Photo: @huqase2262305 / TikTok
Some disagreed with the man's actions considering the help voluntary and unexpected while others argued that people in parking lots often expect cash.
By Megan Quinn — Written on May 20, 2023
We’ve all heard of pay it forward, a concept that encourages individuals to perform acts of kindness for others without expecting anything in return. Whether it is holding the door open for a mother juggling kids or stopping to help someone carry their groceries to their car, paying it forward is about fostering a spirit of generosity, empathy, and compassion, and creating a positive chain reaction of goodwill in the world.
However, there are those who do not understand the concept and expect some sort of compensation for their acts of kindness. A man received mixed reactions from Internet users after he stepped in to help a fellow customer in the Home Depot parking lot, only to immediately demand something in return. People were divided as to whether or not the man deserved compensation.
The man demanded payment after he helped a customer load items into his truck in the Home Depot parking lot.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed nearly 800,000 times, TikTok user @huqase2262305 records himself loading a cart of items from Home Depot into the back of a truck. “Watch me basically get robbed in the Home Depot parking lot,” he writes in the text overlay of the video. As the customer is preparing to load the cart into the truck, a “good Samaritan” approaches and helps him push the cart without his request for help.
After the three-second job is complete, the customer thanks the man and is preparing to go on about his day. However, the man lingers for a bit before shouting “No!” at the customer. “I did work for you!” the man says to the confused customer, who laughs uncomfortably, not entirely sure what the man expects from him.
Photo: @huqase2262305/TikTok
When it becomes clear that the man wants cash payment, he “guilt trips” the customer into receiving what he wants. He refuses to leave him alone until he is given cash. The customer considers what he should do for a few moments, weighing his options of either arguing with the man, ignoring him, “roadhouse kicking” him, or just forking over money to him.
Photo: @huqase2262305/TikTok
Eventually, he decides to pay him in cash. The customer calculated the “going rate for 20 seconds of unwanted work would be, determining that it would be around $5, which he gave to the man so that he would finally leave him alone. The man takes the bill, although appears to be dissatisfied. The customer believes that it is because he is “clearly used to getting paid $2,000 an hour.”
The customer thanks the man before he walks away, noting that he is “not thankful at all” that he allowed himself to get swindled by the man.
Some TikTok users disagreed with the greedy man’s actions, especially considering the fact that the customer did not ask for his help, to begin with.
“He VOLUNTARILY came and assisted and in return requested that you pay him?!” one user in disbelief commented. “Bro really acted like he helped you move a mountain,” another user pointed out.
Other users shared their own similar experiences. “Someone did that to me and my friend when we got a flat tire he just pulled over and ‘helped’ without asking,” one user revealed.
However, other users argued that people do this in parking lots as a method of income and that the man should have paid for his brief job.
“This happens at Home Depot all the time. They help you and expect you to pay them and don’t even want $1.00 or $5.00 they want $10 or $20.00,” one user wrote. “He helped you nonetheless. He should be paid,” another user believed.
While the customer was certainly not required to pay the man for the unsolicited help, he was kind enough to perform a good deed of his own and offer some compensation to the man who clearly needed it if he was persisting so hard for it.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.