Woman commended by stranger for wearing picture of herself on her hoodie — it turned out to be a photo of Obama

What is the biggest misunderstanding experience you've ever had that literally left you at a loss for words? For Paulina Abena, a woman who goes by @goodweirdgal on TikTok, it was when a stranger lauded her for wearing a hoodie with a photo of 'her face' printed on it. At least, that's what the stranger thought and went on to compliment Abena for being confident in public. It took a confused Abena a few moments before she realized the stranger's misunderstanding. You see, she was actually wearing a hoodie with a photograph of former President Barack Obama printed on it. 

Abena was sitting inside her car with sunglasses on, when she began, "This woman, a stranger, just came up to me and she said, 'I love your confidence'." She was quite confused and had no idea what the person was talking about. "I say thank you 'cause I am not rude," Abena went on. When she did not inquire more about the compliment, the stranger told her, "I could never walk around with a picture of myself on my hoodie." The statement alone left Abena baffled. She took off her sunglasses in the video and expressed her shock. She then adjusted the camera, so that people could clearly see her hoodie and the photo on it.

It turned out to be a black-and-white picture of Obama when he was younger. In the picture, Obama is seen wearing a T-shirt with someone else's face on it. The woman took a long pause before shaking her hands and looking up in disbelief over the misunderstanding. She tried to share her take on the situation, but seemingly had no words to express how she felt. Abena looked on the verge of tears before she put on her sunglasses and fastened her seat belt. She repeated in bewilderment, "Okay, thank you. No, thank you, thank you," as the video ended. The caption read, "It has been 0 days since our last nonsense."

The video received more than 16.7 million views and over 3.6 million likes. People were as perplexed by the incident as Abena was. @thetranstherapist wrote, "I was wearing a shirt with Michael Cera (a Canadian actor) on it once and a teacher thought I was wearing a shirt of myself. I don't look like Michael Cera." @niyalibackup commented, "They swear we all look alike. I had a college 'friend' who asked me to play Queen Latifah in her skit since we resemble each other so much." @kittay.bee remarked, "I just knew it was going to be something wild, but didn't expect THAT. I'm speechless. Like, I wanna say, take it as a compliment, but also 'I beg your finest pardon?!'"

@dresouza3d shared, "I was so taken aback that I didn't even notice the video was still playing silently; the 'thank you' brought me back to reality." @karigan.dragon expressed, "Okay, but you are beautiful and before I saw it, my only thought was 'yes, wear it.' So now you need a hoodie with your actual pic." @secondhandsauerkraut pointed out, "You should have responded by saying 'I love the confidence that you had to say that out loud,' because girl!"

You can follow Paulina Abena (@goodweirdgal) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.