We’ve all had childhood experiences we can never forget, but TikTok user Maddy (@madisontynd) has one that takes the cake.
When Maddy was around 7 or 8 years old, her mom spent a year in jail, and when she was released, she brought a few friends home with her.
“Because she would do any favor for anyone at any time,” Maddy explained, “she would allow her newly released friends to live with us in our tiny, three-bedroom apartment.”
Maddy said that while a three-bedroom apartment might sound spacious to some, the rooms were the size of shoeboxes, and she lived with her mother and brother. Since they all had their own rooms, her mother’s new friends had to stay in their small living space.
The TikTok user remembers two women more than the others, Angel and Jen. Maddy recalls Angel as really fun to be around, but unfortunately, she struggled with sleepwalking and sleep-eating.
As a family living off food stamps, they couldn’t afford to have Angel eat up all the food in their cabinets. At times, Angel would eat so much of their food that all that was left were frozen vegetables with cheese sauce, and that’s what Maddy and her family had to live off of.
In addition to allowing her friends to stay with her, Maddy’s mother was also okay with them taking her daughter places. Despite liking Angel, Maddy actually had a closer relationship with Jen, so one day she decided to take her shopping.
“She takes me on the bus for the first time to a plaza downtown in a really not great location. We get to this plaza, she looks at me, and she goes, ‘Uh, I don’t really have any money, what are we gonna do here?’”
Jen ended up taking Maddy to PetSmart, where she switched some price tags and slipped a few things into her big coat. The two left the store with a beta fish, a round fish tank, rocks, and beta fish food for only about $9.
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Unfortunately, the two didn’t have any money left for food. However, Jen was quite sly, and when she spotted a nearby McDonald’s, she immediately came up with a plan.
Jen searched through the McDonald’s garbage until she found a receipt. She then called the fast-food chain, claiming she had received the wrong order, and the manager told her she could come in with her receipt to get the food she had paid for.
With a little convincing, Jen was able to get a McDonald’s meal for her and Maddy. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any money for the bus back home, so she had to come up with another plan.
Jen decided to start guilt-tripping shoppers at the plaza into giving her money. “Oh, we’ll find the money to get home on the bus, it’s okay, you don’t need to be upset. It’s okay, it’ll all work out,” Jen said loudly to Maddy.
Jen was able to get $5 from a woman walking ahead of them, but instead of taking the money and heading to the bus, she continued her charade and ended up with $14, despite starting the day with only $9.
“This was the come-up of the century,” Maddy joked. Then on the bus home, Jen said to her, “This was so much fun, don’t say anything to your mom.”
Other TikTok users in Maddy’s comment section found the story hilarious and seemed to think Jen was kind of an icon for her sneaky ways.
“Jen is RESOURCEFUL,” one user wrote.
“Jen said, let’s make some memories,” wrote another.
