We rely on our cars for a lot, so when they let us down the effects can be really inconvenient.

Sure it’s frustrating when your car breaks down at home and you can’t get to work or to the store, but it’s even worse when your car stops cooperating and you’re a long way from your house.

So when the guy in this story found himself unable to start his car, he sought help from a stranger.

But he wasn’t prepared for the guy’s response.

Read on to find out how his breakdown unfolded.

AITA for asking a stranger at the grocery store for a jump?

I was at the grocery store earlier when my truck wouldn’t start.

I wasn’t totally shocked, as I’d been meaning to replace the battery anyway as I already knew it was about to go.

I had my jumper cables with me, so I popped the hood and started looking around for someone coming or going who might help out.

Let’s see what happened when he approached the stranger.

Eventually I see a guy walking to his car and approach him with a smile, holding the jumper cables, and ask politely if he’d mind giving me a quick jump so I could get over to Walmart to buy a new battery.

He looks at me all sideways and goes, “No, sir, I won’t do that.”

I was bewildered, flabbergasted, bamboozled, absolutely gobsmacked.

I wasn’t being pushy or anything. Just asked nicely. “I won’t do that” is a hell of a thing to say, especially around here.

But it was what happened next that really shook him.

So I try to play it off and say, “Okay, man, no worries. No harm in asking.”

And then he hits me with: “Yes there is. You don’t know me.” Like… what??

Anyway, I walked away and got someone else to help me no problem.

But for some reason that guy’s reaction made me feel like maybe I was wrong for asking?

AITA?

Most of the time, strangers will be more than happy to help out in a time of need.

It’s unfortunate that he had the bad luck to come across someone who clearly hadn’t got the memo.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.

This Redditor agreed that he’d done absolutely nothing wrong.

While this guy showed that not all strangers are like that.

However, others encouraged him to consider the other guy’s circumstances.

It’s entirely the other guy’s prerogative to turn down the request, but this guy really did no harm in asking.

His response was out of order – and gave strangers in this circumstance a bad name.

There’s plenty of good guys out there, it’s a real shame that he came across someone who was unwilling to help.

Most people aren’t like this.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.