I may have broken the rules today **Title edited by MNHQ**

[floralnan]

I own a florist in a tier 4 area. We are currently closed as classed as non essential but are able to work behind closed doors and offer contactless delivery. Today an elderly gentleman knocked on the shop door, he wanted to order flowers for his wife's funeral, he was clearly upset and it was freezing outside. So i broke the rules and let him come inside. It just seamed cruel to leave him in the street. So was i unreasonable to break the rules?

You've done the least harm. It would have been cruel to leave a grieving old man out in freezing weather conditions.

Humanity is important.

I'd have done the same. Poor love 💔

God that is literally heartbreaking 😢.

I would have done exactly the same. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

If anyone thinks YABU they should in the sea.

Thank you for being so kind, mental health is just as important as stopping covid. That poor man.

YANBU OP. Of all the rule breaking that I’ve witnessed, this is the one that concerns me the least. It’s compassion.

Many will say you shouldn't have, however the human being in me would have meant i did exactly the same. A few days ago I was walking with my children and a lady was pulled over by her dog. I offered to help her up and she accepted so we actually touched hands but no way was I walking past and leaving her there. My children will continue to learn kindness in this mad world. Well done xx

I think pretty much everyone would do the same. I don't think it's necessarily helpful to entitle the thread 'I broke the rules' as it just encourages other people, who haven't read the thread, to think that breaking the rules is a desirable thing to do at the moment.

No you weren’t unreasonable. I’m glad you showed him this act of kindness ❤️

Oh my. This made me emotional. You may have technically broken the rules but you did the right thing which is the main thing here! Poor man! 🌸❤️

Pah, I defy anyone to be irate about this when I can still be expected to (let’s give it half an hour and see!) work safely in classroom with 32 children!
You know you did the right thing and thank you for looking after the gentleman

Only if it is unreasonable to be compassionate and kind. Bless you.

You did what most of us would do in that situation.

Yes why exactly are you telling us about it?

God that’s heartbreaking 😢 poor man. I would have done the same OP

WTH? What kind of a numpty would find this goady?

@WunWun

Oh come off it. There's no way this actually happened. It's a text book Mumsnet self congratulatory attention seeking thread. There's no one alive who would actually question if this was the right thing to do. It's complete nonsense.

This is exactly what happened, I have stuck to the rules throughout but today I was put on the spot and had to make a choice. I was asking if that was the right choice, morally yes but still against the rules.

This has choked me up - thank you @floralnan for your kindness, I’ve no doubt that you’ve made his grief easier for him to cope with by assisting him. Organising his wife’s funeral will be very, very important to him.

Oh bless him. Yes you did the right thing.

You made a judgement call, you chose the right way.

Of course it was the right thing to do.

I broke the rules once too, spent 25 minutes in a parking lot earlier this year with an old woman, they took away the cash payments in my town and it's all ringo. She touched my shoulder when i asked if she was ok, recoiled and said 'oh I'm sorry i know i shouldn't!' I showed her how to download it but she was slow, I (with permission) took her phone her bank card her reg and set it all up for her& showed her how to use it as she was only in town to pay bills! Poor cow - her daughter was doing it for her but was in hospital having a baby that day!

Had to run off though because she made me late to register my own daughter's birth

I do miss work sometimes. Love old folk.

Totally a sucker for the rules but obviously that won't ever beat being a decent human being to anyone, ever.

Of course it was the right choice to make. Don’t give it another thought.