One woman’s day was ruined after being called a “mean lady” for refusing to share her food with a stranger’s child. A 22-year-old woman has recently posted on Reddit’s ‘AmITheA**hole’ forum after she was publicly berated in a park after trying to “unwind” after working all day.
In her post, the woman explained she had packed a book and a basket of food in order to spend some time in a nearby park, but her relaxing moments were disrupted when a little girl, who appeared to be about four years old, kept bothering her.
The woman wrote: “As I was reading and enjoying my snacks I had a little girl come up to me a few times which I would acknowledge with a smile and then go back to reading my book. It came to the point where I would just ignore her when I sensed her coming because I wasn’t up for engaging in a conversation with anyone due to being drained from work.”
After the sixth time, the little girl began “eyeing up” the food and decided to sit down on the woman’s blanket, which led to the woman trying to find the child’s parents.
The woman added: “I looked around for her parents and I shortly see her mum coming up to me and apologising for her daughter disrupting me. I told her it was OK and carried on reading my book after she took her daughter back to the playground.”
However, things took a turn for the worse when the little girl kept coming up to the woman, leading more of the child’s relatives to get involved. The girl once again came up to the woman and said, “I like strawberries” while pointing at the woman’s basket, which led to the woman growing uncomfortable.
The woman explained: “Another lady who the kid referred to as her aunt then came up to us and was telling me what a nice little set-up I had. I thanked her and thought she would take her niece away, but then I hear the kid telling her she wants some of my food.
“The aunt then asks me if it would be OK for her niece to have some of my food. I politely told her I wasn’t comfortable sharing my food due to personal preference and pointed out that there was a café nearby where they could purchase their own.”
This caused the aunt to grow angry, and she called the woman “selfish” and a “mean lady” for refusing to share with a hungry child. The woman wrote: “I told her that it’s unfortunate that she feels that way but I’m not obligated to feed her niece and asked her if she ever heard of schools teaching kids to not accept food from strangers before.”
Despite refusing, the aunt began yelling loudly that she hoped her niece would never become that selfish, causing other people at the park to begin giving dirty looks at the woman despite not knowing the full story.
After her day was spoiled, the woman returned home and told her mother what happened, who scolded the woman. She wrote: “I came home and told my mum what happened as a light-hearted story during dinner but she told me I should’ve just shared my food with the child even though she knows the reason why I don’t like to share food in general.”
She added: “[My mum said] that she, ‘Didn’t raise me to be a selfish person’ to the point I couldn’t have given her at least one strawberry. I told her it’s not my responsibility to feed other people’s kids and that just because someone asks for something it doesn’t mean they will get it.”
The woman confessed the whole citation has led her to feel “kind of petty” so she decided to post about the situation online to ask social media users if she was in the wrong.
The post has quickly gained popularity and many users have rushed to the comment section to assure the woman she was not in the wrong.
One of the most popular comments said: “Those people should have been watching their damn kid and not have let them just dillydally about visiting complete strangers. They were totally negligent of what this child was doing, and when the little girl was begging you for food, they didn’t bother to teach her the principle that things that others have are not their own.”
Another person wrote: “Don’t give in to bullies, the aunt couldn’t get her way so she decided to humiliate you. Your mother sounds like a ‘don’t rock the boat’ type.”
Someone else commented: “You’re not wrong for not wanting to share. Kids need to learn that not everybody is required to share with them.”
The woman thanked all the users for their advice and opinions, and said she had learned what to do if a similar situation arises again She said: “For future solo picnic outings, I will be sure to bring a bottle of grown-up grape juice (& possibly a water spray bottle for negative disassociation like some of you suggested) as a way of implying to wandering eyes this is indeed a special big girl meal that they can have when they are older and financially self-sufficient.”
For all the latest Lifestyle News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
