Sometimes being kind can land you in the most unexpected situations.

So, what would you do if you were helping an older shopper find something on the shelf, when your mother came rushing over to remind everyone that you don’t even work there?

Would you be embarrassed? Or would you be a little confused by the whole thing?

In the following story, one teen girl finds herself in this exact situation after another shopper mistakes her for an employee.

Here’s what happened.

Ma’am I’m a child

When I was about 14-15, I was out shopping at the supermarket with my mother, and I was wearing a dark-ish pink winter jacket.

I’m unsure of the shade, but you can confuse it for red if you aren’t paying much attention to it. Keep that in mind; it’s relevant to the story.

Well, at some point, my mom sent me to get whatever from a few shelves over while she looked for something else.

While walking through the egg aisle, this sweet old lady stopped me and asked me if I could help her find a specific kind of eggs she had written on her list.

She was a little confused, but her mother immediately figured it out.

I, being a helpful person at heart and without even wondering why she’d ask me of all people, took a look, eventually found what she was looking for, and pointed her towards it.

Just as she was about to ask me some more questions, my mom came up, assessed the situation, and told this lady, “Uhm, she doesn’t work here, she’s a child,” and got closer to me.

At that point, the grandma took a closer look at me and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought she was an employee.”

While walking away, I voiced my confusion, to which my mom said, “It’s your jacket. She mistook you for an employee.”

The truth is that she actually enjoyed helping the lady.

Only then did I realize that people who work there wear red vests, and the color looked similar from afar.

The funny part is I didn’t even question it, I just wanted to help an old lady find her groceries, I thought she asked the closest person around at random, and it didn’t even occur to me that she was asking me, thinking I worked there.

Even funnier is that I actually enjoy organizing things and knowing where everything is, so helping her was rather fun for me. I was a bit disappointed when we had to go. Ten years later, and I still think about it from time to time.

Too funny! And it’s a good thing the lady was friendly!

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to this situation.

This woman helps other shoppers when she can.

For this reader, there’s nothing wrong with helping a fellow shopper.

After knee surgery, this woman asked a child to get something for her in a store.

According to this person, if someone asks for help nicely, they oblige.

What a nice thing to do! And it’s always awesome to read a story that doesn’t include an entitled Karen.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.