Kindness of strangers

[Fierlin1182]

I love reading the kindness of strangers stories in the Readers' Digest. What are some of yours?

There are strangers here who contribute small change when we're short, and on one memorable occasion a young lady pointed me towards a phone when I was stuck in the middle of nowhere (well, as close to 'nowhere' as you can get in the city

) without any money. I think I was having a minor panic attack by that point.

 

[kari_dawn]

I lost a very dear friend in a four-wheeling accident. He was always very adventerous, and right before he left, I asked him to promise me to come back in one piece (actually, I asked him to promise me he wouldn't die). He said he couldn't do that. He never did make a promise he couldn't keep.

The morning I found out, I called into work (we had been talking through text just a few hours ago), and got in my car and drove...I had no idea where to go or what to do. I ended up at a small cafe near my house crying into my hot tea. I guess the people in the booth behind me noticed my distress, and talked to me for a few minutes. They picked up their coats and left.

I wandered up to the register to pay my tab and go home, and found that someone had already picked up my bill for me.

I never even asked her name, but I will never forget her.

 

[Fierlin1182]

That's a lovely story! Gives you real faith in humankind.

 

[kari_dawn]

yes. Yes it does. There should be many more people like her in the world...it would make it a better place.

 

[Beekissed]

I've had people pay for me at the toll booth and someone brought back my lovely Lucy(dog) one night when her battery ran out and she went to wandering. I was so very grateful for that!

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Great stories.

I think one of the ones I remember most was working security in a freezing cold guard shack for a gated community. It was million dollar and up housing, and unfortunately many of the people there were openly unkind, rude, and entitled...very, very hard to be around on a daily basis. We weren't even provided with toilet paper (we were told to buy it or hold it), electricity, or bathroom breaks, so I can't say we got any support from the company we worked for either.

Well, a school bus driver blasted through the gate and smashed it off. When I politely asked her to fill out the paperwork for that, she began screaming and cussing, and then nearly ran me over as she drove off screaming out, "CAN YOU SEE MY BUS NUMBER NOW?". It had been about a year of working in that environment, and that was about it for me. I just burst into tears. Don't even remember slamming the clipboard to the ground, but I broke it clean in two. A little later on, one of the residents drove up and honked. I was worried they were going to have something unpleasant to say, as that usually was what a honk meant there. Instead, they handed me a fancy coffee (whipped cream, etc) for me, and said they had seen what had happened, and they were sorry to see people act like that. They smiled and drove off with a genuine, "have a better day". Grateful doesn't even begin to describe what I felt for that.

 

[kari_dawn]

Oh, that is so wonderful that they would provide such a perfectly timed act of kindness...as a civil servant, I DEFINATELY feel for you.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Wow, Punk! Sometimes people can be really surprising!

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

I got to pay it forward just last week, for some of the kindnesses shown to me in the past

Young man in the store was counting out pennies and change for gas and he only had $2 worth which the cashier put into the register...I handed the cashier $5 and told him to add that in.
Not bragging...just makes me feel good to be able to do it. SO many people have helped me in the past I have too many stories to list.

 

[teach1rusl]

Years ago (tells you that it meant a lot to me) we had a HUGE snowstorm. The highways in our area were even shut down. My son was a baby, but of the age when he had already transitioned from formula to milk, which we were out of. We were new to the area, and weren't familiar with the mass buying sprees (grocery shelves being stripped) people here did when they knew a storm was coming, so we were unprepared. You couldn't drive anywhere, so my husband walked to the nearest store he could find, which was a convenience store. Of course ALL of the milk was gone. He asked the clerk about any other stores around, telling them about our baby. The clerk had stashed her own supply of milk away in the back for her own family, and she offered a gallon to my husband. To some it probably doesn't sound like much, but it sure meant the world to us...that simple act of kindness.