A photo of what a business owner in Iowa did to two men panhandling on the street has now caused a big stir on social media. However, it is unlike many of the other controversial photos and videos showing interactions between panhandlers and business owners, where shopkeepers have sometimes chased away people begging in front of their businesses in a very aggressive way.

A man referred to as “Uncle Mike” on Facebook saw that two men had been standing on the side of the road, with signs asking for help because they were “broke and hungry.” Upon seeing this, Uncle Mike thought he had a good idea to help the men. His shop was quite busy and understaffed and could use two more guys helping out. So, he went up to the men and offered them a job, but according to his nephew, Michael Wooldridge, they simply turned him down and kept panhandling.

What Uncle Mike did next is what sparked the controversy. He wrote “Offered these guys a job. They said no. Don’t give money.” on a sign of his own and began standing next to the two men. The photo had been shared over 22,000 times since it was put up on Facebook on Saturday. According to Mike’s nephew, the men then left, but his uncle followed them around to their new panhandling location. The photo has since been picked up by several news outlets and shared on various other social websites as well. Most people who commented agreed that Uncle Mike did the right thing by exposing two relatively young men who refused a perfectly good opportunity to earn money by performing honest work rather than begging. There were also a few people who reminded others that not all individuals who are homeless or panhandling are lazy and that many will be happy to perform any work that they’re capable of doing.