She Wanted To Buy Coffee And A Sandwich For A Homeless Man — But Only Had Enough For The Coffee
Shutterstock
Imagine working at a restaurant when someone comes in with a homeless man and wants to buy them food. What would you do if they didn’t actually have enough money to pay for their order? Would you cover the rest yourself, give them the food for free, or tell them you can’t help them?
In this story, one employee was in this situation, and he tried to explain over and over again why he couldn’t help and why he wouldn’t give the food away for free.
The customer refused to give up, and it resulted in the employee genuinely feeling bad for the homeless guy.
Keep reading for all the details.
Client tried to steal my tip money to pay for another client’s meal
So I work at a tim hortons in montréal, canada. (For non canadians, Tim Hortons is a a café, kind of a mix between mcdonalds and starbucks) and Montréal, being a big city, we often have to deal with homeless people hanging around sticking by the doors, trying to earn a little.
Day was normal and everything was going fine so far until a customer comes in the shop with one homeless man I knew.
Now it isn’t that uncommon for people to bring homeless people in to buy them meals (and I think this is great).
Although most homeless people are banned from entering our restaurant (for lewd behaviour, or stealing, etc) this man was great and always kind to me so I welcomed them with a smile.
The customer was very generous.
Client : Hey I would like for him to have a big coffee, 2 creams, 2 sugars. Also a chipotle wrap.
Me : Alright! Anything else? 🙂
Client : No I think this is all, I won’t take anything for me, it’s all for him!
Me : Wow that is very kind of you! *looks at screen*, ”6,30$ please”
This is odd.
Client : *looks at me kind of dumbfounded* uh… uh ok well i can pay for his coffee I guess?
She then proceeds to give me 2,20$ for the coffee.
Now I am VERY confused but to be fair clients are such aliens at times I am barely affected by odd behaviour anymore. I just shrug it off and politely asks for the remainding of the money to cover the sandwich fee.
Client : Well I don’t have enough obviously, can’t you help this poor man out?
The customer was insistent.
Me : what?
Client : I paid for his coffee already, least you could do is split the bill with me.
Me : (without mentionning that obviously the sandwich was the costlier item), I am not allowed to give away food, I am sorry :/.
Client : Well then, buy it?
Me : uh.. no?
He tried to explain, but the customer isn’t getting it.
At that point, the previously humbled and happy man now felt super awkward (OFC HE DID).
Client : can’t you make an effort? I’m trying to do some good here!!
Me : *now shifting my tone*, I understand but I can get very much fired for giving away food and for reasons not of your concern I am not in a position to pay for another person’s meal. (To be fair with you , I could have paid for this man’s meal but I know they are a tight community and that I would be asked to pay for alot of people’s meals after that and I would have to deal with either guilt or dissapointment and I didn’t want to set myself up for that.)
Client : You don’t have money?? What’s this! *grabs my entire jar of tip money* and smash it back on the counter.
Again, he tried to explain why her reasoning wasn’t rational.
Me : This isn’t even mine, it’s all ours *points to my 4 other coworkers, who by that point had gathered closer to me* So yes, these 10 bucks may seem alot but divided by four, my share isn’t able to pay for a sandwich.
I quickly glanced at the man who was now looking at the ground, head held low. I wanted to end this as fast as possible because it was obviously dehumanizing for him to be in this situation.
Client : Well then! what does that make? about 2 bucks? *puts hand in tip jar and starts collecting cash*
Me : *quickly snatches the jar back from her, and using the nastiest tone I ever used* Coffee’s ready at your right. bye now.
He feels bad for the homeless guy’s situation.
She finally left my till but was still staying around, not really picking a table to sit at.
I guessed she might wait for me to leave to try her luck again and SO SHE DID (after a while working in customer service, you figure human beings out so accurately I swear).
And there she was, trying her luck with another coworker of mine, by her was the homeless man, coffee in hand, waiting for sandwich that won’t arrive.
Never Miss a StorySign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
They finally both left (without a sandwich) and this encounter really stuck with me because by the end of the whole ordeal, the happy man I knew had grown resentful towards us.. I understand how he could end up feeling that way so I am not upset he didn’t understand our side of things.
OP hates what the customer did.
I see all the time on social media people bragging about doing good things when their heart isn’t even in it, but that was the first time I had witnessed it irl.
She wanted to be the good guy (and she was) but for some reason, she had to create this whole drama.
I am sure he would’ve been happy with only a coffee, but by building his hopes up, then denying him that AND shifting the blame onto us, has made him feel belittled and low. I Absolutely hated it.
And heck! Buy him the sandwich first, it’s only 2 bucks more and at least it fills him up longer..
Seriously, the sandwich would be a better choice than the coffee. It’s nice of her to try to help a homeless guy, but she’s not actually helping him by trying to guilt someone else into helping.
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person makes an assumption about what would’ve happened if OP had paid for the sandwich.
Another person feels triggered.
This person points out that the customer was not the “good guy.”
Another person thinks the homeless guy should be upset at the lady who was supposedly trying to help him.
It’s not like the sandwich was that expensive. The customer should’ve either covered the full amount or, if she really didn’t have the money, left with the coffee.
There’s a difference between helping someone and disappointing someone. She was doing the second one.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
