Not so much what I did as what I didn’t do. I was picking up a birthday cake for one of my kids and I was standing in line behind a lady who was obviously doing the same thing. Based on her appearance and the fact that she was fumbling through her wallet while on the phone with the bank, I got the sense that she was a little short on cash.
Something told me I should go ahead and pay for her cake. I could easily afford it so why not? For whatever reason I chickened out. I don’t know why.
I left there with my kids birthday cake, feeling very ashamed of myself. It was a small thing and yet to me it was a serious moral failure.
I just put myself in that scenario and had the thought “man, what if she’s flustered about something else, and having a rough day in general, then I go and swoop in and basically accuse her of being poor in public. She’d feel terrible and I will have made her day worse.”
You would have walked out of there feeling like shit in two of the three ways that could have gone. Don’t beat yourself up over it; clearly you’re empathetic and care about people. That tells me you DO act when it’s appropriate and you do want to be a positive force in this world. Congratulations! The world is better with you in it
Best friend from high school cut me loose after my divorce. We haven’t had any contact in 20+ years. Not long ago I randomly ran across an obit where his mom died. Considered sending something to his dad since his folks were always nice to me. Probably should have done but I wussed out. Hope his dad is doing ok. Feels bad, man.
You can still send a “Hey thinking about you, thanks for being nice to me growing up.”.
The second best time is right now and all that.
You’re right, of course. It’s kind of a can of worms, though.
And…dudes parent died. Screw the worms, that was over 20 years ago.
My partner recently had a financial and vehicle emergency and to help out I moved in with her. I now drive her around and help pay for her rent. I was supposed to stay for a week and now it’s been about two months.
I moved out of my parents to do this and because I cannot afford it, I do not pay part of their rent now. They can afford to get by, but my dad’s work van recently broke down and he works out of that truck so it has affected his income and he now has to replace the van which is very expensive.
They are now struggling financially and I feel like I could help if I move back in with them to help pay for rent. They are now in the same situation my partner was in two months ago, but I have not left to help them and it eats me up inside every morning when I wake up.
You can’t save everybody. It’s already very nice you helped them out earlier
Literally all the time, but OK…
Last Saturday night, bored, make an impulse decision to buy soccer tickets. Get some really nice seats, front row of the second level. Seats 1 and 2, on the aisle.
Get to the stadium moments before kick-off, head to our section, there’s a guy and his wife sitting in the two seats on the aisle. I ask if they’re sure they’re in the right place and show him my tickets: seats 1 and 2, right on the aisle. He looks confused, apologizes, they leave. As my wife and I are sitting down, I see the little seat number I missed before. These are seats 20 and 19…the wrong end of the row from where we’re supposed to be. I mistakenly assumed the seats were numbered left to right, but they’re right to left for some reason.
Cringe, wonder if they’ll notice or if they’ll just take the open seats down on the far end of the row. Look over and I see the guy looking at seats 1 and 2 and scowling. The teams are lining up, the game has just started. I sigh and head into the concourse, catch up with the guy as he is coming back down from the right side of the section.
I apologize, say it was totally my mistake, offer to let them keep seats 1-2 since they’re here already, guy insists on taking back seats 20-19 since that’s what he paid for. Completely understand, sorry again for the misunderstanding.
While we’re in the concourse straightening things out, the home team scores what will end up being their only goal of the game. We both miss it. We go on to lose 3-1.
A few days ago. I talked about our kid with my Sambo and was telling her that some of his behavior can be annoying.
The kid walked by in the hallway, probably hearing some of that.
Felt very ashamed.
I started dating someone and then realized pretty fast I didn’t like him that way.
The dude was already pretty depressed as a baseline, and I feel like giving him hope and then taking it away like that has dropped him pretty deep into negativity.
I had to tell my GM I didn’t like their campaign, even though they put a lot of work into it :(
All the time for the past few months, I went through a break up because of my own stupidity, but recently she wants to talk again, but lightly, and with the fact that nothing romantic is possible. I tried talking to more people and even one I caught a few feelings for but I realized I didn’t actually like them and it just made me realize how great she was again. I just constantly feel guilty cause I want to try again but I know I don’t deserve another chance, and other parts of my life with me trying to find a new place to live, a new job, dealing with college classes that I didn’t really wanna do. I just feel like a constant failure when I had so much opportunity. Got depression meds, and they worked for a while, but they are working less and less now.
Almost a decade ago, back when I got my first grown up job, a homeless person came up to me on my way back from lunch and asked if he could have some food. I told him sorry and kept walking. When I got back to my seat, I realized what I had done so I went back out to try to find the guy so I could buy him a meal. Couldn’t find him. Feel like shit every time I think about it.
Someone was harassing an unrequited crush of his and I have an inkling I was harsh on the harasser because of his issues and the fact I was taunt-like when dealing with him. After a day there was an eerie silence and I thought about it for a while.
