The grocery store should be one of the few remaining safe havens in an increasingly chaotic world, but this story unfortunately proves that assumption wrong.

One woman thought she was completing a routine grocery trip, but when a fellow shopper asked her a loaded question about a food assistance program, it threw her entire day out of wack.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for buying WIC ticketed food items with cash?

I was picking up a few groceries when this lady stopped me and randomly asked if I was using WIC.

I said no, but I figured she was asking because she needed help with her vouchers or something, so I asked if I could help her find anything.

But the reality was much more annoying.

She said no and then pointed to the Cheerios and juice in my cart and told me I shouldn’t buy those if I’m not using WIC because the vouchers can only be used for specific things and we should save them for those who need them.

She gave me some suggestions to buy other brands/sizes or go to a store that doesn’t accept WIC.

But little did this opinionated stranger know, she had a perfectly valid reason for buying them.

The store was fully stocked.

I couldn’t get a different brand because my son won’t eat it, and the large sizes that weren’t WIC ticketed were more than we need.

Even after she left the store, the conversation lingered in her mind.

I did go ahead and buy the items there because I was in a hurry, but now I’m wondering — AITA for taking food away from people in need?

Ultimately, she got the groceries she needed, but they came with a side of judgment she could have done without.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter seems to have a better understanding than the grocery store lady on how WIC actually works.

This user offers another needed clarification.

It’s quite likely this woman would have found a problem with anything this fellow shopper did.

This people simply don’t deserve the time of day.

It’s only natural this shopper would feel unsettled after an interaction like this.

With matters like these, sometimes it’s best to ignore irrelevant opinions from strangers.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.