someone ostracized, harassed, dehumanized and abused by society as a human.”

“If more people did acts of kindness like you did, and treated humans like humans and helped them, regardless of their situation or socioeconomic status instead of harassing, punishing, dehumanizing and abusing them, the world would be a better place.”

“Don’t let the customer who gave you the middle finger erode your compassion, keep on treating people like people, regardless of potential trauma responses or learned actions socialized from abuse, trauma, poverty and being in a survival situation often times starting before they became homeless with inadequate help or support.”

“You don’t need to help everyone in the same situation the same way, but view and treat them as humans and keep on trying to understand.” — Ritalin_Rx

A few even offered up some personal, relevant anecdotes of their own.

“NTA, and speaking as a former homeless person, I can honestly say there were times when something that others considered ‘junk’ food, yes even like pizza, was a real treat to me. I could make a pizza, if I was careful, last a week. That was my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” — kibufox

“NTA She was intentionally starting shit, this is probably a schtick of hers.”

“When I was younger, my grandmother and I would occasionally go grocery shopping together, If ever there was a donation can for an animal charity, she always made a point of asking the cashier where the donation for the homeless was.”

“She had made it her hill to die on that human lives were more important than those of animals, and that the absence of a human charity equated disrespect of human life. Without fail, she brought this up every single time she say an animal charity collection.”

“Granted, she never was mean or raised her voice, but still, harassing a cashier is not the appropriate leverage point.”

“This woman you told off needed to be told off. It is none of her business how you distribute charity to, and to whom. I guarantee that woman is not going to change.” — Apatheticforcredit

So thanks to Reddit feedback, looks like OP can proudly leave his current approach to philanthropy unchanged. 

Written by Eric Spring

Eric Spring lives in New York City. He has poor vision and cooks a good egg. Most of his money is spent on live music and produce. He usually wears plain, solid color sweatshirts without hoods because he assumes loud patterns make people expect something big. Typically, he'll bypass a handshake and go straight for the hug.