Safety decisions can sometimes be misunderstood by others.

The following story involves a man who accidentally lost a piece of trash while walking his baby in a stroller.

He tried to chase it at first, but when it blew into a busy street, he chose to let it go for safety reasons.

A stranger saw the situation and criticized him for not picking it up.

Do you think he made a good decision? Let’s take a closer look!

AITA: Unintentional litter

This happened a few minutes ago while I (37M) was walking my 7-month-old baby in his stroller.

While we were on our walk, we stopped at a deli.

I got a buttered roll. I ate it on the way home.

After I picked up the second half of the roll, there was nothing weighing down the paper it was wrapped in.

This man tried to pick up the paper, but it kept being blown away.

The paper blew out of the tray on the bottom of the stroller where I had been keeping it.

I tried to grab it. It blew away before I could get a hold of it.

I tried again. It blew away again.

Now, it was well into a fairly busy street at the center of an intersection.

It continued to blow around. I gave up. I started walking again.

A man with a dog saw what happened and made a sarcastic comment.

At this point, I noticed a man walking a dog on the opposite side of the street.

He saw me and said, “It’s ok. Someone else will pick it up.”

I said, “Well, I couldn’t run into the street after it.” I gestured toward the stroller.

He said, “Ok.” And I started to walk away.

He then said, “That’s why the neighborhood is turning to crap. Nobody gives a f***.”

He continued to say more. I could not hear what he said.

Now, he’s wondering if he was wrong not to pick up his trash.

What are your thoughts here?

I do not like the idea of someone else picking up my trash.

I also did not think it was safe to go after the trash in the street with the stroller.

Or to leave my baby in the stroller on the sidewalk while I went after the trash on my own.

Like anyone who is not a jerk, I am anti-litter.

But if it is littering or risking harm to myself and or my baby, I will choose littering. Your thoughts?

Hmmm… yeah, this is quite a tricky situation. But I do think safety comes first here.

Running into a busy street with a baby would’ve been risky, and leaving the baby on the street to get the trash is also not practical.

That stranger seemed to judge way too quickly without knowing the whole story. If he wanted it picked up, he could have done it himself, though.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.

This user makes a valid point.

This one shares their personal thoughts.

Another sensible remark.

This one calls out the man.

Finally, it was an accident, says this one.

Better a piece of trash lost than your common sense, too.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a woman who was in love with her dream house – and then spring came and her neighbor’s trees caused her to question the purchase.