Because of the way humans are—you know, very suspicious of many things—random acts of kindness often bring out reactions as if they were bouncing off of anything but kindness.
Well, you can’t blame people for being careful, especially in random situations such as this, but that just goes to show just how not random acts of kindness have to be—rather much more planned and adapted to the context.
Still, you gotta give props that people challenge themselves and move past their anxieties and social norms just to brighten someone’s day. Even if it means ending up in tears as a result.
More Info: TikTok
Meet Amelia, a TikToker and influencer who wanted to do some good in the world
Image credits: millyg_fit
"This is the result of me wanting to do something very nice and buy someone’s food shop."
"I just felt super deflated and this is the video showing it all."
"So I am here in Sainsbury’s and I’m going to buy someone’s food shop today because it’s Wednesday, I just want to cheer someone up midweek slump. I’m nervous. I just hope they don’t look at me thinking like I’m some weirdo."
Image credits: millyg_fit
Amelia thought people would be weirded out by her, but it went a bit worse than she had hoped as none of the people she approached wanted to take her up on her offer
Image credits: millyg_fit
Image credits: millyg_fit
The people she approached were very, very reluctant to accept her help, with the last person saying “there’s a lot more deserving people in the world, but thank you”
Image credits: millyg_fit
Amelia couldn't leave without having helped someone, so she bought some non-perishables for the food bank
Image credits: millyg_fit
“Oh my god. That was stressful, guys. That was really stressful. It felt really like in panic mode"
"I don’t know why I just felt like I was expecting the first person to be like, overjoyed and grateful and happy for me to pay for their shopping. But obviously, that didn’t go down well.”
“He was kind of a little bit angry. I was a little bit like taken aback. And then the second person, I was like ‘I would love to pay for your food’ and she just sort of looked at me like I was absolutely weird. She didn’t say anything. But she was just like ‘no, no, no, no,’ really stern.”
“Then the third lady was like ‘No, I felt like I didn’t deserve this’ is like the third person now. I decided to get loads of pasta sauces and put it in the food bank. Weird turn out but I’m still really happy that the food can go to those who really need it.”
Image credits: millyg_fit
“Okay, well, now I’m on the way to get some pasta and sauces to put in the food bank because no one wants to accept. Which, you know, I guess valid reasons”
“Also, that was a big challenge for me as well because I just find these sort of social situations really quite hard. Especially with stuff like that where I’m really sort of bringing a lot of attention to myself and I don’t like that. But we did it.”
Image credits: millyg_fit
All in all, Amelia approached three people, all of whom declined her kind offer in their own ways
Fitness, food, and fashion influencer Amelia Goldsmith recently decided to do some good in the world. In her now-viral video, she went to her local Sainsbury’s in hopes of finding a random grocery store patron and buying their shopping for them.
In her video, Amelia vlogs about how it was a Wednesday and she felt like cheering someone up during their midweek slump. She explained that she felt nervous because people could consider her kind initiative flat-out weird.
Well, it went a tad bit worse than just weird. The first person to be asked had a pretty big shopping list, so Amelia approached him and asked if she could pay for shopping. His first response was why?. His second response was no. He ended up insisting on the no, explaining that he didn’t really need the help. It didn’t help Amelia that the guy looked angry.
No biggy, there’s more people in the store, right? Well… the second person, when approached about it, responded with silence. She also gave Amelia a look as if she was absolutely weird and concluded with some stern no’s.
Uhm… third time’s the charm? Alas, it was not. The lady Amelia approached explained that there are a lot more deserving people in the world who would benefit from this than her, thanking her for the good intentions.
This is where Amelia gave up and simply grabbed a bunch of non-perishables, took them to the self-checkout, bought them and donated to the food bank that was incidentally presiding in the store at that moment.
Once out the store, Amelia recapped her feelings and experience. Despite the unfortunate turn of events, she was still happy that she got to do some good and that the food she bought still went to those who needed it.
“Also, that was a big challenge for me as well because I just find these sort of social situations really quite hard. Especially with stuff like that where I’m really sort of bringing a lot of attention to myself and I don’t like that. But we did it,” concluded Amelia.
Image credits: katiebordner (not the actual photo)
Once the video hit the internet, people had mixed opinions about it. The two biggest issues that people had with this was, one, that Amelia was filming, and, two, it was a Sainsbury’s.
Filming was an issue because people thought it muffled up her true intentions—the camera made it look like she’s doing this for the views, not that she actually cares. Though, the same could be argued the other way as she says in her TikTok description that she aims to beat societal norms—that includes all things random acts of kindness. Granted, it was within the context of fitness, but it by no means means that it has to be somehow limited to just that.
Second, for context, Sainsbury’s is the second largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom that is considered by many to be a bit of a high-end place to shop at. The people who go there tend to be those who make a pretty good living. So, Amelia simply missed the target audience by choosing a Sainsbury’s. But there’s always a non-zero chance that someone who would benefit greatly from Amelia’s offer would still be shopping there for a number of reasons.
You can watch the full video below
All skepticism aside, there were those who appreciated the gesture regardless of results, and advised to approach the matter differently: ditch the camera, choose a different store, perhaps approach people in the aisles and not at the checkout, among other things. If anything, giving to a food bank is always a good idea.
And if approaching people in stores feels more like a gamble than anything else, there’s always a more conventional approach—i.e. approaching the homeless. According to Shelter, an organization that works with providing housing advice and establishing housing justice in the UK, the latest research shows that over 270,000 people are considered homeless in England alone, nearly half of which are children.
Another study presented by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an independent social change organization that tackles poverty in the UK, found that around 1 in 5 people in the UK live in some form of poverty. Even though it seems that the number of people in this group is slowly decreasing, it’s not fast enough to confidently say that the problem is subsiding.
But, back to the video. It received around 1.8M views with over 110,000 likes and stirred some debate in the online community. You can check out the video here. And before you do that, do let us know your thoughts and takes on helping people out through random acts of kindness in the comment section below!
Despite the defeat and the tears, Amelia still posted her experience on TikTok where it got mixed reactions
