It always feels good to do something nice for people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

So when the guy in this story had his great aunt visit from a third world country, he was happy to give her things that would make her life a little easier.

However, in doing so, he inadvertently got on his mom’s bad side.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for giving away shoes I’ve never worn?

My great aunt (60, female) is here in the U.S visiting me (18, male) and my family for a couple months. She’s from a third world country and doesn’t have much compared to us, so when she visits we try to buy or give her things to bring back home.

I have three pairs of shoes I don’t currently wear, and so I offered to let her check them out and take the ones she wanted since we’re the same size. One of the shoes is more femininely styled and has pink stripes on it.

I vaguely recall my dad possibly gifting them to me, but just to make sure they weren’t anyone else’s I asked my mom (40, female) and grandmother (65, female) if they were theirs.

They both said no, and so I handed them to my aunt with the rest of the shoes and walked away so she could try them all.

But he wasn’t ready for what happened next.

Suddenly my mom pulled me aside and asked me what I was doing.

I told her I was giving my aunt my shoes that I don’t wear and she starts to panic, asking where I got the shoes, if my dad will be mad that I’m giving them away, and what size they are.

Seeing her panic, I was starting to think that maybe they were hers and she just forgot, so I grabbed them real quick and asked her if she’s sure they’re not hers.

She told me they’re not, but started trying them on – and when they fit her perfectly she started looking at them sadly.

At this point it was clear that she wanted the shoes, so I asked her if she did and she said, “no I’m not going to get in your aunt’s way” and walked away glaring at me.

And that wasn’t the end of this weird situation.

I thought that was the end of it, but a little later she told me, “Don’t give your stuff away without asking me first,” in a forcefully pleasant voice.

I recoiled from her and said “what, why?” She said, “because I wanted them.”

I snapped, “well they’ve been sitting there for three years, so you should’ve taken them a long time ago if you wanted them.”

I walked off upstairs.

Let’s see how things are in this family now.

Now she’s mad at me for snapping and for giving the shoes away, but I don’t see how she has the right to be mad and tell me that I need her permission before I give my own things away.

I get that I live under her roof and she supports me, but those shoes were mine, not given to me by her, and they have been sitting in the closet for over three years collecting dust. In fact, when I got the shoes I told her I wasn’t going to wear them, that I didn’t like them, and that she could have them – but she refused because they were a gift.

I’ve never worn them, she’s never worn them, and they’ve been hers for the taking this whole time, so now that she’s acting like I’ve committed a personal slight against her I’m confused and a little mad.

I could be in the wrong because although she refused them the first time, maybe I should’ve double checked that she didn’t want them? But then again they’re mine, and they’re going to a woman who has so much less than us back at home.

It also rubbed me the wrong way that she felt like she was entitled to my own gift.

AITA?

To give his mom the benefit of the doubt, if she is also from a third world country, there could be some trauma playing a part in this odd situation, and that’s never easy to deal with.

Regardless though, it’s important to try not to take this stuff out on kids, and that’s definitely what this mom is doing.

Her kid has every right to give away his shoes to whoever he pleases – if she’d wanted them, she could have had them long ago.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person had little tolerance for the mom’s antics.

While others thought that he was right to give them to his aunt.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought the mom was being unfair.

Regardless of the origins of this, his mom is being unreasonable.

He is an adult, and he’s right to do whatever he wants to with his possessions.

Even if he’d known that his mom wanted them, he could’ve given them to his aunt if he’d preferred, and he still wouldn’t have been wrong.

It’s his choice, after all.

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.