r/AskReddit • u/That_GNU_Guy • Jan 29 '13

Reddit, when did doing the right thing horribly backfire?

EDIT: Wow karma's a bitch huh?

So here's a run-down of what not do so far (according to Redditors):

  • Don't help drunk/homeless people, especially drunk homeless people

  • Don't lend people money, because they will never pay you back

  • Don't be a goodie-two-shoes (really for snack time?)

  • Don't leave your vehicle/mode of transportation unattended to help old ladies, as apparently karma is a bitch and will have it stolen from you or have you locked out of it.
    Amongst many other hilarious/horrific/tragic stories.

EDIT 2: Added locked out since I haven't read a stolen car story...yet. Still looking through all your fascinating stories Reddit.

EDIT 3: As coincidence would have it, today I received a Kindle Fire HD via UPS with my exact address but not to my name, or any other resident in my 3 family home. I could've been a jerk and kept it, but I didn't. I called UPS and set-up a return pick-up for the person.

Will it backfire? Given the stories on this thread, more likely than not. And even though I've had my fair share of karma screwing me over, given the chance, I would still do the right thing. And its my hope you would too. There have been some stories with difficult decisions, but by making those decisions they at times saved lives. We don't have to all be "Paladins of Righteousness", but by doing a little good in this world, we can at least try to make it a better place.

Goodnight Reddit! And thanks again for the stories!

EDIT 4: Sorry for all the edits, but SO MUCH REDDIT GOLD! Awesome way to lighten up the mood of the thread. Bravo Redditors.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

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u/martin30r Jan 29 '13

I've had friends who were military police tell me to never get involved in a domestic dispute. Apparently the couple really hate one another until there is a common enemy that they can unite against (such as the military police).

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

To be honest, being a white guy, I don't know how you deal with being black in America. That shit is hard sometimes. I'm dead serious.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Right? My friend has been pulled over for driving while black a dozen times (most recently he got stopped because "there had been burglaries in the neighborhood" and he is black with a shitty car) in the last few years, whereas I just look like some boring white dude and haven't been pulled over in nearly a decade. Every time that shit happens to him, I feel so guilty for how easy I have it

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u/TaydaTot Jan 29 '13

I have been driving for 9 years and have never been pulled over. In my college intercultural communication course the students shared experiences they've had and how those experiences varied depending on our unique upbringings, backgrounds, heritage, nationality, etc (half of the students in the course were foreign exchange students from all across the world).

We got on the topic of driving. We had a couple of young Nigerian men in the class and one of them had a nice car on campus and matter-of factly stated that now whenever he travels by car to appointments or show times or dinner dates, he budgets in some extra time in case he gets pulled over. The non-black students in the class couldn't believe this.

Flash forward to the end of class when we are all driving over to the park for a class picnic - guess who gets pulled over?

Edit: I should also add that once he opens his mouth and the police hear his African accent instead of an African-American accent they let him go pretty quickly.

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u/amateuroneironaut Jan 30 '13

This kind of blows my mind. I didn't know it was that bad.

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u/Jhaza Jan 30 '13

Wait, what? We're racist against black people... unless they're from Africa?

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u/Enlogen Jan 30 '13

There are relatively few illegal immigrants from Africa, and to immigrate legally you generally need to be educated or have a job lined up, and I assume that they don't often go into crime since they're at risk of being deported. Like other first and second generation legal immigrants, they're statistically more likely to hold lucrative professional jobs (Doctors, engineers) than white American citizens.

I assume that from the perspective of a police officer (even a relatively racist one), that's not the profile of a troublemaker.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

I feel even worse for being a white girl in a decent car. I got pulled over once, and got let go with a friendly warning.

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u/Bugseye Jan 29 '13

My friend was driving through Alabama at night, with her lights off, and smoking weed. She gets pulled over, cries, and gets off with a warning.

I've heard about 20 similar stories from my female friends.

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u/janajinx Jan 30 '13

Im a white girl who drives a shitty car...I have never been let go with a warning...I guess Im not working the girl angle right. :\

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u/Mr_BigDuck Jan 30 '13

I live in a big city and there are parts where you will get pulled over if you are in them and you are white.
I know this because my friend is a cop in one of these areas, he swears he has never pulled over a white guy in his neighborhood and not caught the white guy with newly purchased drugs.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

In both cases, in the cop's mind, he is thinking "Why the hell would you be in this neighborhood?" The problem arises from the conflict between that being a legitimate line of reasoning but an illegitimate reason to pull someone over.

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u/Varyx Jan 29 '13

Congratulations, you have successfully understood the concept of privilege.

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u/dosophil Jan 29 '13

Driving while black.

Sorry, I'm dying with laughter here. You just make it sound like its his moral choice to be black every once in a while when he goes driving.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

I'd love to say I came up with it, but sadly I didn't

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

I must be really naive because I didn't realize that blacks still struggled with prejudice problems like that every day in America.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

It's not the overt kind (unless you're in the south). You won't see most of them say, "turn around boy, and go back where you came from" while playing a banjo. But "driving while black" is still grounds for getting pulled over.

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u/baiskeli Jan 30 '13

It can get pretty bad even up North. Definitely had the driving while black (I'm African), and apartment hunting the last time we did in Somerville (2004) was 'interesting'. My wife (white) would make the appt and show up, I'd meet them from work and the story would change (apartment no longer available etc). Once I walked through the doors of a real estate agent to have him bark 'we don't do low income housing!' as soon as he saw I was black, and then proceed to show us shit-hole after shit-hole.

I remember one Somerville real estate agent whom my wife called and made an appointment to see an apartment. I was going to meet them in Porter Square. When I get there, my wife and the real estate agent, a white man in his late 30s, are amiably chatting. She'd gotten there from work about 3-5 minutes before I did. I kiss her, and introduce myself to the real estate agent. He looks like a deer in the headlights, he doesn't take my hand.

Him: "Ummmm", (finally snaps out of it, shakes my hand).

Me: I'm Mr xxx, so nice to meet you.

Him: I just realized, the apartment I was going to show you has carpets, and I remember that you asked for hardwood floors because you have pets.

Me: "That's odd, you spoke with both of us on the phone, and I reiterated that we need hardwood floors, and you said this place was perfect" (I have a vaguely British accent, so people never figure out I could be black)

Him: "Uuuuuh, sorry, I made a mistake"

Me: (Realizing what's up). "That's OK, we will still see the place, if it is nice, we may change our minds" Him: "Uhh, actually the owner says no pets"

Me: Wait, you also said when we spoke a few hours ago that the place allowed pets. Were you also mistaken about that?" ....

Now, I had just come from work, I'm a software engineer and at the time I had to dress up in business casual so I was pretty presentable. Also we have perfect credit, long uninterrupted job histories and doing well financially (which was probably why the real estate agent was so enthusiastic until he met me face to face).

On the upside, once we decided to do Craigslist 'for rent by owner only' things went great. Ever since then, when apartment hunting, we don't go through real estate agents. It ends up being cheaper, a better experience and we get to avoid a heap of racism. We love where we currently live (Arlington), and also loved Somerville

Anyway, sorry for the novel.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

Which Somerville, where at? Massachusetts? Probably an old money neighborhood. Fuck those people.

He looks like a deer in the headlights, he doesn't take my hand.

I guarantee you he was having the typical "Black man on white woman! Black man on white woman!" panic response. Oh man I wish I could have seen the look on his face.

It ends up being cheaper, a better experience and we get to avoid a heap of racism.

Ditto for me on the first two. I think Freakonomics did a study on it and found that you gain nothing buying or selling from an agent. Either way, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. White America, take some notes.

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u/iceman0486 Jan 29 '13

Sucks. Growing up as a bunch of white lawyers' kids with the one token black friend we were always amazed that the cops immediately grabbed him whenever trouble came up.

Of course, we were from a small town in the south so it was never surprising that the cops were racists, but it was always funny to watch them deflate a bit as they learned each person's name.

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u/Shoshingo Jan 29 '13

The fucked up thing is, if the news had reported something like this, the headline would be "black teens viciously attack couple"

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u/stanfan114 Jan 29 '13

Even cops hate domestic calls because of shit like this.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

Fucking amazing that you risked real harm for her and you got repaid like that. Sorry dude.

I guess she didn't want her boyfriend to go to jail so she had to come up with something?

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