Woman Was 'Humiliated' After An 'Overwhelmed' Mom At Target Turned Down Her Offer To Help — But Other Moms Say They Would've Said No Too
Even if one is just trying to extend kindness, stranger danger is always looming in the back of people's minds.
@cassandrabotnick / TikTok; Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock After a woman’s kind offer was rejected by a fellow shopper in a Target store, she was left feeling humiliated. The woman took to TikTok to share her experience, where she says that she was “just trying to help.”
However, many people are claiming that they also would have declined the woman’s request, considering the heartbreaking reality of the world we live in today.
The woman offered an ‘overwhelmed’ mom help with her shopping cart at Target.
In a TikTok video that has garnered over 400,000 views, Cassandra (Cassie) Botnick claims that she has “never been so embarrassed” in her life after a mom turned down her offer for help while she was shopping at Target.
Cassie, who is a mother herself, was at the store alone when she spotted a woman who clearly had her hands full. “She has a toddler who’s probably just a little younger than my daughter sitting in the cart facing her, and she’s pushing the cart with one hand, and in her other hand, she’s holding a newborn baby,” Cassie says.
The mother appeared to be breastfeeding her newborn while navigating the shopping cart. “You can tell she just has her hands full and she’s a little flustered and overwhelmed,” she adds.
Relating to the mother’s experience, Cassie says she “hung around” the store as an employee was scanning the mother’s items so that she could ask if she needed any help. “I didn’t approach her or bother her or anything,” Cassie clarifies.
As they were both leaving the store, she noticed that the mother was struggling to balance her baby in one arm and push the shopping cart with the other. She decided to go up to the busy mom and ask her if she needed any help.
However, the mom turned down her offer rather rudely.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’d love to push your cart to the car. I have a three-year-old at home, I don’t mind I’m walking out anyway,’” Cassie explains. “She literally just looked at me and goes, ‘no.’” The experience left Cassie feeling “so humiliated.”
“I just wanted to try and help,” she says. “I get she probably felt a little uncomfortable in that situation, but I feel like that’s sometimes why people get nervous even trying to help.”
Although Cassie was clearly just extending her assistance and kindness, many people pointed out that today’s world is a dangerous place and it has left many of us distrustful of people’s intentions.
Other parents reveal that they would have also turned down Cassie’s offer to help.
“I would have said no too. I don’t trust people around my babies,” one TikTok user commented. “I would have said no because I don’t know you and wouldn’t want you coming with me to my car, but she definitely could have been nicer about it,” another user wrote. “Super nice gesture, but it's a scary world we live in, I’d say no as well,” another user noted.
Every 40 seconds, a child in the U.S. is abducted or goes missing. Stranger abductions account for 35% of missing child cases, per research obtained by NCMEC in 2022.
These statistics have parents clutching their child’s hands a little tighter in public settings, not allowing them out of their sight for more than a second.
It is natural that this mother would be wary of accepting a stranger’s offer for help while she was with her children. One swift move of the shopping cart or just one second the mother spends comforting her hungry baby can result in the unimaginable.
Despite the presence of evil in the world, there are still kind-hearted peoplewho have no ill intent and simply want to offer help to a struggling mom.
“It was sweet of you to offer. I can’t tell you how many times when my girls were little I would have accepted help,” one TikTok user revealed. “It’s the thought that matters. You’re a good person and your actions come back to you in a good way,” another user wrote.
Other people informed Cassie that even though her offer to help did not go as planned, the world could always use a little more kindness and encouraged her to continue extending her assistance to those who may need it.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.