People Speak Up About Their Frustrating "Choosing Beggars" Stories
20. I'm Already Giving It Away For Free, So Chill With The Extra Demands
“This weekend I advertised on a social media marketplace a hot water heater I had taken out. It was older but worked just fine. I put it up free to a good home. The entire process of trying to GIVE a hot water heater away was an epic saga, but this particular person takes the cake.
This conversation took about two hours and other people were messaging in between.
Lots of messages.
Her: Is this still available?
Me: Yes this is still available.
Her: Great, I really want it.
….. 15 minutes go by while I wait for something I can respond to.
Her: I’m desperate. I paid $30 for one that didn’t work and I really need one. My kids have to wash in cold water.
Me: I’m happy to help. When can you come get it? You’ll need a vehicle to hold it, and someone to help you move it.
Her: I don’t have a truck.
Me: I’m sorry to hear that, if you know someone with one they might be able to help.
Her: I don’t know anybody because I just moved here. My ex hurt me and I had to get away.
Me: It sounds like things haven’t gone well for you lately. If you can find someone to help, let me know.
Her: Can you bring it to me? I really need it and my kids are going to get sick.
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t have a truck
Her: Just put it in your car. You’re only about 15 minutes away from me.
Me: If anyone I know has a truck and is willing to bring it, I’ll let you know.
Her: Oh thank you!!!!!! How long will it take you to install it? And can you bring me $30 to pay for the one that didn’t work?
Me: …………………..
Me: Oh, one of the people that said they wanted it earlier is here to get it. I’m sorry about that.
Her: WHAT? You said I could have it. Tell them they can’t have it, it’s mine.
Her: Hey! Are you there?
Her: Hey! What’s your number and address?
Me: (15 minutes later…I ignored her) Oh man, I just saw this. They already left with it. I’m so sorry.
Her: JERK! You already gave it to me.
You need to get me one to replace it.
I didn’t respond, blocked her, and ended the listing.
On the good side, the people who came and got it seemed to be in bad shape themselves, but they showed up, picked it up, took it away, thanked me profusely, and everything was fine. Unfortunately, the ratio of idiots to good folks was painfully high.”
Another User Comments:
“I listed bunk beds for free.
I got the desperate need conversation. Kids have no beds, I’m in a custody battle so I desperately need them. She had family members with trucks and would get back to me with a time. I held them for her to get a ride. This continued day after day, with excuses. I explained after the first week that the new bed was in and they had to be moved so now they were in our dining room and in the way.
I needed them gone as soon as possible. After 3 weeks of the runaround, she stopped responding so I listed them again. My husband thought that if I listed for a few bucks, I might get more activity because at this point we are about to have to put them out in the weather. Listed for $15. Immediately got a response. Within hours she is there to get them.
She thanks me and tells me why they are so needed. Her sister-in-law is in a custody battle … I sold them to the same person that wouldn’t pick them up for free.” fatbulousme
Another User Comments:
“Words cannot express the level of choosy beggar. A complete stranger wanted something for free, delivered, installed, and $30 on top just because. And tried to hold you hostage over the welfare of her children.
And to take ‘Yes, this is still available’ as you agreeing to a future exchange, along with providing a list of tertiary conditions that you didn’t agree to whatsoever.
A person that wanted it earlier, got there first: tough cookies.
If CB goes around asking for favors and calling people ‘jerk’ if their gross demands aren’t met, then they are going to run out of help fast.” BobBeats
19. I Put So Much Thought Into Her Birthday Only For It To Go Unappreciated
“I (29F) hesitate to call this girl (29F) a friend because I really didn’t know her that well. We met through a local group for a hobby we both had. We hung out a couple of times and texted a bit, but we weren’t close friends.
During one of the times we were hanging out to work on our hobby, she complained that all of her friends were busy on the day of her actual birthday but she really wanted to celebrate that day instead of waiting for the weekend or whatever.
She sounded so down about it and I felt bad, so I told her I would take her out.
It was only a couple of days away and I was on a super tight budget, but another one of our friends from the hobby group and I took her out to lunch at a cute cafe (we paid for her meal). She griped about the food the entire time but I shrugged it off, and afterward, the three of us went back to my place for some ice cream that I made sure fit all of her dietary restrictions.
While I was dishing up the ice cream, she disappeared into my bedroom and shut the door.
Our other friend and I were confused but thought maybe she was having a wardrobe malfunction or taking a phone call, so we let her be for about ten minutes before going to check on her. She didn’t respond when we knocked on the door, so we let ourselves in and found her sitting on my bed with her arms crossed, tears streaming down her face.
We asked what was wrong and she said she was upset that it took us so long to check on her.
I was getting ticked off at this point but wanted to keep the peace so simply explained why we didn’t immediately run after her. After some groveling, we got her to come out for ice cream.
Before she left, I gave her a small gift that I had sewn by hand (tight budget, remember?).
She didn’t say thank you. She looked it over and said ‘Ehh. I don’t like the color but maybe I can dye it.’
Needless to say, we didn’t speak much after that.”
Another User Comments:
“She ran away into your bedroom and was upset nobody chased her down and kissed her feet and treated her like the princess she thinks she is?
Oh no, what a piece of trash. I had a friend and roommate like this, too.
The inflated sense of self-importance was too much. She got angry at me for buying a gift for another friend and refused to speak to me for weeks. When she finally spoke to me, she said she was surprised I didn’t try to fix the issue. What issue? I bought a gift for a friend and she threw a fit about it. It’s not mine to ‘fix’.
Screw that bull.” Cole__MacGrath__
Another User Comments:
“If someone did that for me on my birthday, that would have been awesome. Every handmade gift I’ve received I’ve kept. Heck, I still have three little birds my friend made me out of ribbon when I was going through a rough patch. You’re an awesome person for doing all of that for her. Don’t let someone like that get you down.” theluce39
18. Yeah, We Don't Do Large Repairs At The Free Repair Cafe
“My local library has started doing Repair Cafés where people bring in anything from jewelry to small engines, to electronics to be repaired rather than be replaced. I own my own computer repair business and I volunteer there to help give back to the community that got me where I am.
95% of the people that go just need simple help like their computer needs a cleanout or they want help with email on their phone.
Then there was this one guy with a dead laptop.
He slams this old Windows XP laptop on the table in front of me and says ‘fix it’, no context or anything. I ask him ‘what’s wrong with it’ and he says ‘won’t turn on.’ I then look at his power cable and the first thing I see is that he pulled out the ground plug. I mention that to him and he says ‘don’t need it.’ I pull out my universal adapter to see what’s going on and there was indeed no power, no battery light, no fans, no error codes, nothing.
I do the usual pull the RAM and see what happens but of course that didn’t fix anything.
We only have about 15 minutes with each person so I tell him that there must have been a power surge and the power board is fried which happens as computers get older and without a ground plug. He tells me to fix it but I say ‘I can’t we don’t have time for major issues’ and he stomps off.
About 2 hours later he comes back as he booked another time slot (to be fair it was a slow-ish day so he wasn’t kicking someone out). When he comes back he says ‘now you should have time to fix it.’ Knowing this wasn’t going to end easily (and I felt like proving myself right that it was the board) I decided to open the case and lo and behold there was a black spot around a few chips.
I show him and say ‘this is a major repair on a laptop that isn’t even supported anymore.’ He says, ‘well I have you booked so take the chips out and make it work.’ I reply with ‘this is a free event at a local library, what you’re asking me to do takes hours and requires special equipment and if I may ask why are you so adamant about saving the laptop?’ My thought was maybe it was a family member’s but he replied, ‘it was cheap’, and stormed off.”
Another User Comments:
“Dude probably took that laptop everywhere and just got turned away.
He probably figured he found a loophole in the system. ‘They fix stuff for free so that means they’re obligated, heck yeah.'” bautin
Another User Comments:
“You should have turned him away from the moment he was treating you like you owe him to be a mind reader. Don’t take that trash when you volunteer. You don’t treat people that way, and especially not when they make an effort to help people for free!” 8euztnrqvn
17. Yeah I Definitely Just Sketch Company Logos For Fun
Another User Comments:
“There is a yoga studio in my area whose building had a very large brick wall on one side. They held a ‘contest’ for artists to submit their design for this wall and the winner would get (drum roll please) the honor of painting a huge wall and having their art on the side of it, for you know, exposure.
Reality is a bunch of moms took their kids’ pictures against the wall, posted it, and tagged the yoga studio, not the artist whose work is the literal backdrop.” HourlyAlbert
Another User Comments:
“I had a potential client come to me discussing a corporate software job.
We talked about doing some spec work to land their client (I often do subcontracting) and so I did a prototype, which I expected would be for basically no money. He came back after and actually offered me an amount that was pretty reasonable for what I had done, saying that he didn’t want me to work for free, which was nice.
He then says the client wants to move on to the ‘next stage’.
This would be a fully functional version, that not only had to be accurate to their product, but also quite well featured, with multiple configuration options, with a custom interaction system, using an experimental platform, look good, but also be super-efficient and load quickly. It would also potentially extend to be an actual tool for their clients to configure their products. So…. Quite a lot.
But he says there would be a budget of ’67 grand’, an amount that I could see working with the number of outside contractors and time required.
It was only in our next conversation when discussing the budget further that I realise he didn’t say ’67’. He said 6 or 7. For all of it.
I let him know that this would accomplish about 10% of what was required. I could pay a guy below rate to put together a part of the configurator perhaps. He asks when we could get started. I then have to explain that it wouldn’t be enough for me to get anything actually working as I’d be working for weeks, for zero pay and the end result wouldn’t be good.
He asked when we could start. Again. This time very aware that he was asking me to work for free. No pay. For probably 2 months. And was ticked off when I said flat out no and that I would not be doing it.
Oh… And I also found out that the ultimate client already had a configurator on another more expensive platform, but wouldn’t share it with us for nonsense corporate reasons.
At this point, I’d had enough. This led to me having to explain to him that the end product going down this path would be useless. That the entire project was fantastically ill-conceived and a waste of time. If it was to prototype… We’d done that. If it was to work out a configurator… They have that. So unless it was going to be done properly there was no point.
He let me know that he was going to look bad telling them he couldn’t do what he’d said he would.
Yes, yes I would suppose so.” RedofPaw
16. Tear Down Our House And We'll Repay You With The Scraps
Another User Comments:
“Picture isn’t very good, but it looks like the only lumber you’re going to get is some really old plywood sheathing and dimensional lumber from the frame. I’d bet there’s a fair amount of rot and delamination in the plywood sheathing. I’d have to get a much better look at the wood, but I doubt it’s worth anywhere near the labor required to salvage it.” Bo_Jim
Another User Comments:
“So, old barn wood is incredibly in demand and expensive. My father had his 130-year-old barn torn down for $$$$$$$–all paid to him. The company even saved some of the best pieces and had a bench and a table made for him as a thank you for letting them have the barn.
This… this is not that kind of wood.” BoozeIsTherapyRight
15. You Get To Pay Me To Work On My Farm
Another User Comments:
“They need to post this as some kind of learning experience for kids to rich/upper-class families.
One of my friend’s sisters did this. Parents paid a farm for her to go work and help out in the summer.” RamenNoodles620
Another User Comments:
“My cousins do this, but not quite the same. They raise Percherons and Clydesdales. They have a weekly camp, from about mid-May to September, city people pay them 500 bucks a week to come out and do the farm chores and hang out with the animals. Now, all meals are included in the price, etc, everything that you would normally expect when paying to go somewhere. But they have people paying them to come stay at their farm and learn how to do farm chores.” Pyanfars
14. He Asked For Food Donations But Only Wanted Specific Brands
“A year or so ago there was a guy set up in the Kroger parking lot with a sign asking for food donations. My wife and I try to help people when we can, so we stopped and asked him what he needed. He said he wanted basics – he had a couple of kids to feed. We went inside and bought him a generous variety of things – mostly healthy staple-type foods, but also a few treats for the kids.
We also tried to get things that didn’t need a lot of resources to prepare, since he might be homeless or living out of his car. We even got him a can opener in case that was going to be an issue.
While my wife loaded our groceries into the car, I walked his bags of food over to him. When I gave him the bags, he didn’t thank me (which would have been cool, but no big deal).
Instead, he starts going through the bags and complaining! Apparently, we got the wrong brand of cereal. He doesn’t like the vegetables we bought. Why didn’t we get him any meat? Holy crap. I wanted to give him a lecture, but whatever – having to beg for food must be pretty rough, so why make his day any worse. But a little appreciation and humility would have been nice.
I saw him back there a couple of times since then, but I haven’t bought him anything else. That doesn’t give me any sort of smug satisfaction (I don’t like that anybody has to beg for food), but I’m not exactly rich, so I will reserve my help for people who will at least seem grateful for what I can give them!”
Another User Comments:
“My mother-in-law and I were shopping for dinner at her local grocery store (Kroger’s or HyVee, I can’t remember) and there was a man out in the parking lot asking for money.
She told him that she didn’t have cash, but she would buy him dinner and he could come with us to the store to pick something out.
He was a clean-cut guy, just down on his luck: or so I thought. Anyways, he bypassed the deli and ready-to-eat stuff and went straight for the meat. He picked out a huge rack of ribs that had a price tag of $50+.
I would have said a big ‘suck it’ on that one, but good thing my mother-in-law is smarter than that. She bought it for him but had the price tag/label marked by the cashier that they couldn’t be returned. All of a sudden the guy got really angry and left in a huff.
Guess who got ribs that night?” Karen_from_AP
Another User Comments:
“‘Oh you don’t want this? Okay, I’ll take it back.’
It is so bizarre to me that people’s preferences become so much stronger than their survival instincts. If I was really starving, (not the ‘I haven’t eaten in 6 hours and I’m starving’ kind of starving) I’d eat whatever I could.” Rakatango
13. You Get What You Pay For
Another User Comments:
“You know, looking at the fantastic work he does with his art, that’s not even a bad price for a custom portrait. I certainly couldn’t afford that myself because I’m poor as heck, but I think that’s more than a fair price considering the quality.
I’ll never get why people insist on trying to get artists to work for free. Stuff takes training, time, and software and/or materials depending on the medium. Feels like the most common target for CBs still…” Cantras0079
Another User Comments:
“He didn’t even draw the seat belt. What a rip-off.” ATCrow0029
12. I Don't Have To Pay You If What We're Doing Is Just For Fun
Another User Comments:
“I don’t understand why people aren’t just more open.
In my experience online, if I’m doing something for fun and reach out for support, people flock to help.
I guarantee that if he had responded with:
‘Thanks, but I’m just messing around making music and hoping to just have an online jam session, not a serious endeavor that requires a professional like you.’
Other musicians who just want to make music would have volunteered.
It’s satisfying how jerks like this guy manage to signal to helpful communities that they should stay far far away from.” Reformedjerk
Another User Comments:
“So I’m a music major at a largish music school, and a nearby-ish med school asked one of our professors if our jazz band could come and play at their graduation. Normally this isn’t a big deal, we’re not incredible but we do occasionally get asked to play various events and the professor is well known in the area and has a lot of connections that help with this.
Naturally, he asked the person what their budget was for us, to which they responded that they expected us to ‘perform for the experience.’ He said he’d appreciate it if one of their doctors could perform a check-up on him for an issue he had for ‘experience’ and they hung up on him.
People expecting musicians to work for free is disgusting. I did an internship at a studio a few years ago where I was not compensated save for one time when I had to do something that went well above and beyond what the internship required, and even then was paid a week later than they said I would be.
Had several weeks of over 80 hours of work a week, got treated like trash, was expected to drive around picking up artists’ lunch/partners/etc, and was never even compensated for the gas. Naturally, that studio is failing because almost no one is willing to get any work done for them anymore.
If you are a musician, artist, engineer, etc. and need to do an unpaid internship, get it done as quickly as possible and then never work for free again.” Statue_left
11. I Tipped 20% And That Still Wasn't Good Enough
“Ok but like… I tipped 20%? Am I wrong for thinking that’s a bit off-putting to say that to a customer?”
Another User Comments:
“I recently took a taxi and the driver complained the entire time how it sucks to be a taxi driver because customers don’t tip much and he has two children to feed at home.
The end fare was 6$ and I gave him 10$ because he basically implied for me to leave him a big tip the whole way.
And he suddenly went quiet, then mumbled something and drove away. Really don’t know how much he was expecting… But screw people like this.” Reddit User
Another User Comments:
“This really isn’t your fault.
A) you have no idea how far the store is, or where he started from.
B) If you tipped $4.50 as a 20% tip, that means your order was around $22.50. That means this person took a 17-mile trip for a $22.50 order, which should clearly not be a good investment for him.
C) Even if you tipped 50%, which is clearly far above what any reasonable person would tip, that’s $11 for a 17-mile drive.
He shouldn’t have taken the route.
After seeing some long and elaborate ways of calculating how to tip properly based on a myriad of factors, I’m glad to be European.” Kari-kateora
10. My Receptionist Pretends My Partner's Flowers Are For Her...And Demands He Send Better Ones
“So my partner buys me really unique bouquets/arrangements of flowers every now and then and sends them to my office. It always goes to the receptionist first as she has to check in all deliveries. So one day she calls me up and says I have a gift at the front, so I head downstairs. I go to grab them and she asks me to wait and back up so she can get the perfect picture of them.
I was confused but I let her take a pic because they were beautiful. I see on her snap chat she took a pic of them captioning it ‘thanks so much babe I LOVE the flowers.’ I mean whatever, that’s pathetic but who cares. She’s known to do that all the time (take pics of other people’s cars, jewelry, etc and claim it as her own on social media.)
Anywho, I get another call months later for a gift at the front.
Now this time I go down and she is PICKING OUT THE FLOWERS SHE DOESN’T LIKE! I ask her what she is doing and she says she wants to take another pic but doesn’t really like the arrangement this time and maybe next time he should just get roses?! I snatched the flowers away and told her off because.. wow. Maybe buy your own flowers then? After writing this out, it seems pretty stupid to get as heated as I did at that moment but I was so shocked she didn’t find anything wrong with what she was doing.
I’ve been wanting to rant about that for a while lol.”
Another User Comments:
“Those arrangements are insanely expensive, especially considering some random woman at your work is destroying it before you get to see it. As far as I’m concerned this is an HR matter for damaged property, and I’d tell her as much.” [deleted]
Another User Comments:
“pretends to have a partner on social media
wonders why she’s single
I don’t get these people.
My dad used to be friends with this guy who had an auto shop, he eventually gave all the responsibilities to his son who let the shop’s name go down.
One time, my mom’s boss (who also happens to be dad’s client) took his BMW z3 to said shop. Car took longer to be returned, on one of these days that the repair was ‘delayed’ one of the boss’s kids saw the car parked at a mall, they stayed behind to watch as this guy NEVER goes to malls. Cue friend’s son getting out of the car with his girl.
Boss was reasonably angry and took a lot of excuses and apologies to win him over. Even his businesses with my dad were at risk because of this.” mixi_e
9. I Expect All 63 Subs To Be Made In Minutes
Another User Comments:
“Imagine this tho! You work retail and you’re waiting for the right time to fight your one customer, come Christmas time you haven’t used it, and the customers can’t tell if you’ve used it or not. All the retail staff has to use it or lose it so are snapping over small things, and all the customers are being super nice. What a time to be in retail.” Penfrog15
Another User Comments:
“As a manager at Subway, this extra upsets me.
Subway does catering! If you want a ridiculously large order you can get it but we need time to prepare. No store will have 63 loaves of bread already made and they might not have enough ingredients. If we know ahead of time we will make arrangements and get your stupid order ready when you need it but if you walk into my store asking for that right then and there I will politely ask you to leave and never come back.” DarkApartment
8. Oh You Offered To Pay For My Groceries? Just Let Me Grab A Few More Things
Another User Comments:
“I had a similar situation happen to me. A pregnant lady with two kids held up a sign and brought it to me and my daughter. I read the sign and decided I would buy them one thing they needed because I didn’t have much money myself. She says okay and grabs some things but I don’t notice.
She put a 42$ baby formula can up there and I was like oh my god, that’s more than I could afford but I went ahead with it since I already said I would help.
She proceeded to add two more things and I reminded her that I said I could only buy one thing and added that I can’t even afford my own stuff now with the expensive formula. She said, ‘Oh I thought you could also get these for me, but that’s okay.’ Left me feeling really uneasy for a while afterward.” NihilisticZay
Another User Comments:
“My father is on disability due to a work injury some years ago, and his check normally comes at the same time every week like clockwork, so he got into the habit of not checking for it and assuming it would hit at the same time it always did.
He went to ALDI a couple of years ago to grab some sorely needed food for himself, my mother, and their dog. His total was something like $30, and when he went to pay, he realized his check hadn’t come through. He was mortified, and so apologetic, while also panicking about not having enough gas to get home and then back out to the gas station/store as they live in a rural area, and about him and my mom missing another meal while waiting for the money to come through (they always feed the dog before themselves if it comes down to it—she can’t help that they have no money and doesn’t deserve to suffer because of her human’s poor circumstances).
A younger woman around my age (25 or so at the time) behind him in line offered to pay for his groceries. I wish I had that woman’s contact information so I could thank her personally (he thanked her profusely, but still, it absolutely breaks my heart to think of him in that situation) because people don’t realize how much of an impact something like that has on people who are living check to check and with their money spread so thin.
I think about it often and try to help others out in situations like that when I see them. I am in no way financially solvent and live paycheck to paycheck myself, but if I have enough in my pocket or account to help, I do. He cried when he told me the story, which of course made me cry, too. I can’t even fathom someone reacting this way to another person trying to do a good deed. Some people are just genuine jerks.” Danal_Brownski
he matters I don't anyways the coupon was for like 5 cans of really expensive formula because he was colicky and the gentlemen behind me offers to pay. I said I couldn't possibly let him pay 250 dollars for something that was otherwise already paid for it finally hit me I had no choice but I put 4 of the 5 cans back and told him the one can, which was still like 60 bucks, would last me till I could come back with the right info to use the wic. He paid and gave me another 20 for gas. I tried crazily to give it back. How anyone can be like these people I've read about is sickening.
7. Sounds Like This Person Needs A Reality Check
Another User Comments:
“We are some of the most unappreciated people sometimes. I’ve been doing makeup for a long time and have always been happy to gift my services for certain events for friends and family. 2 of my sisters hired their own artists and told me not to worry about it. I didn’t, one of them asked me the day before the wedding if I would do makeup for 5 people.
The other one asked me to come by early for pictures and when I arrived, I was asked to do makeup for 7 people. I’ve since sworn off weddings for people I know.” synfulyxinsane
Another User Comments:
“I love how people are so confident that when they are invited to events like this they become instant celebrities and everybody would kill to interview them.
I’ll tell you a secret: nobody cares if you are invited to some party with celebrities.
It will not change your life, nothing will change, and nobody would even care for some random party guest. No.
There is this false feeling of ‘importance’ when you are around really influencing and important people. But guess what: the only person who really remembers this is you. After 20 years you will be like ‘I was once at Heidi Klum’s party.’ But no one else would remember, recognize or even care. Seriously.
People: stop pursuing false promises, and stop acting like you can change your awful life at one party/event.
For being really recognizable you have to work hard, sacrifice A LOT and be realistic in life. No nonsense allowed.” stadoblech
6. Using Our Tap Water Comes At A Price
Another User Comments:
“I did a job for a client like this. He paid us to put in some trim caulk and paint it, he even got a couple of free extras out of me because I was there and it was no big deal to do a little extra.
When we were done he wanted a deduction for the trash we put in his trash can, the water we used, and the electricity to run the compressor and vacuum.
It became an argument, then he refused to pay us anything until we wrote him a deductive change order. So I wrote him a deductive change order for utilities but added in the extras he asked for to make it a zero dollar change order and he threw a fit and refused to pay us anything.
I had to file a mechanic’s lien on his house and he fought this all the way to small claims court.
It is now specifically written in our contract that we don’t pay for water, electricity, and trash disposal. If you ever wonder why some contractors who do small jobs have long contracts, this is why. In the end, we got paid but it took months.” Phat3lvis
Another User Comments:
“That’s when you calculate the real cost of that water bottle and leave it on the counter for them.
My mother-in-law used to complain about me using my wife’s car (which I co-signed for) to go grocery shopping when she put gas in the tank, saying ‘you know I put gas in that car, could you put some back in the tank when you use it.’ I calculated the mileage out for her and left her 15¢ on her table, saying she could add that in next time she buys gas. That complaining ended pretty quickly. I didn’t even have the energy to get into my grievances against her taking our car without asking any time she wanted just because she put gas in it. And it’s also the reason why my car will remain a manual for the foreseeable future.” Doomedbury
5. Reconnect Just To Make Us Pay For Your Meals? You'll Never See Us Again
“A former neighbor recently reconnected with my parents. They hadn’t seen each other for about 20 years, She found my mom on social media. She asked if my parents would like to go to dinner with her and her new husband. She explained that she had 2 ‘buy one meal, get one meal for free’ coupons for a local restaurant. The restaurant was known for being a little pricey, but knowing one of my parents’ meals would be free made it seem ok.
When it came time for the check, the waitress asked how they would like the bill to be split. The former neighbor presented the 2 coupons and proudly stated that she and her husband were eating free. The waitress then pointed out the free meal had to be of equal or lesser value. Both my parents’ meals were around $30 each while the other two meals were over $40 each.
To this, the former neighbor just said ‘that’s fine’ and handed her the coupons.
The waitress returned with the bill for the two higher-priced meals with my parents’ meals removed by the coupons. My dad then asked, ‘shall we split this in half?’
The neighbor replied, ‘No, OUR meals were covered by the coupons.’
My parents attempted to politely explain that they were now having to pay over $26 more than if my parents came on their own and ordered the same thing.
The neighbor didn’t follow that logic but then the neighbor’s new husband added that neither of them brought any money.
My dad reluctantly paid the bill. The neighbor said as they were leaving ‘this was fun, we should do it again.’
My dad just said ‘no’ and then both my parents just walked away.”
Another User Comments:
“OMG! I think I would have gone to speak to someone about splitting the check, and then paid my half in full.
The other couple could use one coupon and save the other for the next time they want to sucker someone into dinner. What terrible people.” black_cat_2446
Another User Comments:
“I would have rejected the bill and said that the other couple was on their own separate tab.
I had someone do something similarly awful to me when they invited me out to their birthday party.
Seven years ago or so.
Korean BBQ, family-style restaurant, grill your own food setup. Fifteen to twenty people showed up, my partner and me included.
I suggested that I get my own items as my partner was a recent college graduate and unemployed, and I was underemployed at a retail store while still in college. Money was tight. I was assured it wouldn’t be so bad because we would have fifteen to twenty people splitting the bill.
Plenty of food was ordered and eaten, not much from my partner and me, and when the bill came SEVERAL people either chipped in $5 or NONE. Like three or four people were unemployed and provided nothing.
It came around to me, my partner, and my friend who had $160 to split between the three of us.
I loudly exclaimed I’m not spending $80+ on the paltry amount of food I had gotten, nor would I have agreed because I originally wanted to order just an entree to split for less than $20.
Her friends were taking advantage of the fact that her kindness and someone else paying the bill would just be okay with it. I chipped in $40 reluctantly and left.
The whole bill was like ~$250, and would have only been $20 per person if the math was correct.” metallicapirate
4. Coffee In Exchange For A Free Website? I Don't Think So
“This happened around two years ago. I had some free time and decided to build an eCommerce site. I work as a full-stack developer for a gaming company but I also try to learn other things outside my current work projects on the side as a hobby to broaden my scope.
Anyway, I paid for hosting, domain parking, etc with my own money just to play with and make a small project.
When I managed to get one running, I set it up for my aunt’s cupcake shop. I gave it to her as a kind of thank you gift for always giving me free cupcakes on special occasions.
She was delighted. My aunt started bragging about it to all her friends. They didn’t pay much attention to it until it started to pick up in 2020. Having an online shop helped her business.
Then one of her friends got so interested and asked my aunt to ask me to make one for her too… for free.
It’s not free to host a website. Not to mention the effort I would have to spend working on it. But I don’t wanna make it sound like I made a big deal for my aunt. It was just a hobby project. So I just told my aunt I can’t cause I’m busy at the moment.
This did not stop her though. She kept pestering my aunt to ask me stuff about my project. More of the how’s now. She said she’s gonna make one herself. She just needs some guidance on where to start.
Ok? So I started sending her stuff. Youtube tutorials, blogs, articles, and books. But it did not stop there. My aunt can’t handle her anymore, she gave her my details.
So now she communicates with me directly. She says she’s having a hard time understanding anything I sent her. Then she messaged me something like this (I am paraphrasing, we don’t talk in English):
‘Could you be a dear and help an old lady out? Why don’t we meet during your break time and you could teach me how to do this stuff. Once or twice a week?’
I tried to politely explain to her that there are classes she could take if she’s really into this stuff.
‘But can’t you do it? I feel like I will be more comfortable learning from you. Let’s just meet and discuss this further in person, shall we?’
Hmm. I tried to dissuade her by joking that my rates are more than double those online courses I sent. And I’m fully booked. She must pay the reservation fee if she wants a slot.
‘But I will only take a fraction of your time.
How about if coffee is on me instead? Come on, let’s meet up.’
Sorry, but no thanks I said. She made some more attempts to convince me to meet up with her, one time she even said just to talk. I never replied to any of them. I think she may be just a lonely old lady, and just using this as an excuse to hang out with people.”
Another User Comments:
“Good for you for standing your ground.
If you had gone to that meetup, it never would’ve ended. You give a CB an inch & they take a mile. You sent her resources, you didn’t need to meet up for free also.” AnthonyDigitalMedia
Another User Comments:
“I’m a software dev, and my ex-MIL had asked me to help her make a website for a club she belonged to. I had gotten better about telling people no by then, so I told her she’d have to pay me $50/hour. She asked if I could get it done in two hours. I laughed and said no.
Later I sent her a link to Wix, but I don’t think she ever bothered to look into it.” ladyithis
3. Free Lunch? Let Me Add Extra To My Order
Another User Comments:
“I have a cousin (Larry) who once took this girl (Mandy, I think) out. He told her he was going to take her to dinner and a movie. When he showed up at her house to pick her up, her mom and 2 younger brothers got in the car as well. He asked Mandy about it and she said that they were going to see a movie and thought it was cool if he gave them a ride since they were going there anyway.
Wanting to not make anything awkward Larry said sure. They hung around for the restaurant portion and sat at the table next to Larry and Mandy. When the check came Larry noticed a few extra charges on the bill. He stands up and walks over to the waiter to check. The waiter says that the mom told him that Larry was paying for everyone’s meal. Larry went back to the table, waited 10 minutes while the mom and brothers finished their dessert, excused himself to the restroom, and walked out only giving the hostess enough money to cover his meal and tip.” 800008ies
Another User Comments:
“I was arranging a paid summer internship through a charity that I support in Scotland, the interviews were taking place on a site about a 50-minute train from Glasgow.
Everyone else being interviewed sent in their expenses of around £30-£40 for travel, one kid sent a request for £400 because rather than get the train he’d taken a cab from Glasgow and told the cab driver to wait outside so he could take the same one back after the 3-hour interview.” Stirlingblue
2. Free Pizza Just For The Kids? No, We Want Free Pizza For Everyone
Another User Comments:
“This is the only CB story I can believe without any question because this happens everywhere.
One time, when I was working at a museum, we had a roped-off area as we were opening an exhibit that day and only those who registered or were otherwise invited could enter.
Some family comes in and a kid goes into the roped-off area, finds a bag of Oreos that we didn’t put out yet, opens it, takes like 3 Oreos, eats them, and then his little brother was upset.
The mother asked my boss where the Oreos were so that her other son could have them.
‘We haven’t even opened the Oreos…did your older son open our Oreos??? No – they’re for the exhibition today at noon.’
The mother storms off yelling ‘NEXT TIME YOU HAVE A PARTY, MAKE SURE THAT THERE’S ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE.’
I get being disappointed that you are excluded from someone’s generosity or in our case, a mistake, but there are far more effective ways of handling it…or even negotiating your way through it than making a scene.” nobody2000
Another User Comments:
“Schools are canceled here for a week and the cable company is going to give free internet to the kids who don’t already have it due to not affording it.
Can you guess how many people who do pay for it are freaking out because they don’t get it free now too? Come on people. People have no generosity.
My husband and I secretly pay for a girl at my daughter’s dance school because last year at the recital she was sobbing because she wouldn’t be able to dance the next year because her family couldn’t afford it and told her it was her last one.
Then during this year we find out her sister also started dancing in one dance and the dad figured out how to pay for her. It’s kind of bothersome but honestly what matters to me is that the girl who loves to dance can dance and I’m not going to worry about what her awful parents (she’s got a rough home life) actually can and cannot afford.” Ynot2_day
1. I'm Not Picky But That Car Is Ugly So I Don't Want It
Another User Comments:
“When I needed a car I didn’t care what it looked like.
I ended up with a Sunfire. A SUNFIRE. I was ecstatic that I had a car at all. It was my first car at 30 years old lol. Better late than never?
People like this make me angry. Be thankful for whatever you end up with.” RuledByCats
Another User Comments:
“My last car was a pretty awful car. It cost 3 grand. I got it for a bit of a deal because my dad’s friend bought the car for his daughter who was unemployed. She refused the car after he fixed it up a bit after getting it on the cheap.
I can’t imagine refusing a car if I was unemployed.” ohio4life
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What a putz. I imagine they were stunned people didn't leap at the chance. This is why "people don't wanna work anymore".