Older woman defends young man against entitled lady after he helps with her groceries: 'Put your own groceries in your own car'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Sep 6, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

Sometimes, the only way to stand up to an entitled person is to have some backup. One of the ladies in this story may have been brash and audacious, but she met her match in an elderly woman with a strong sense of justice and ethics. 

It all began when the author was departing the grocery store from his weekly run and came upon the elderly woman. She was struggling to get her groceries into the back of her car and was struggling to get the attention of an employee, who was taking empty carts in the parking lot back inside. The author was not in a hurry and decided to help this woman with her bags like the "Good Samaritan" he was. He even tried to deny a tip from the older woman, but she forced him to accept the cash. 

Just when we thought the interaction was over, things took a bit of a turn. Another woman, who radiated with entitlement and a lack of respect for others, shoved her cart into the author's body and demanded that he help her put her bags in her car. She had witnessed him helping the older woman out and must have assumed that he worked there. Regardless, that is not how you ask for someone's help. 

While the author was prepared to stand up for himself and deny this entitled woman's request, he had some help of his own. The elderly lady watched the confrontation as it unfolded and refused to let the kind young man who helped her be intimidated by someone who was completely able to help herself. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from members of this online community!

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  • "Young man, if you don't take that I shall become difficult"

    A woman pushes a grocery cart in a parking lot.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Here's hoping that this entitled woman learned her lesson that day. Our guess is that people like this are beyond help. Their entitlement has warped their worldview so much that they cannot even consider the process of unlearning. Still, at least she got schooled by the mature and sensible lady.

  • I went to the grocery store today for some essentials, and tragically they were all healthy picks. Eggs, Yogurt, Spinach. Blech. Managed
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  • to make it in and out of the store without any unfortunate run ins with other people, and while I was walking to my car I heard an older lady trying to get the attention of a cart wrangler in the parking lot. She was a
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  • little ways closer to the store than where I was parked in the same row.
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  • She was being ignored by a cart jockey with a full carriage of groceries and an open trunk on her car.
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  • Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she wanted. So I walked over, made sure the goal was to get the stuff out of the carriage into the SUV, and did it.
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  • Took me about two minutes. The whole time the lady was thanking me profusely, calling me a nice young man. I'm old enough now that it was flattering rather than condescending. (Mid to late 30s. Don't rub it in.)
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  • When all was said and done and I'd made sure the trunk could close without smooshing anything I grabbed my own groceries and the lady grabbed my arm to stop me. She was an older white lady, the kind
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  • where she doesn't look particularly frail and if she wasn't white and was wearing sandals I'd be confident she could nail an evading target at 30
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  • yards with footwear of justice. (for those confused by footwear of justice, behold: La Chancla shoutout to u/tzar992) As it was it was quite clear that it was a good idea to stay on this woman's good side. Think matron rather than frail grandma.
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  • While I was not OK with being grabbed, she wagged something papery and green in front of me and said, "I was going to give it to that boy over there after he helped me but he apparently couldn't hear
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  • me." She said with an eye roll. Rather than try and argue, because again, this was a woman with whom one would not idly fo, I took the green paper she was waving. It
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  • was a 100$ bill. I was immediately like nuh uh. Dis yours. Take back. Too much. That sort of thing.
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  • And then she gave me a look and said, "Young man, if you don't take that I shall become difficult." the urge to cover my ears was so strong. This wasn't
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  • because she was shouting shrilly, it was because the last time I heard a woman speak to me in that tone of voice my ear lobe got pinched and I was dragged to the appropriate authority.
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  • Rather than argue, because I might have been born at night, it just wasn't last night, I took the money.
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  • An older woman sits on a white couch against a white background.
    via Unsplash+ (Kateryna Hliznitsova)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Right after she released me I felt something heavy slam into my side, knocking me off balance but not quite tipping me over. Once I recovered my balance and looked at what hit me, which was a full cart of groceries, I
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  • saw a woman in her 40s wearing big sunglasses (presumably) staring at me from the back of her own SUV. "Put this stuff in there. I'm in a hurry."
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  • Says the woman. She then proceeds to start talking on a cell phone and avoiding eye contact, with every expectation of me doing her bidding.
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  • Mind you, I was in black mesh shorts and a navy blue t shirt. Folks who work for that grocery store wear white button downs and khaki pants or shorts. It wouldn't have been OK even if I did work at the store, pretty
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  • sure shoving a loaded cart someone's way is or something, but the sheer audacity of this woman left me stunned for a moment. My mouth
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  • opened and closed a few times, and I was attempting to think of how I was going to handle this particular situation,
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  • because I've obviously spent a lot of time in the gym and the Karen... didn't. If it escalated, which it probably would have, it would've been a really bad look. But as it so happens, I didn't need to do a thing.
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  • The older lady I'd helped. previously walks over to the woman trying to avoid looking at me or her groceries finds herself with a face full of matron.
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  • "Oh, I didn't realize you'd had both of your hips replaced too!" She said brightly.
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  • The Karen, flummoxed at the seeming non sequitur lets her phone drop and just goes, "Um, what?"
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  • "Well, that nice young man saw me being ignored by an employee and just asked to help!
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  • Such a nice thing to see in this day and age, and mind you, I've had both hips replaced, my doctor would be MOST upset
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  • with me if he found out I was exerting myself that way. When did you get yours replaced? They did mine one at a time a few months back!" She said brightly.
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  • The Karen replies, "Um, I haven't had my hips replaced. I'm kind of just in a hurry, now if you wouldn't mind." and she actually tries to turn away.
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  • Matron, sickly sweet smile on her face, "Oh, so there's nothing wrong with you? You just couldn't be bothered to put your own groceries in your own car? You're simply too good for that kind of thing?"
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  • She was on a roll now. "And rather than ask that nice young man, you just... gave your cart a push and hit him with it? Just said you were in a hurry?"
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  • The Karen "Uh, I, Uh, Well.." "And yet here we are still! It's taken even longer than it would have if you'd just done it for yourself, as you're perfectly capable of doing."
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  • The Karen started to puff up "Now you listen--" and INSTANTLY got deflated by an old fashioned look. Children prone to misbehavior are quite familiar with it. It is a look that quite clearly
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  • communicates, "We are in public. You are in trouble. Cease or the consequences will be Old Testament."
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  • Seeing it work on a grown adult was a thing to behold.
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  • "Young man, please bring that carriage over. I think this nice young lady is ready to put her own groceries in her car." I pushed the carriage over and left it near the two women.
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  • "Now you run along, don't spend all that in one place." She said with a smile.
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  • I gave her the boy scout salute (I'm not actually a scout, don't tell anyone) grabbed my bag, and beat feet for my own vehicle.
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  • The Karen was actually still putting her bags into her car, being supervised by the old lady. I might've cackled.
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idontworkherelady neighborhood neighborhood-drama neighborhood-stories entitled people karma old lady grocery shopping karen entitled people grocery store
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