To Give or Not to Give?

A few days ago I was sitting at Applebee's with a friend. The service was slow, business at the time was slow, and they never gave me my debit card back. For the first and third issues, I give them some lenience because the restaurant location had just opened so the employees were most likely new. With the debit card, I should have noticed they didn't give it back to me, so I don't put the server completely at fault.

Their food was something I did not agree with, however. My stomach felt like it was twisting inside me before we even got up to leave. After that not so pleasant experience we ran a few errands my friend decided to drop me off at home, but not before making one last detour. We were about 10 blocks away from the gas station and the car slowed, then came to a stop and died. After stopping and re-starting the boat we inched our way closer to being able to pay $4.18(?) per gallon. Two minutes later I found myself outside pushing a station wagon down a pothole filled street by myself. A few blocks ahead I saw a group of ~22 year old guys sitting on the curb. I waited for laughter and taunts as the distance closed between us. Then of them shouted, 'You're almost there!!' But his friend got up and asked if I wanted any help, and I said sure. So him and another friend helped me push the car to the gas station. After we pushed it to a pump I told him thanks and that I appreciated their help. He responded with 'hey, this is an awkward question, but do you have like 50 cents for a 40?' I took out all the cash I had in my wallet and gave it to him and told him to keep it all and buy a few for his friends. I thanked him again and told him to take care and have a good night.

I told my friend the story, who said i was dumb for giving him all my cash (it was only $8.00).

My reasoning:

These guy's could've done three things: 1) Mind their own business and not even look at us, 2) Make fun of us, or 3) Get up and help. They chose the third option, without me or my friend asking for help.

Even if he had a goal of getting beer money, who's to say that's a bad thing? Bill Gates makes millions of dollars a year, but also donated $500,000 to the relief of typhoon Frank in July and gives millions a year to charity and schools. Steve Jobs has donated countless Apple computers to schools with hopes of kids asking their parents for an Apple computer after using them throughout school. Is that so bad? I don't see why some people think win/win situations are so bad. Anyways, I'm getting off track as always, I'll end it with this: He showed me that at least for that moment, he was a good person, and good deeds should be rewarded.