Claire bought a meal for a man she thought was homeless (Picture: Mercury)

This woman tried to do a good deed, but ended up wanting the world to swallow her whole.

Claire Varin was left mortified when she bought a ‘homeless’ man a meal in McDonald’s – but he turned out to be an ordinary customer awaiting his order.

The 33-year-old mum-of-two was in McDonald’s in Halifax town centre, West Yorkshire, when she saw an unshaven man with a rucksack sat on a nearby table with no food.

After spotting him eating ketchup from the sauce dispenser, Claire feared he was homeless and hungry so bought him something to line his stomach.




The random act of kindness backfired after she placed the meal down in front of him – as seconds later a member of staff brought over another meal and apologised to him for the wait.

Varin, from Sowerby Bridge, said: ‘I was mortified. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment. I wanted a hole to open up underneath me.

‘I didn’t stick around to see if he ate the food I bought him too, I just ran out of the shop as quickly as I could.

‘God knows what he thought. He probably tells people about the time a crazy woman bought him a breakfast for no reason.’

Claire, a full-time carer, had gone into McDonald’s for breakfast at about 9am in the morning on her own. She noticed the man, also alone, when he began eating small servings of ketchup.

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Claire says she’ll be steering clear of that particular McDonald’s branch (Picture: Mercury)

Claire said: ‘My imagination ran away with me. Had this poor man been out on the streets all night? Was this the only food he would eat all day?

‘Maybe he had no money and was starving. I thought only desperation could lead someone to eat ketchup.

‘It was a very cold morning and I thought how can I sit here with this meal and leave him sat there with just ketchup?

‘He must have been sat there for a good 10 minutes so I assumed he hadn’t ordered and had just come in from the cold.’

So she ordered the meal for the man. ‘I placed it on the table and said “this is for you”. I felt fantastic and my heart swelled that in some small way maybe I had helped this man.’

But her feelings quickly turned to embarrassment when a member of staff brought him his actual order.

She added: ‘I was so embarrassed. I just left the store as quickly as I could so I don’t know whether he touched the meal I had bought him at all. My friends won’t let me live it down and my husband keeps laughing at me. He says he’s going to follow me around from now on to make sure I don’t buy strangers food.’



Claire also said she was going to avoid hat particular McDonald’s branch in case she ran into the man again.

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