18-year-old college student eats food accidentally delivered to their dorm, then the original orderer demands they pay them $40 in reimbursements: 'I didn't want to throw it away and I'm hungry'

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jun 25, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

Do you abide by the 24-hour leftovers rule at your house? 

Leftovers, if left unattended, are fair game after a certain amount of time. Food has a natural expiration date on it and, if you're like me, you grew up in a family that didn't waste food or throw it away until it was growing a ptetri dish of mold spores or smelled like a rotting mess. Food is meant to be eaten, not wasted. 

A college student knows that lesson better than anyone, especially when they're living on their own for the first time and spending money on exorbitant groceries like a real-life adult. Adulting is hard that way, one minute you're eating out of your mom and dad's fridge, and the next you're counting quarters in the Vons line and taking that avocado out of the conveyor belt to stay under your grocery budget. In that kind of household, food absolutely 100% cannot go to waste. 

This 18-year-old was learning about life the hard way, and as if by magic, one evening, a DoorDash order was mistakenly dropped off on their doorstep. After being visited by the food delivery fairy, this college student posted all over local neighborhood chatrooms, hoping to find the original orderer of the food, but as the chalupa smell wafted through their house, their strength wavered. 

Hunger churned in their belly as the hours passed, and after hours without someone claiming their meal, they decided to take control. Don't waste food, right? Especially when it falls out of the sky with no apparent owner. Well, this logic came back to bite them, almost as eagerly as they bit into that cheesy bean burrito. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10641309440
    via Canva+

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

  • AITA for eating a DoorDash order that was delivered to my house by mistake?
    via dreamandgogy
  • hi guys. for context i'm 18f living alone for college. 2 nights ago around 10 pm, i opened my front door to push a lizard out of my house.
    via dreamandgogy
  • when i did, i saw that there is a doordash taco bell order waiting outside. i checked the receipt and it said it was ordered at 7:32 pm, and
    via dreamandgogy
  • also saw the name of the person who ordered it. i left it outside for now bc my community has a group chat that all the neighbors are in, so i
    via dreamandgogy
  • sent a quick text informing them there was a taco bell order outside my house for the name. after about 2 hours i was about to go
    via dreamandgogy
  • to bed and nobody responded so i took the order inside my house so it wouldn't go bad.
    via dreamandgogy
  • the next day, i went to college etc and came back around the evening. i was hungry and was about to cook
    via dreamandgogy
  • dinner until i realized i still had the taco bell order. i was contemplating whether to eat it or not but checked the group chat
    via dreamandgogy
  • to see if someone had hopefully responded. nobody did, so i decided to eat it (i'm asian and grew up being taught. never to throw food
    via dreamandgogy
  • unless it went bad, i know it's definitely not a smart choice but i made sure to check it was safe and i didn't get food poisoned haha). it was around 8:30 pm now,
    via dreamandgogy
  • over 24 hours since the person ordered it. i figured most people wouldn't want it by now anyway so i ate some of it (it was a relatively large order with 5 items, i ate 2).
    via dreamandgogy
  • the next day though, i woke up to a bunch of notifications from a lady with the same name as the order. i checked to see her saying the order was hers. i texted her saying sorry but i did eat
    via dreamandgogy
  • it. she then got really upset saying how it's r de to eat other people's food and teenagers have no respect etc. i told her i didn't want to throw it away and i was hungry.
    via dreamandgogy
  • she got even more upset, insulting my parents for not raising me right. she was still really mad and i don't like conflict so i was just like okay sorry i can give
    via dreamandgogy
  • you the 3 items i haven't eaten yet. she was furious asking why i think she would ever accept food from a stranger and how gross i am
    via dreamandgogy
  • told her i didn't touch it and i'm not forcing her to take it, it's just an offer. she said she doesn't want the food but is demanding compensation. the order
    via dreamandgogy

  • Honestly, this is probably longer than I would have waited to eat this food. 

    If someone orders from an online food delivery service and they're not aware enough to pick up the perishable foods from their porch, they don't deserve it. If this person had left their order out on the balcony for as long as they neglected it, it would have been rancid anyway. At least someone got to eat this glorious to-go order, and surely, the delivery driver noted it wasn't dropped off with an actual person. The original orderer probably got their money back anyway, they were just being petty over $40 of tacos.

  • Cheezburger Image 10641309184
    via Canva+

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

  • is like $40 and i honestly don't think it's fair that i pay since she didn't respond for at least 24 hours. i told her that and she called me a b-tch for
    via dreamandgogy
  • making up a 24 hour rule. i guess she's right i drew the 24 hour line even though that could be subjective; some people might've waited a
    via dreamandgogy
  • week for a response while others might've waited an hour before eating it. i'm unsure if 24 hours really is unreasonable like she says. so now i feel kinda guilty, and i started
    via dreamandgogy
  • wondering if maybe i'm in the wrong. she's still constantly demanding the money back but my dad is really mad and told me to just block her
    via dreamandgogy
  • and he wants to come over this weekend to tell her to stop. i don't want her to think i'm an ah le or that i'm a baby needing my dad to step in, but i also don't
    via dreamandgogy
  • really want to pay considering i'm kinda broke lol so AITA? and what would you guys do if you were in my position? thanks guys!!
    via dreamandgogy
  • earlybirdtv First of all, there's no frigging way she didn't either get a replacement meal from door dash or a refund for a delivery she never received.
    via earlybirdtv
  • SampsonShrill This is an unacceptable amount of drama for days old Taco Bell
    via SampsonShrill

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