Sometimes doing the right thing means bending the rules just a little.

So, what would you do if a family showed up to a school volleyball game unable to buy tickets because they didn’t understand the cashless system, and all they had were a few dollars in their hand?

Would you turn them away? Or would you let them in the game for free?

In the following story, one young lady finds herself in this predicament and chooses the latter.

Here’s how it all went down.

AITA for letting a family into a volleyball game for free?

I (19 yo) recently got into an argument with my family about something I did in high school 2 years ago.

In high school, I was employed by my school as an afterschool tutor/peer mentor.

One day after school, there was a volleyball game, but there weren’t enough staff members to supervise. So the after-school manager told me to go help at the game instead of tutoring.

Everything was going great until an older couple walked in.

My job was standing at the door and ensuring people paid the entry fee.

However, for some reason, my school is cashless, and if you want to buy a ticket for any game, you have to go online to a website, create an account, and pay using a credit or debit card.

Tickets are listed at $3 on paper, but the website has a service fee of $2, so in total, one ticket would be $5.

Well, halfway through the JV game, an older couple walked in with a little kid. Just by looking and listening to them, you could tell they had just immigrated to the US. The woman was wearing a hijab, and they were speaking Arabic.

The man was very confused by the payment system.

The older man handed me $9 and held up 3 fingers. I tried pointing to a sign and asking them to scan the QR code on the ticket website. They looked confused, so they waved down one of the volleyball players (a player who wasn’t from my school), whom I assumed was their son.

So I apologized to the player and explained how the school is cashless. The dad had a flip phone and genuinely was confused about how to scan the paper.

The son had a smartphone and scanned the code, but explained that no one had a credit or debit card (idk if they hadn’t had one on them or one at all. I didn’t ask questions). He also asked why the sign on the door said $3, but online it was $5.

She told them to go in for free.

At that rate, I looked at the family and told the son It’s $15, it doesn’t bother me, they can go in for free. The son was super apologetic, and the family kept saying thank you.

I left it at that and thought I did the right thing. But today I told the story to my family, who are also immigrants, and they yelled at me for letting them in.

They said I was robbing the school, and the family needed to be held accountable. They were upset that a member of the school staff would be dishonest and prevent the school from getting money.

AITA?

Wow! That was certainly an unexpected reaction.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about her letting them in for free.

This person explains why her family may have acted like that.

Here’s someone who has been in that position before.

For this person, it was the right thing to do.

This reader sees why she did it.

She made the right choice.

It’s not like they attend games at this school every week, so there’s a possibility they just really didn’t know.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.