Helping people can be a rewarding experience. Of course, we shouldn’t expect anything from them in return, but it can come off as quite a surprise when they have some unkind words to say for our efforts. Here, good samaritans recall infuriating times the person they helped had an out-of-pocket comment.
All stories have been edited for clarity.
Catch Of The Day
“I was fishing from the dock at Big Bay. I had met my two-fish limit and it was now time to go home.
I started down the dock and was heading to my car when a pickup towing a 23’ bow rider began to back down the boat launch. The driver then got out of the truck and began loosening the straps holding his boat.
Trying to do the boat owner a solid, I told him that when the wind was from the north, this particular launch was untenable and that trying to launch directly into the waves was a recipe for disaster.
‘Don’t tell me how to launch my freaking boat!’ The boat owner barked at me.
‘Pardon?’ I said in disbelief. I then shook it off and said, ‘Look, my friend, the waves are going to pick your boat off of the trailer and deposit it in the bed of your truck. Don’t take the chance.’
‘Look dude, I know what the hell I’m doing,’ the man yelled.
‘Okay. Suite yourself!’ I replied and began a slow walk toward my truck.
With his boat unhooked, the driver climbed into the pickup and tried to time the waves. He waited, saw a lull, and backed down the ramp at speed. The first wave lifted the boat off of the trailer, then the second wave hit and jammed the boat into the pickup bed, shoving the bow into and through the truck’s back window, and as it receded the winch came up through the floor of the boat. The boat was sitting canted, half on the truck, the other half on the trailer.
I shook my head and started walking toward my truck. The driver got out of his truck cursing as he surveyed his totaled truck and boat. When the guy saw me leaving, he yelled again.
‘Aren’t you going to help me?’
‘I already tried!’ I shrugged at him and kept walking.'”
Hold The Door!
“Just before Christmas break, I was hanging out in the student lounge of a small college in Oregon.
The student lounge had a very impressive and HEAVY set of glass doors on one side. It was spectacular but massive. Some of the smaller students couldn’t even get them open.
As I was going up the walk towards the doors, a female student with her arms completely full of wrapped parcels came in behind me from a side path. It had been snowing, and there were icy patches under the snow.
I get to the doors a few steps ahead of her, heaved the door open, and went through. I then stopped, holding the door open, because she was just far enough behind me that the door would have swung shut.
As the student was coming up the steps, she took one look at me and said something loud enough for half the students in the lounge to hear, ‘Male chauvinist pig.’
Not even hesitating, I let go of the door and let it shut in her face. Neither I nor the door actually touched her or the parcels. I looked her in the eye, then turned and walked away.
Well, the student decided to file a complaint with the Dean. In her complaint, she said I intentionally pushed the door shut in her face in an attempt to knock her down.
Though her claims were definitely incriminating, the student was surprised when she found out that half a dozen students had already gone to the Dean and explained the whole situation.
When their accounts matched mine, and not hers, I was released without reprimand. That student was then mocked by the student body for the rest of the school year.”
Cheap Helper
“A few weeks ago I was pulling into a Burger King parking lot to pick up an order. A man was in the parking lot stopping every car that passed. He was waving his arms and stopped me after the car in front of me kept going. That’s when he said he needed a jump.
I was hesitant because I never remember how to put the clamps on right and my food was waiting.
Nonetheless, I pulled over and got out my jumper cables. The man took one look at my jumper cables and gave me a look of disgust. He then made a comment that made me wish I had just listened to my instincts and kept going.
‘You don’t have anything better than those? Those things look cheap!’
I couldn’t believe my ears. Yeah, they were cheap, but nobody else had stopped for him. I gave him the damn jump anyway even though every bone in my body wanted to say screw it and drive away.
My ‘cheap’ cables got his crappy car to start. He threw the loose jumper cables in the back of my car and got in his car without even thanking me. Wow.”
Missing Something?
“When I worked uniformed security, I regularly had some type of daily ordeal of unnecessary rudeness just for doing my job.
One time that comes to mind was when I was working security at an apartment complex. I was sitting in my station when I saw a car zoom by me with an odd object on top of the roof. I pulled out to get a better look and was shocked to see what it was. I immediately start honking and floored it to catch up to the driver to let them know of the impending trouble. I turned on my overhead lights to get their attention.
The car drove for quite a distance before the driver slowed down and came to a stop. pulled over right behind them, and got out. Once I approached the open window, a woman with an evil look on her face greeted me before she pelted with, ‘What the hell are you doing rent a cop?!?! You ain’t the police, so why you pulling me over!?’
I blinked hard. I then calmly responded.
‘Ma’am your purse is on top of your car roof, I don’t think you want it falling off in the street, I was just letting you know.’
The woman’s face softened before she got out of the car and retrieved the purse. I never got a thank you and just watched as she drove away as if nothing happened.”