I bought a woman's lunch today - was I being played?

[dpbrown]

I was standing in line at Subway waiting for my sandwich, as I watched the woman and the child who was with her working with the manager at the cash register trying to get her debit card to run. It wouldn't run. Whether there was no money there or there was something wrong with the card, I don't know. The manager said they didn't take checks, but that she could write a check and come back and pay cash and get the check back. I paid with a $20 and had about $15 in change when he was telling her that her bill was $10 and change. As I was getting my change back I gave it back to the manager and told him this was for their lunch. She told me I didn't have to do that, and I said, "Merry Christmas." I don't know what persuaded me to do that, but I just did. I felt good picking up someone's tab during the holidays. Heck, it's been hard for everyone.

So was that a cool thing to do or was I getting played by a goldbricker?

[progmom]

1. just feel good about what you did

doesn't sound like you were being played at all. :hi:

[Rising Phoenix]

2. it was a very cool thing to do...

its the little things...

[Shakespeare]

3. Oh, wow....no, I don't think you were being played.

That must have been deeply embarassing for the woman to have her debit card rejected, and was probably accompanied by a little panic on what to do about the lunch for her and her child.

You did a very kind thing--thank you for caring about those who are struggling right now.

[radwriter0555]

4. You did a nice thing. That's all you need to know and feel good about.

that was very sweet.

[texanwitch]

5. No, you did the right thing,

I recently gave someone $5 for gas, I don't know if his story was true but if it was he really needed a few gallons of gas.

Sometimes helping someone is just the right thing to do. What goes around, comes around.

[redqueen]

6. Cool thing to do.

:yourock:

:loveya:

[Sannum]

7. Nah...

You did a good thing. :hi:

One time, I had about 1400.00 on my debit card, but it would not run at all when I went to go get lunch. It turns out that the bank flagged a transaction that I made when there was a computer glitch at the Gap, and I had to enter my PIN about six times for it to go through. Because of this, the bank flagged my card without my knowledge and put a hold on any further transactions for that day. I had cash, but god, it was so embarrassing!

[JVS]

8. You played yourself. She didn't ask you for the money.

[Left Is Write]

9. It doesn't sound as if you were getting played.

Someone playing you probably would have started talking to you about her problem. She had no way of knowing you would pick up her tab.

And what a nice thing for you to do!

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. LOL! I thought, "gender specific lunches? WTF?"

Especially with the "Was I being played?" question. I thought, "Yeah, if you bought a woman's lunch, you were indeed played."

But I see now I read it wrong.

:rofl:

Sorry, I'm tired and sick, so I'm finding this endlessly amusing.


And no, I don't think you were played at all, since the woman never asked for any financial help. I think it was a nice gesture! She might very well be wealthy or at least not poor at all and just had a problem with the debit card, but even so, a nice gesture is always a nice gesture.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

27. There is definitely something very wrong with you.

But I gotta say I love it.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[pdx_prog]

11. It doesn't matter....

You're the one getting the good karma from it.....:)

You get a hunch in these situations whether or not the people are truthful...

[Orsino]

12. That was a wonderful deed, but...

...you forgot to say, "Happy Holidays!" Now, her Christmas won't be ruined.

Wake up!

[MissMillie]

13. My advice is to look upon the entire episode in a positive light

You did something positive. You felt good about it.

Don't poison it with questions about her intent.

[miss_american_pie]

14. Kind thing to do

Regardless of her intention, and I don't think she was working you.

[Dangerously Amused]

15. A man after my own heart.

I don't think you got played, and even if you did, so what? Your intent is what matters with respect to Karma; another person subversively taking advantage of your kindness in no way diminishes your kindness. Understandably, one does not wish to encourage (as opposed to enable) incorrigible persons, but this clearly was not the case here. I am reminded of the bishop giving Jean Valjean the two silver candlesticks in Les Miserables.

Empirically, it is true that kindness begets kindness. And you were certainly kind. No worries, then, eh?


Anyway dude, I think you are the coolest!

Series!!1!1!!


:loveya:

[hfojvt]

16. if the woman was

KW then you surely were being played.

Better keep your head down the rest of the day, you know no good deed goes unpunished.

I also like what Rabrrrr said. A woman's lunch? What is that, a salad? Quiche? or what? You should be eating a Hardees thickburger you girly mon.

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. 'Practice random acts of kindness

and senseless acts of beauty."

Y'done good.

:applause:

[Misunderestimator]

18. Goldbricker? That's a new one.... If you meant golddigger...

I'm curious why you would even think a thing like that. Did she give you the impression of being a user? Setting you up? Something like that?

Otherwise... uh... no... helping someone out is a nice thing to do.

[Bucky]

21. "goldbricker" is old army slang for lazybones (ie, "pretty, but useless")

If she was a gold digger she'd have slept with him for a couple of more lunches.

[Misunderestimator]

23. Wow... well, somehow that's even more insulting.

I wonder how she give him the impression that she may be useless?

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. A spontaneous act of kindness was not getting played.

You chose that path, it was not forced onto you. It made you feel good, and that's fine. Go with that. Don't think it to death, friend. :hi:

[Momgonepostal]

20. It was probably legit, something similar happened to me once

My daughter and I went to KFC. I saw that I had about $6.00 and some change. I asked if they took ATM's and they said "yes" so I decided to go that route so I wouldn't worry about going over. I tried to run the card a couple of times and it didn't work, all the while they were assembling my food. A manager came over, looked at my card and said, "We do take ATM's but we've been having problems with that bank, so we aren't able to take THEIR ATMs." Of course, the meal came to a bit more than what I had, and so they gave me a senior discount rate LOL but I was still a tad short. By this time, my food was done and waiting. A very kind lady offered to pay the rest and I accepted. I was VERY embarrassed, and thanked her profusely. If I had known they didn't take MY kind of ATM, I would have just bought something for my daughter and paid cash.

That was really kind of you to step up and pay for her meal. :you rock:

[Aristus]

22. You did a good thing. I'm proud of you.

Makes my heart all nice and warm and fuzzy. B-)

[MsAnthropy]

24. You don't get karma credit if you question her motives

or put qualifiers on a gift so just be happy you did something nice for someone.

[bleedingheart]

25. you are a good person....

in fact your actions are more in keeping "with the season" ....

[bertha katzenengel]

26. Good for you, and don't worry about why the woman couldn't pay.

Good for you!!

[LisaL]

28. I don't see how. She didn't ask you to pay for her, you just did it.

[Lisa]

29. I'm with the earlier poster who said ...

... that even if the woman WERE a con-artist, it doesn't diminish the kindness of what you did.

And anyway, it doesn't really come across as the kind of approach which a deceptive person would have used. Even with a kid in tow, it could easily have backfired on her ... and from what I've heard, an actual swindler or free-rider wouldn't just stand there in line and guilt-trip a bunch of onlookers in the hopes that someone MIGHT buy her lunch. If she had latched onto you in the street outside and tried to wheedle lunch out of you .... that might be more suspicious. (There is a woman in my town who does this ... although the entire community cuts her some slack because she was a Holocaust survivor, is suffering from dementia, and feels compelled to hang around outside the grocery store because she has regressed to 1945 and is doing what she did back then to survive. At the very least, it's an interesting story, no?)

My fellow DUers may be amused to hear that, on a couple of occasions, I have purchased lunch for American visitors to my Canadian university campus who found out, too late, that the cafeteria did not accept US dollars! And yes, I would do this even for a Bush voter ... though my hunch is that his supporters do not spend much time hanging out around radical Canadian colleges.

[skygazer]

30. You did something nice

It doesn't matter if you were getting played (which I don't think you were). But even if that were the case, YOUR action was a good deed. Which is what matters in the whole cosmic, karmic whatever.

And it does feel good, doesn't it? :toast:

[bullwinkle428]

31. I think you did more with that one act to show the spirit of the season

than that piece of crap O'Reilly has done with all of his "War on Christmas" rants put together!

[XemaSab]

32. Think about it this way:

you bought a meal for a child and the child's mom.

:)

[victim]

33. This thread

seems like it lends itself to copy-catting

[Wapsie B]

34. That was just a nice thing to do.

That's all it was. :thumbsup:

[dpbrown]

35. Thanks, everybody!

Even if I did use the term "goldbricker" incorrectly, :silly: I am very happy :bounce: that people pretty much saw it as just, you know, doing something nice for someone.

And that's all I had in mind anyway....what the heck. 'Tis the Christmas, er, Holiday Season....

Rock on, Solstice!!!

Longer Days!

:party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya::party::loveya: