Instinct tells us the proper way to deal with haters is to steal their phones and disseminate all the nude selfies stored in their Clouds while hashtagging whichever venereal diseases are scariest at the moment, along with the words “and proud of it.”
Dianne Hoffmeyer decided to take a different route and, in an effort to set a good example for her young daughter, bought her critics coffee.
On Monday, as she waited to order doughnuts for her toddler, Lily, at her local Tim Hortons in Burtchville Township, Michigan, Hoffmeyer heard two women in line behind her bashing her appearance.
In an interview with ABC 7, Hoffmeyer, who recently lost 177 pounds, recalled the women saying,
Oh, look at her hair... It's nasty-looking, and the roots are coming through. Oh, she's a whale. Oh, the whale needs to eat.
Hoffmeyer said,
I just instantly started to cry... I don't know the women... I don't know why they would choose to say something like that.
Hoffmeyer knew, with Lily in tow, she preferred reacting to the women with kindness rather than by fueling the hatred.
In response to her generosity in the face of cruelty, Tim Hortons awarded Hoffmeyer a gift card. Strangers inspired by her story sent the mother more gift cards to the coffee chain, as well as gift certificates to beauty salons for well-deserved days of relaxation.
Touched by the support and compassion of strangers, Hoffmeyer claimed if she had the chance to see the two women again, her actions would remain the same.
She said,
I'd like to buy them another cup of coffee and talk to them. And explain to them how it made me feel.
That sounds much simpler and kinder than any revenge plan.
Citations: This Mom Bought Coffee for the Women Who Body-Shamed Her While in Line for Food (Cosmopolitan)
