Sometimes It Doesn’t Pay to Be Nice

Ever find yourself doing the right thing, expecting the universe to pat you on the back, only to get smacked in the face instead? Yeah, welcome to the club. You’d think karma’s got our backs, right? But sometimes it feels like karma’s on an extended vacation—sipping margaritas while you’re left holding the bag.

So, there you are, the perpetual nice person. You’re the one who holds the door, offers up your seat, and even lets that one guy with only three items cut in front of you at the grocery store.

And how does the universe reward you? By sticking you with the bill while the jerks of the world waltz off with the prize.

Case in point: My little car wreck fiasco. There I was, changing lanes with my turn signal, like any good driver would do, when some dude decided his phone call with mommy was more important than, oh, I don’t know, looking at the road! We both started to merge, and boom—crunch time. He admits he was trying to play Frogger across four lanes just to get a burger or whatever. But surprise, surprise, when it comes time to fess up to the insurance company, he backpedals faster than a politician caught in a scandal.

And guess who’s left holding the bag? That’s right, yours truly. He hires a lawyer, claims his neck hurts, and walks away with a fat check from my insurance company. Oh, and did I mention the part where he sends me a not-so-family-friendly pic on WhatsApp? Classy, right? But hey, my insurance guy tells me he can just claim it was "an accident." What a joke.

And let’s not even get started on the everyday little injustices. You hold the door open for someone, and they don’t even bother to hold the elevator for you. You switch seats on a plane so a couple can sit together, and you end up sandwiched between two manspreaders who hog all the armrests. Or you let Mr. Three Items go ahead in line, only to watch him haggling with the manager for a price check on organic quinoa. Seriously?

But, of course, we keep telling ourselves that good karma’s gonna come back around. Maybe next Tuesday? We’re still waiting.

We’ll still be nice—because that’s who we are, right? We’ll keep holding doors, letting couples sit together, and yeah, even letting Mr. Three Items take our spot in line (though dude, the self-checkout exists for a reason). But let’s be real—it’s rarely a fair trade. And waiting around for that karma payoff? Let us know when it does.

Whatever happened to paying it forward? Seems like these days, we’re the ones doing all the paying.