20+ People Shared Why They No Longer Want to Help People, Even Their Loved Ones

Parents teach us to do good deeds from childhood, but we rarely find time for them when we grow up. In today’s article, people shared the stories where they sincerely wanted to help other people, but in return they received something completely different from what they expected.

At Bright Side, we believe that someday people will begin to reciprocate good deeds. Because words of thanks are so important.

• I used to volunteer for an organization that helped women get jobs. They’d send baby sitters to women’s homes so they could go to job interviews. It was totally fine if these moms did a quick essential errand, like grocery shopping, after their interview. I watched one woman’s kids 5 times and assumed she just had bad luck in her interviews, but she always came back with a fresh manicure. I learned she’d been blowing off the interviews the organization had been setting up to get her nails and hair done. © TheBrontosaurus / reddit

• I was just walking down the corridor in school when a girl carrying a bunch of books bumped into me and dropped the books (like you see in a movie), so I apologized because I wasn’t really paying attention. I bent down, picked up the books for her, and handed them to her expecting at least a small thank you. But no. Instead this girl had to say, “I have a boyfriend, so never ever purposely bump into me just so I can talk to you. You should’ve walked away.” © retrobread_ / reddit

• Years ago, I tried to help a guy get the hint that he should start to look for something else because I knew they were looking to fire him. When he finally got fired, he reported me to HR for harassment and said I was trying to get him fired. © Nehellenia666 / reddit

• I was a first-year medical student. I helped a pregnant lady and her husband fill out forms, got them admitted, ran and fetched the doctor, and got them juice and TV privilege from the nurse. Then after their surgery, I was asked to take a photo of the young parents together, and after giving them their phone back, I left. Later the husband accused me of stealing his phone which he gave me to take a photo with. © Koochiman / reddit

• I saw a “homeless” man I regularly gave money to. I would catch him on the weekends — but this weekend my drop-offs started early, so I saw him as he arrived. I sat behind the TV station waiting for a pick-up, and this cat gets out of a new car, changes into dirty clothes grabs his sign from the trunk, and heads off to his corner. © Worlds_Best_Coffee / reddit

• I posted a futon (a Japanese mattress) on Marketplace and the first person that hit me up gave me a sob story about needing something for their kid to sleep on. I was only asking $20 for it, but they asked if they could have it for free. My wife and I agreed to give it away. 2 days later this guy had the futon posted on Marketplace asking $50. © archangelmlg / reddit

• During an election on a hot Caribbean island, my friends and I decided to bring a cooler full of iced water to those in line. When we rolled up, everyone berated us for not bringing food. © Griss27 / reddit

• I was walking around Chicago once with some leftover Giordano’s pizza. I offered it to a homeless guy and he refused it, saying he preferred Gino’s East. © aaanold / reddit

• I have a friend whose relative was seriously ill. The sick person had always wanted to visit NY, but due to her treatments, wouldn’t be likely to do so. He asked if I could go around the city and pick up souvenirs, take some pictures, etc., and send them to him, so he could pass them along to her to lift her spirits. Well, I did. I went around in the evenings for the next 2 weeks and bought souvenirs, got a Playbill from a Broadway show, got subway maps, took pictures and printed them, the whole 9 yards, and then mailed it to the UK from New York, all out of my own pocket. It was over $100 altogether. Never got reimbursed by either of them, despite repeated assurances that the money would come. © NYArtFan1 / reddit

• I planned an entire wedding in 30 days for a co-worker. I was the photographer, flower girl, bridesmaid, planned the bachelorette party, had my mom make all the food, found the waitstaff, the venue, and made and set up all the decorations, all for free. A month later the co-worker got pregnant and left her job. She hasn’t texted me once. © abbystarheart1 / reddit

• Once I was grabbing some gas, and a couple of guys walked up to me and asked if I could give them $5 for gas so they could get home, they said it was only a few miles away. I said I didn’t have any cash, but I would use my credit card to give them some. As I was filling up their car it stopped at like $4.50. I kept trying to put more in until it overflowed, spilling gas because their tank was full. I don’t buy people gas anymore. © the_mouse_backwards / reddit

• I live in NYC. One time I was at a corner next to a blind woman waiting to cross the street. She pleasantly asked me if I would help her across the street. I said, of course, I will! I gently grabbed her by her arm when she jerked away from me yelling, “Don’t touch me! I didn’t ask you to touch me!” © Ryan4Now / reddit

• When, out of the kindness of my heart, I fix friends’ vehicles, they come back at me 6 months later to tell me I’m responsible for their engine dying. I changed the rear brakes on your car. It’s not my fault you neglected to spend the $1.50 for motor oil at Dollar General. © jjfricko / reddit

• A local family requested to rent our house. They begged for a huge discount because their insurance only covered $150 a night. Our usual rate was $450 a night. I felt bad for them, having to find a place last minute, and they had 2 toddlers and a baby, and a couple of dogs. It would have been really hard for them to find somewhere else, so I agreed to help them out. They stayed for 2 weeks. When they left I went over to inspect the house and turn it over. I found a folder from their high-end interior decorator with receipts for brand new furnishings for pretty much an entire house. There were probably $100,000 worth of receipts. They could have easily paid $450 a day but decided to save some money. © lindygrey / reddit

• I had a customer call 10 days before Christmas and ask how much it would be to paint her 12- year-old daughter’s bedroom. She wanted it to be a surprise Christmas gift while they were out of town. I agreed. Then she asked me to clean the room (I filled 3 laundry baskets of clothes, dolls, and other toys I had to pick up off the floor) and remove stickers from the walls. All in all, I originally agreed to a price of $200 for the first coat and another $150 for the second one. She complained, saying it was a gift. She didn’t plan on spending that much on her daughter’s Christmas gift. Not only did she not pay the invoice, but she also didn’t even pay me the original estimate. Or the paint. 2 weeks later she called and asked if I could paint her bedroom. © birdh8er / reddit

• I had a neighbor who had 2 kids who were both sick and he had to take them to the hospital. We had just made a huge pot of homemade beef stew. We put some in a container and brought it over since it was well past dinner time. The next day they brought the container back and his wife said, “Jeff doesn’t like stew, so next time could you make something different for us. He prefers roast beef or steak.” © Somethingnew320 / reddit

• Years ago I worked at a place where, if anybody needed their shift covered or needed to trade shifts, I was always the one to do so with them. Time and time, again. I figured it was a nice and decent thing to do and rarely turned anyone down unless I really had something I couldn’t miss, but those were very few and far between. Then one day a situation arose where I desperately needed to get my shift covered and I reached out to every other employee to work out a trade, or to see if they could just cover it. I didn’t receive a single answer in the affirmative to help me out. From that moment on, I never once covered or traded a single shift for anyone else. © mafiacmhc / reddit

• I was in Berlin and decided to make my girlfriend a gift. I visited all the shops in the city to buy and bring her 50 different chocolates. When I arrived, I gave her a huge box. But she said that she was on a diet and refused to take it. © Palata № 6 / vk

• I was helping out a close family member who was trying to get back on their feet. Since my girlfriend and I moved in together and we used her car as a primary, my car was just sitting and collecting dust. So I offered it to them so they could get around town and not have to rely on other family members for rides all the time. They borrowed it for a couple of months and when it was returned, the car was trashed. My phone holder was broken and stuffed into the glove box, there was dog hair everywhere, and the gas tank was empty when it was returned. © Nony0401 / reddit

• I was riding the bus. I offered an elderly lady my seat, but she refused and continued to stand. The bus was cut off by a car and had to brake hard. The woman fell down and probably broke her arm. I came along with her in the ambulance. I was really surprised when she said to the doctors that it was me who pushed her. That was her “thanks” to me. © Palata № 6 / vk

• When a “good” friend of mine that I worked under had cancer and wasn’t able to pay some bills, I loaned her $200 just to help. I was only 18 at the time and felt bad because she had kids. It turned out that she lied about having cancer, was stealing from the company I worked at, and scammed my other co-workers too. © Bigfatsmelly / reddit

• I’m a teacher. A parent of a former student contacted me in an emergency situation, they couldn’t afford to pay bills and needed help. She was super helpful to me in my first year of teaching, so I asked friends and family to help out and raised about $2,000 for her. Never again. She has contacted me every few weeks since then, always with a new reason for why she needs more money. © mynameissarah / reddit

• We helped out my sister-in-law a few times with bills to avoid having her services cut off. I went over to her apartment once and was stunned. She had 2 big flat-screen TVs, a new couch, a new fridge, and kids playing PlayStation, or whatever console she got them. © red_eye_rob / reddit

• I was donating baby/toddler clothes to a mom in need through one of those Facebook donating pages. She didn’t have a car, I did. So I drove 30 minutes away to deliver the stuff, all for free. I got into a bad accident less than 5 blocks from her house. So I texted her to see if she could come to get the clothes. She wouldn’t walk the 4 blocks and then reported me to the group and got me kicked out for “not following through.” © LifeIsSweetSoAmI / reddit

Have you experienced situations in your life where you felt sorry after helping another person? Share your stories in the comments below.