Posts by Adam Evans

Hannah Alvarez2 said:Honestly, this guy is pure selfishness personified. He hands something off to someone through a third party, assuming everyone else shares his "noble" intentions, and then gets totally screwed over by that third person. Total selfish jerk, right? Just a complete piece of work.🤦
Even the dictionary definition hits the nail on the head here: The term describes the pursuit of one's own interests without regard for others or any concern for how your actions might harm them.
Wait, scratch that—my bad. Turns out he isn't technically selfish. But hey, at least you got to look like a total idiot in the process, right? 🙂

Look, OP, it feels like it’s better to just be brighteagle39. Because even if you actually try to do something good, and then some other person comes along and throws a wrench in the gears, there's always going to be some guy like this ready to talk trash and make you look bad.

I did not suggest that his action was driven by selfishness, but rather by the impulse to act.
If one is not prepared to see an endeavor through to its conclusion, then one is not actually helping the person in need, but is merely attempting to soothe one's own conscience.

Christian Wells3 said:Hey, hope this PDF works okay.

If not, feel free to move it.

My question is: How can I be a good person without getting walked all over? People have taken advantage of my kindness and naivety way too many times.

The last time it happened was just a few months ago.

I was living in a small rental apartment. There was this older janitor in the building (he had some special needs). He was a great guy, seriously, he always helped me out, wasn't making much money, and lived in this run-down little shack. Anyway, I suddenly had a death in the family and ended up moving into a much bigger place. Since the old place was furnished, I told my former landlord he could give my stuff (TV, fridge, bed) to the janitor.

A few days ago, I called my old landlord because a coworker needed a place to crash for a couple of nights. Not only did he charge her an insane amount ( $333 for just 3 days, when I used to pay $200 plus utilities), but he actually sold all my stuff and didn't give a single thing to the janitor...

There have been plenty of other times where I've been used and ripped off.

What I want to know is, how do you carry yourself in life so things like this don't happen? I'm the type of person who would give someone the shirt off my back to help them through a hard time, but I almost always end up getting played.

Sent from my Huawei P30 using Reddit

A good person performs good deeds simply because they are good and cannot resist the impulse to be kind, rather than because they expect anything in return.

The problem lies in being a naive fool and helping at your own expense.

Even worse is being a lazy egoist who inflates their own sense of virtue by pretending to do good while actually accomplishing nothing, much like what happened in your situation with the caretaker and the landlord.