Woman Gets 'Tsunami of Friendship' for Classy Response to Fat Shamers

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A southeast Michigan woman who stopped at a local Tim Hortons restaurant for a cup of coffee and doughnut holes for her teething 22-month-old daughter did something that has been cheered around the world after two middle-aged women in line mocked her weight and called her a whale:

She paid for their coffee.

Fort Gratiot resident Dianne Hoffmeyer, who has lost 177 pounds in 22 months aftr she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, recalled the Monday incident for WXYZ-TV:

“Oh, look at her hair; it’s nasty looking and the roots are coming through,” one of them reportedly said.

And on it went.

“Oh, she’s a whale; oh, the whale needs to eat.”

The taunts stung.

“I instantly started to cry, because it hurts,” Hoffmeyer, 41, told the TV station. “I don’t know the women. I don’t know why they would choose to say something like that.”

Hoffmeyer told the Port Huron Times-Herald that she’s not usually a person to let meanness slide, but held her tongue, thinking instead about the example lashing out would set for her children.

“My 2-year-old daughter is a mini-me and she mimics everything I do,” Hoffmeyer told the newspaper. “I wanted to do the right thing so when she’s old enough she’ll know the right thing to do.”

She told the incredulous cashier that she wanted to buy their coffees, then went home and posted about the encounter on her personal Facebook page and also on the “Port Huron Michigan” Facebook page. It was addressed to “the 2 mean bitter ladies standing in line at Tim Hortons.”

The following morning, her email account was locked up because she had received about 1.5 million notifications and messages, some from as far away as Australia, she said. Her Facebook account was overflowing with messages of support and tens of thousands of friend requests, too. Hundreds of thousands of people have reportedly hit their “like” buttons on the post.

The Tim Hortons restaurant where the shaming took place has offered her gift cards and products, and a woman from South Carolina reportedly called with an offer to purchase more gift cards. The women who hurled the hurtful remarks haven’t been back since the encounter, a restaurant manager told WXYZ.

“One positive action in a negative moment has caused a tsunami of friendship for me with moms that are going through the same thing,” Hoffman told the Port Huron newspaper.

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