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Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

How often do you find the saying, ”No good deed goes unpunished”, to be true?

Asked by Hypocrisy_Central (26879points) August 27th, 2011

Many times growing up, I have encountered people that don’t go out of their way to do anything extra for anyone, because they say ”No good deed goes unpunished”, they will just end up getting screwed in the end. I am sure you have some examples of that if you think hard enough. I helped out my neighbor getting some food but his medication wore off, he is in agony, then the lift on the bus failed leaving him stranded on the street. Rather than leave him, I stick around because they are sending a special shuttle. The shuttle has only enough room for him, leaving behind me and his groceries. Then it was wait more than half an hour for the bus, or hike just over a mile to get home, it was a long walk with groceries, let me tell you.

I try to be a nice guy and let this woman the daughter of a good friend knew who was homeless, crash in my basement to escape the winter rain. Her boyfriend, which she is no longer with, rips me off of more than $300 on tools and other goods.

You work hard to do a special surprise for with help of @MRSHINYSHOES and @Bellatrix, some blip, glitch, @snowberry curse, etc the question goes “poof”, and all that effort is nullified.

It was a hot summer day once and I am driving home. I see this man walking on the back road I use to avoid traffic. There are not many places on that road one can get to and far apart. After I had passed him I get the crazy thought of maybe I should have offered him a ride, the closes place to where he was, was still a good half of a mile away. If I would have ignored him, and gone on my merry way, I would have been fine. I decide I will make a U-turn. The slope of the shoulder, or whatever, making that U-turn I blow the knuckles in my CV joint, NOW I AM STRANDED, all for trying to do a good deed. If no good deed goes unpunished, why do it in the first place?

If the people who have “made it” or like Mr. Burns Simpsons I think I see why. If trying to do the “right thing”, a good gesture, or deed, is going to leave you at a disadvantage or poorer, then why do it? Why not just look out for yourself and your immediate close family and lessen your chances of getting [redacted]?

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6 Answers

Haleth's avatar

There have beeen times when the unexpected kindness of others was the only thing that got me by. So I try to help when I can, because I remember what those times were like.

Berserker's avatar

Well technically, stuff happens when other stuff happens. Chain reaction. I don’t believe in karma or anything, so I don’t believe that intentions are rewarded or punished in what we consider to be accountable, in whatever situation and what is intended with them. Mostly not.
Some of it might be more true to the word, but only because we defined it as such in our society, and we’re taught ways to react to shit. Smite me and I shall crush you, lend me a smoke, I,ll lend you two bucks, bladdy bladda.

But even if I don’t believe that good engenders good and the same with bad, at least technically, doesn’t mean I think it’s totally worthless to do good shit for peeps.
Maybe that chick was way better off in your basement than had you not let her crash. Maybe if you didn’t do that, she would have got really sick, hit by a car or some shit.
Perhaps you paid a price, but it benefited her. But I think Einstein could explain this way better than me.
Seems strange for someone like me who’s all me myself and I to say though. Still. I denno. I do good stuff for peeps once in a while, just cuz I wanna. I don’t have many repercussion stories about it. Never thought about this all that much.

Despite everything I’m saying, I do think that the whole Wicca thing, cast a bad spell on someone and it will bite you back in the ass three times as hard, is much truer. But you’re certainly not without a point.
How many times have I lent someone cash to find myself broke, did something I thought people would appreciate but just ended up fucking shit up, or, like you, trusted people who stole things from me.
But since I don’t believe that any action is met by Bible syndrome, it never really bothered me. I mean, some outcomes bothered me yeah, but not whatever reasoning is behind it.

So one day, I was standing around in a corner store, watching some guy play Mortal Kombat II on an arcade machine. He was doing alright. Then eventually some other dude gets there, and puts his quarter into the machine, and just stands there. He was waiting for the first guy to finish his game, so he could play after.

I did not know this. I thought he didn’t know he had to press the player 2 button, and I thought he was wondering, wtf? So I pressed it for him. He ended up COMPLETELY wasting the guy that was first there. I made that first guy loose his quarter. I felt so bad, even though I was trying to help, and wished I could bury myself in the bags of chip that were next to me.

Also, people at work often drive me back home, and so I save money on train fare. If I ever have a car, imma make sure to remember people without cars, and give them a lift, or at least get them a good way through their trek back home.

…gonna cost extra gas though. XD But then, they might protect me in a bar fight. :D

lillycoyote's avatar

Damn, I wish I really could give you some good examples, but I have found myself using the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” enough times over the course of my life that it is not a phenomenon that is unfamiliar to me. Maybe something will come to me.

OpryLeigh's avatar

All the time at the moment. Everytime I have helped someone out recently it has come back to bite me on the arse!

zensky's avatar

All the time, sadly.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

It has happened to me many times (just this last week in fact) but I try not to dwell on that stuff for too long.
There are still alot of good people out there. :)

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