I Sat in the Food Court Just to Smell the Pizza Today

r/

I was walking through the mall to kill some time and ended up in the food court. The smell of pizza hit me, and for a second I thought about grabbing a slice.

I checked my bank app real quick $0.94.

So I just sat at an empty table near the pizza place for a while, pretending to text, soaking in the smell like that would somehow be enough.

It sounds dumb, but I used to grab a slice all the time after school. Now I feel like even that’s out of reach. I know it’ll pass, but today it just kind of got to me.

Comments

  1. prezuiwf Avatar

    You enjoyed some pizza and it cost you zero dollars. Doesn’t sound dumb to me.

  2. Informal_Advance7685 Avatar

    Send me your cashapp homie let’s get you a slice or two

  3. Calm_Carrot58 Avatar

    You will get there!!! I’m rooting for you

  4. Independent_Luck_601 Avatar

    Damnn would’ve loved to buy u a slice

  5. Traditional-Tip1904 Avatar

    Where you at my pizza loving friend? DM if you’re in Canada

  6. okbuddy05 Avatar

    If you’re in the twin cities area let’s meet up and I’ll buy us pizza

  7. Trixxxi Avatar

    Do you have Venmo? I’d love to buy you some pizza!

  8. Used_Rhubarb_9265 Avatar

    I get it. I’ve been there. It’s tough, but it passes. Stay strong.

  9. Akebusa Avatar

    This is so fucked up lol

  10. Best_Priority_3131 Avatar
  11. Alvraen Avatar

    /r/randomactsofpizza

  12. TrumanS17 Avatar

    When I was a kid my dad was waiting in the food court while my mom was shopping. Some lady caught me looking at her food and came over to ask to buy us something. My dad turned her down and scolded me for being hungry

  13. destructanation Avatar

    we’ve all been there my love, if i could afford to send you something i would! i really hope someone grabs you something this week, you sound like you deserve it <3

  14. no-long-boards Avatar

    If you’re on the island I’ll share a pie.

  15. Thunder_Monkey_35 Avatar

    Everytime I pass a little ceasers pizza i remember 10 years ago when my daughter was 6 , I had just lost my job and was dropping my last little bit of money to pay one more month of rent. On the way home my daughter begged me to stop for a pizza (this was also back when little ceasers had $5 large hot and ready pizzas) I felt horrible knowing I was broke and couldn’t. I felt so hopeless , how can I not even afford a $5 pizza for my kid. I really felt like a failure and took awhile but I found a steady career and now She’s now going to be 16 and I can buy her whatever she wants. You’ll be ok , things do get better, it just takes longer for some of us to get ahead or even just your footing in this fucked up world and that is totally ok.

  16. staycita Avatar

    Can I please send you a pizza?!?

  17. Either_Ruin2312 Avatar

    I had gastric bypass and a month after I had it, I licked a piece of pizza

  18. ItsDreamgirl7 Avatar

    When I glazed over this initially I thought you were saying you went to the mall to kill someone and liked the smell of the pizza so you decided not to. Either way, I hope you get more stability and all the pizza you want and deserve.

  19. Dull-Veterinarian-59 Avatar

    Sweetheart please share your paypal so we can send you money for pizza

  20. Caoimhe77 Avatar

    DM me. I’ll help ya out

  21. FrostyJannaStorm Avatar

    Me with that Szechuan place.

    Hope life picks up soon!

  22. Moyer1666 Avatar

    If you have a way I can send some money, I can send you a bit. At least enough to get something to eat. DM me

  23. Appropriate_Lack8392 Avatar

    lol this is the side of the internet that I love . You guys are all so kind god bless ya .

  24. thekidracb Avatar

    These comments wholesome AF…yall some real ones…I’ll join in, hit me up, im happy to get you some pizza…

  25. king_barnicus Avatar

    For those that are living paycheck to paycheck, do you not get a credit card to put a 5 dollar slice on when you’re skint?

  26. Intelligent-Pie-6748 Avatar

    Thank you guys so much for the support. I didn’t expect all of this

  27. Bigsilvertruckballs Avatar

    Whenever I feel all weird and crappy about this life I’m validated one way or the other here. Mostly that I’m wrong and it’s not so crappy out there. People are still so freaking cool. The quick support. The non judgment. This community has such great people.

  28. slightlysubversive Avatar

    People offering to buy a stranger pizza because they have empathy for them. Kindness is a virtue and many of you are virtuous AF.

    Thank you.

  29. odenoden Avatar

    When my girlfriend didn’t have food when she was younger she would watch muk bang videos and imagine it was her, broke my heart to hear about it. Hope you got yer pizza, op.

  30. pickledpl_um Avatar

    We’ve all been there, OP. It’s awful, but you’re going to get through it.

  31. FilmoreGash Avatar

    I haven’t had sex in 8 years. I do the same thing at the fish market.

  32. ravia Avatar

    Is there really a Food Court??? Like cooking crimes? Can you be sent to prison?

  33. Unlikely-Table-615 Avatar

    Man, I would have bought you the entire pie.

  34. JazzFan1998 Avatar
  35. Last_Activity_1868 Avatar

    Oh this makes me melt. Where abouts roughly are you located?

  36. Sea_Kaleidoscope_471 Avatar

    I literally have one cent in my bank acct so I understand. 💗

  37. tcmisfit Avatar

    r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza

  38. Background_Ship_4800 Avatar

    This hit hard. It’s not dumb at all — it’s human. You’re doing what you can with what you’ve got, and that takes strength even when it doesn’t feel like it.

    Better days will come, and that slice will taste even better when they do. Hang in there, OP.

  39. Due_Phase_1430 Avatar

    @intelligent-pie-6784 can I ask what state you live in?

  40. Honest_Rice_6991 Avatar

    You have to pay for that smell of pizza with the crinkling sound of money.

  41. Ok_Difference44 Avatar

    The Case of the Stolen Smell:

    Now it so happened in the days of old Yedo, as Tokyo was once called, that the storytellers told marvelous tales of the wit and wisdom of His Honorable Honor, Ooka Tadasuke.

    This famous judge never refused to hear a complaint, even if it seemed strange or unreasonable. People sometimes came to his court with the most unusual cases, but Ooka always agreed to listen. And the strangest case of all was the famous Case of the Stolen Smell.

    It all began when a poor student rented a room over a tempura shop – a shop where fried food could be bought. The student was a most likeable young man, but the shopkeeper was a miser who suspected everyone of trying to get the better of him. One day he heard the student talking with one of his friends.

    “It is sad to be so poor that one can only afford to eat plain rice,” the friend complained.

    “Oh,” said the student, “I have found a very satisfactory answer to the problem. I eat my rice each day while the shopkeeper downstairs fries his fish. The smell comes up, and my humble rice seems to have much more flavor. It is really the smell, you know, that makes things taste so good.”

    The shopkeeper was furious. To think that someone was enjoying the smell of his fish for nothing! “Thief!” he shouted, “I demand that you pay me for the smells you have stolen.”

    “A smell is a smell,” the young man replied. “Anyone can smell what he wants to. I will pay you nothing!”

    Scarlet with rage, the shopkeeper rushed to Ooka’s court and charged the student with theft. Of course, everyone laughed at him, for how could anyone steal a smell? Ooka would surely send the man about his business. But to everyone’s astonishment, the judge agreed to hear the case.

    “Every man is entitled to his hour in court,” he explained. “If this man feels strongly enough about his smell to make a complaint, it is only right that I, as city magistrate, should hear the case.” He frowned at the amused spectators.

    Gravely, Ooka sat on the dais and heard the evidence. Then he delivered his verdict.

    “The student is obviously guilty,” he said severely. “Taking another person’s property is theft, and I cannot see that a smell is different from any other property.”

    The shopkeeper was delighted, but the student was horrified. He was very poor, and he owed the shopkeeper for three month’s smelling. He would surely be thrown into prison.

    “How much money have you?,” Ooka asked him.

    “Only five mon, Honorable Honor,” the boy replied. “I need that to pay my rent, or I will be thrown out into the street.”

    “Let me see the money,” said the judge.

    The young man held out his hand. Ooka nodded and told him to drop the coins from one hand to the other.

    The judge listened to the pleasant clink of the money and said to the shopkeeper, “You have now been paid. If you have any other complaints in the future, please bring them to the court. It is our wish that all injustices be punished and all virtue rewarded.

    “But most Honorable Honor,” the shopkeeper protested, “I did not get the money! The thief dropped it from one hand to the other. See! I have nothing.” He held up his empty hands to show the judge.

    Ooka stared at him gravely. “It is the court’s judgement that the punishment should fit the crime. I have decided that the price of the smell of food shall be the sound of money. Justice has prevailed as usual in my court.”

  42. WorkingReputation910 Avatar

    Years ago, I was so broke I scrounged for change so that I could buy a 99¢ hamburger. Later, I made my way to the mall where someone had thrown a movie theater ticket stub on the ground. I picked it up and walked into the movie theater and held up the stub to the usher and went in to enjoy a free movie.
    Fast forward to today and I took my wife, son, and mother-in-law to a fine dining restaurant for Mother’s Day.
    Fortunes change. I’m not wealthy but I’m rich in so many other ways. Keep your head up and keep plugging away.

  43. RedditIsDeadMoveOn Avatar

    /r/orphancrushingmachine

  44. _420_glaze_it Avatar

    One time I decided to smell all of the yankee candle food scented candles instead of buying food because I was broke.. I mean it’s still sensory satisfaction right?!

  45. bostoncrumpie Avatar

    My husband lost his job six months after we bought our new home, it was awful. Probably the worst time of our lives, I have no idea how we made it out of that because we were three months behind on everything by the time he started working again and it felt like we were never going to catch up. It’ll pass and you’ll always be grateful for what you have because you’ll be able to look back and remember the struggle.

  46. No_Obligation4496 Avatar

    When I was really hungry and had no money, I’d find a garbage can to sit next to. No appetite at all.

  47. Ill_Translator8639 Avatar

    My dad, my sibling ( young children) and I went to visit grandma.
    In our way back home he stopped at a house, to party.
    He left us sitting at the sidewalk for hours this was at night, and he came back until 1:00 a.m ( drunk)
    We were cold and hungry. I never forgot that episode in my life.

  48. Duelistgodx Avatar

    You guys are so stupid falling for sob stories disguised as a scam to get you to feel bad and donate money 

  49. Status_Possibility35 Avatar

    atleast you got to sit

  50. VoidRiax Avatar

    Living the dream gourmet aromatherapy on a budget. Who needs food when you can feast on vibes and nostalgia right?

  51. Relevant_Landscape59 Avatar

    Your first mistake was honestly being in a mall, while being dead broke. Remember being broke really ends up being a choice. Theres a ton of small, quick, 30 min-3 hr cash jobs, a second job, another shift, something to generate money. It’s not hard at all.

  52. wattscup Avatar

    I wish i was there id buy you a piece

  53. BIGbird347 Avatar

    That happened to me 10 years ago but I was in New York City. I had one dollar in my pocket and could smell all the delicious foods people were selling from their little food trucks and carts in the street. Other people were lining down the blocks getting their hotdogs and pizzas and I would just inhale deeply and smell the delicious foods. I was so hungry but the smell would have to do. I definitely know the feeling. It’s not fun to not be able to afford food but at least you know you’re alive! I hope you’re doing better.

  54. Karnak-Horizon Avatar

    Such a shame that anyone is in this position. But I’ve been there when I was younger ( much, much younger) just married could only make the mortgage and the weekly shop. Debt piling up, robbing Peter to pay Paul as the mortgage rate kept climbing, searching for loose change in the car, behind the sofa etc etc. Buying the cheapest nappies ( diapers),stealing toilet roll from work to bring home etc etc

    Slowly it all changed, control came back and now I’m mortgage free, no debts, retired early. Now I walk my dogs daily, read a chapter of a book daily, play video games , makes the occasional Lego model and generally relax.Life can and does change. But in the moment it feels like it never will. But it will. Good luck

  55. parkerhalem84 Avatar

    I hear ya and it is great to see that we have very generous people here willing to help you out.

    I used to work night shifts and had seen the regular older homeless guys roaming near my workplace. I told one of them that will be bringing over some hot food the following night at about 22:30 and if they can let their friends know. In the following evening, I had gone to my local fast food shop (that closes at 22:00) to buy all of their remaining unsold food that they had on that night for a discount price and also some bottles of water, a good stash of wet wipe napkins. Gave all these to the 4 homeless guys that had shown up. Unbeknownst to me I had acquired 4 guardian angels.

  56. pilavcacik17 Avatar

    When i started the college, about 20 years ago, my parents separated and whole divorce process was a nightmare. they didn’t send me money for punishing each other. i didn’t have money, i didn’t have many friends. i had to steal some food from the dorm kitchen. someone forgot to take it from the oven, i think i took 2 or 3 potatoes. i can’t forget that feeling. i started working that year and almost never need my parents again. i feel you, this’ll pass and you’ll eat most delicious pizzas ever with your own money.

  57. chaoticc93 Avatar

    There’s a whole sub about gifting pizza to people. Check out random acts of pizza! 🍕

  58. Beginning_Worry_9461 Avatar

    Don’t stress the little things, as this shall come to pass. Sometimes you’re the bug, and sometimes you’re the windshield. Today, you’re the bug, but tomorrow you’ll be the windshield.

  59. JennyAnyDot Avatar

    For OP and others interested – there is a random acts of pizza sub. Not sure how to link to it on mobile

  60. R600a18650 Avatar

    That is a hopeless feeling. I’ve been there. Just keep going and it’ll pass.

  61. New-Jackfruit1549 Avatar

    This story made me so sad. I hope you get an XL pizza very soon. Take care. 

  62. 6saint6satan6 Avatar

    this has been me for the past two months and it sucks :/ we got this tho