A high school teacher on a smart budget ran into a parent with a lot of opinions and zero chill.

What started as a routine grocery run turned into a full-blown clash over class, image, and whether teachers are allowed to eat canned chicken in peace.

Read on for the story.

AITA for confronting a parent after the comment she made to me?

I (24F) am a high school teacher in a pretty wealthy small town. As far as teacher salaries go, we are paid very well.

I also happen to be an incredibly frugal person, and I have some goals for the future that are very important to me.

So, especially when it comes to recurring expenses, I will choose the cheapest option available almost always.

I could afford to pay more, but at this point in my life that doesn’t make sense to me.

The smart people’s guide to getting rich.

Yesterday, a parent saw me buying canned chicken, a bag of rice, and some tortillas from a dollar store. (I don’t think she would ever step foot in a dollar store, but the store is next to a pretty fancy gym.)

She started making comments to me about how she knows that we’re paid well, so it’s unprofessional to “make myself look poor” by buying food at the dollar store.

I tried to deflect with humor like I usually do, joking that I’m just a cheapskate.

That didn’t seem to work.

Tough crowd.

She kept asking me questions about what the kids would think (I don’t think they care), and if I really want to be viewed that way (I don’t really care).

I did have a chance to walk away, but I didn’t take it. Instead, I told her that, with all due respect, the life I live on my free time is none of her business, nor does she have any say over it.

That escalated the situation immensely. She ended up talking about how her taxes pay my salary.

That’s when I probably messed up, because I followed up with, “well in that case you should be happy I’m making those tax dollars stretch.”

It didn’t end there.

I had to have a conversation with my boss today because she sent him an email.

He didn’t say I was wrong, he understood where I was coming from completely, but he did tell me I probably should’ve just let it go.

Unprofessional? Maybe. But does escalating this situation make me TA?

Most people on Reddit said the teacher was well within her rights to defend herself.

This person says NTA, though riling her up probably wasn’t the best move.

This person says she wasn’t hurting anyone, so the teacher should’ve backed off.

And this person says NTA, though maybe the parent had her own issues.

Frugal? Yes. Professional? Debatable. Petty? Possibly.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.