Principal ordered teen to paint school walls for free— then regretted it when he saw his office door ahead of an inspector visit

We’ve all been in situations where we agreed to help with something and ended up doing far more than we expected. That was the case for a high school student who serves as president of their school’s art club and recently shared their experience on Reddit (garnering 2.7k upvotes so far) under the username u/SuccessNovel2231. The student explained that after being promised free lunches in exchange for repainting peeling walls and old furniture around campus, the requests kept piling up, until they decided to handle one final task in a way the principal couldn’t ignore.

"So I am a high school student, and I am the president of the art club in my school. I can say I do decent things," the student began. According to the post, the principal and art teacher asked them to paint "some white and peeling walls however I want, and I'd get free lunches." The student added that their school only had a canteen, not a cafeteria, which made the offer feel practical. "Since I had nothing better to do and I'd get out of chemistry and maths, I said yes."

The first few projects went smoothly — the student painted several walls and even refreshed a door for the chemistry lab, but the requests did not stop there. "Whenever I finished painting, they'd ask me to do something else. Like painting the old benches or drawing custom designs on doors." What began as a one-time agreement gradually expanded into ongoing work. This is a classic example of the foot-in-the-door pattern, which psychologists have studied for decades.

Shortly after being denied the lunches, the student was asked to repaint the principal’s office door because it looked old. "Since they asked me to do it and didn't tell me what to do exactly, they couldn't say anything," the student wrote. So they painted it bright pink. There was one detail the student had not considered at first. An inspector was scheduled to visit the school. According to the post, this part of the story came from the student’s homeroom teacher, who is part of the disciplinary committee. When the inspector arrived with three secretaries, the tour reportedly went well. He praised the artwork and the "intricate work" around campus. But when he reached the principal’s office, he encountered the bright pink door.

"He left in a hurry, and our school got some maintenance people sent," the student wrote. The post also mentioned that the school is "supposed to be the most funded and the most disciplined school in the whole district," adding that the incident likely caused administrators significant embarrassment. The student summed up their reaction with a line that many readers echoed: "Don't play with my lunch of chicken nuggets shoved into a piece of bread."

In 1966, social psychologists Jonathan L. Freedman and Scott C. Fraser published a landmark study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In their experiment, homeowners who first agreed to a small request, placing a tiny sign in their window, were far more likely to later agree to a much larger request, such as installing a large, unattractive billboard on their lawn. Participants who were asked only the large request overwhelmingly refused. When the student finally went to the principal to collect the promised lunches, they were told the free meals would not be provided. The compensation that had motivated the arrangement simply disappeared.

The story sparked debate in the comments section. u/Metalsmith21 wrote, "Should have given the inspector a bill for your labor." u/Calli2988 added, "I would not be surprised to learn that the school's records show that a bill was paid for the paintwork. The pink door highlights that the work was done by a student and not a paid contractor."

More on Scoop Upworthy

Girl punished for natural hair color violating school dress code maliciously complies

Student's answer to math question sparks discussion after teacher marks it as incorrect

PE teacher constantly mocked 'unfit' students until one outsmarted him in front of the whole class