As suggested by Thrift Tell me about the random acts of kindness people have done for you, you've seen people do or you have done yourself :)
Warm fuzzies for everyone!
Random acts of kindness people have done for you :)
pyro love bird on 14/08/2014 - 15:21
Comments
I was on holidays in the US and caught a flight that didn't provide any food. And elderly gentleman next to me was snacking on a bag of nuts and dried fruit. I must have glanced at it - I was really hungry and he offered me some. I took one or two, but he told me to take some more.
I was at sydney airport international departures and I must have looked like I was having a really bad time (I had been crying because I had spelt my sons name wrong and thought we wouldn't be able to travel.)
A lady saw me looking flustered at mcdonalds and gave me a voucher for $50 that she got for a delayed flight. I thanked her and turned around to get my children to thank her and she was gone.We don't have an adult section so I have to leave some details out of this story, but I went to a party once and I ended up talking with this girl who said she played the Flugelhorn in a band. I'd never seen a Flugelhorn before but she happened to have it in her room so we went to have a look at it.
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Anyway, it was very random and very kind.
So she showed you her horn … was the detail omitted that it was a he and not a she?
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She played the flugelhorn, and then you left?
What happens at band camp is supposed to stay at band camp!
So you're not going to tell us what music was played? :)
Often I awaken as a cockroach and my family hold off on the bug spray.
I was cycling my creaky bicycle home one day. When i stopped at the light, the cyclist behind me got off his bike, took out a bottle of oil and pleaded with me to let him treat my ailing bicycle.
I was on a flight traveling alone with a toddler and a baby. I have just fed my baby, and I guess I was trying to burp him. Next thing you know, he had projectile vomiting, and his burp went all over the seat. I was holding him and couldn't really reach my bag to get anything larger than some napkins to wipe it down. So this kind gentleman sitting across the other side, saw and quickly opened the overhead compartment, reached into his bags, grabbed a large towel and offered it to me. Till this day, I still remember the awkward moment when I didn't know what to do with his towel after I was done, do I give him back the dirty towel? Lol
Mamajo, I think he would of preferred you keeping the towel. :P
Great idea with both threads Pyro Love Bird. Bookmarked!
:)
Thanks (your name is too long to type) :P actually this thread was suggested by another user :)
A couple of days ago, some people here called Tas and Pyro love bird gave some beautiful words of encouragement to two complete strangers that will be remembered for a long time as some of the most beautiful i have read in a long time.As well as that,just yesterday,a mum i was looking after at work had a talk with me that will remain with me forever,and has made me look at everything in a very,very new way.She gave me her own personal copy of a book to keep and then,just as my day ended,gave me a gift (from a basket she had made up to give all us midwives) as a thankyou.I declined,as she had given me more than any trinket could replace….but she pleaded with me to give them to all the girls,so i accepted and just mouthed "thank you"……THAT was amazing.One thing i remember doing myself when i was a kid,was seeing this elderly (to a 10 or 11 year old anyway) man falling during a seizure opposite central station and smashing his head on the gutter.He was bleeding everywhere,yet no one bothered to help him (it was the early,early 80's,AIDS was just starting to be in the news and it was in a gutter that many,many others in Sydney would have dropped in for varying reasons,so i do now understand people's trepidation…but he was still a human being).I remember leaving my mother to go and see if i could help by just talking to him and mopping up his blood with something and waiting until he had roused again to talk.I then had to go,as the bus had come,but i remember feeling like a good girl for helping and i was happy to have done so.These small acts…that cost nothing,but give much, are what i wished more people would do so that this planet may come from being one of hate,revenge and poverty,to one where we care for each other a little more.
Thankyou parisenne, I'm so glad to here, you sound like a kind soul, don't ever change :)
No pyro love bird…THANK YOU.Although age,experiences and other people have taken a fair bit of that childhood naivety and the rose coloured glasses are definitely a lot less rosey,i still have that same basic need and desire to help others in any way i can (probably why i,27 years later,still remain in nursing…when leaving has been VERY attractive).
You are amazing. I don't know if you have children, but you would make a wonderful mother. :)
@pyro love bird: Oh sweety.That has bought tears to my eyes.We have lost 6 babies,and are doing our 2nd round of IVF now.That is the biggest compliment anyone could give me…that i would be a good Mummy.THAT WILL BE THE POST OF THE CENTURY ON HERE WHEN THAT HAPPENS.To heck with saving a few $ then…..birth notices in the Telegraph,the NY Times,Le Monde and the London Times.(hahaha)
@parisienne: I'm sorry to hear that but don't give up! I personally don't believe in a higher power, but if there happens to be one, then whoever it is, I hope they realise they've forgotten to give you the gift of a child :) chin up, you'll have one on the way :)
can remember only 2 incidents…. both from OZBers…
- I was short of 10 points to claim the 95 point hoyts ticket from coke rewards & someone gave me a code for 10 points..
- there was this bargain for free sleepers by entering some code, i entered mine & dint win anything or maybe it wasn't working.. then posted on the tread and a nice person gave me a code which led to a free pair of sleepers…
oh so lovely!
A young women stopped her car and offered me a ride as I was trudging along slowly all bent over in pain from a back injury. I was trying to walk to the train station to get to the physio. I was really touched that she stopped, and I took her up on the offer. Some kindness makes a huge difference to one's day.
13 years ago, when i was in my friend's car to Uni in Vimiera Road, my friend go straight to the kerb! both front tyres are gone.
An old lady ran out and offer us to come into her house to wait for NRMA. She offers us a cup of tea, some cookies, telephone calls and a nice chat! I still want to thanks her again to help us in that shocking time!
One of my daughters play in under 10 basketball. Her team is a disaster — 4 girls and one guy, lack of physical ability, have little skill, no coordination, often have no drive, and no subs where 5 of them have to play 40 minutes straight. Worst of all they have me as their coach :P
They often have to play with all-boys teams that are taller, faster and a lot more skillful than them (usually a lot rougher as well). The games can be quite destructive — not just the scores but also their morale. Hard to motivate when you can't shoot a goal at all after 10 minutes.
However the best team in this season can be gentlemen sometimes. They would every now and then let their defence all open, letting our team player to dribble in and shoot under the basket — even grab the rebound, pass back to us and cheer when we score. They certainly could just keep on scoring to "break the record" but the boys chose to let the other kids feel a bit better about themselves.
That's an act of kindness.
My secondary school is one with rugby traditions and we had to play a smaller school in a school divisionship match. They rocked up with 12 players (you need 15 for a union game), our coach was so impressed that this ragtag band of players even bothered showing up. He made 3 of our players play for them to make up the 15 and forbid us to thrash them.
I wouldnt say this is act of kindness. Just good sportsmanship.
Good sportsmanship= act of kindness :)
Indeed it's a form if good sportsmanship. However I think sportsmanship is more in the case of not giving up, always fighting to make it a good game when you are 50 points behind & you are dead tired, which is the circumstance my team seems to always have to face…
I was 12 years old and had to take my cat to the vet to be out down as he had been poisoned by something someone had put out for fun. The vet was about three kilometers up the road and I had to walk it with him on a pillow in my arms. It was awful. A lady drove past and stopped and drove me up the road to the vets. She was so kind and sympathetic.
Was your cat okay?! I'm glad to hear that you didn't have to walk your cat the whole way to the vet though :)
You are so kind. I had to have him put down that day. It was so sad. He was the best kitty.
I'm sorry to hear that :( he will always live on in your heart and memories and I hope you remember the good times you had with him, I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be sad
I bought a obscure manga off ebay once, and when I messaged to let them know I had paid I mentioned how big a fan I am of the series, and asked them what personally attracted them to it and why they were selling it. A few days went with no reply and it later got checked as posted, so I marked it as yet another failed attempt and forgot about it. Next week the package arrives, and its a little heavier than normal. Inside all the bubble wrap was a hand written note from the seller. She said she got the email, and she admired my courage or something so much that she decided a standard reply wasn't good enough, and so she had written the note and put it in the package along with a couple of her personal favourite mangas that I might enjoy. She also said she was going to japan soon, and that if I wanted anything I should let her know.
I thought that was rather a lot of effort to go to for a stranger, especially seeing as I hadn't paid much for the manga(I am an ozbargainer after all)
That's so nice! You can meet the nicest people sometimes :D
For people thinking how can a Magna Come in the post as I did, read again, he said Manga
Fyi… (漫画, Manga) are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th …
I shared this thread with my wife yesterday, who thinks too much surfing on internet forum is a waste of time. She had tears streaming down her face after reading some of the comments in this thread. She didn't know there were that many nice strangers out there who share things without asking for anything in return.
I'm glad we were able to change your wife's mind :)
So am I. so am I
A few years ago when I was younger and more stupid, I jaywalked in a rather quiet street. Midway through it, a car was coming my way so I strode to the other end. I still remember how the car's horn was blaring and me thinking what an ass the driver was (now that I read what I just typed, I sounded like a bastard).
It turned out my mobile slipped out of my pocket when I was half-running and the driver noticed it. I think he held up a few cars in the street as well. In the end, I was really humbled by that experience and whenever some strangers did something to upset me nowadays, I always try to remember that driver's act of kindness.
It happened 7 years ago when we arrived to Australia and were looking for a job. I got a phone call from Optus advising that i have been selected for a job interview and whether i could attend it. Of course i could!! We have agreed on time and the very next day i was on the way to Macquarie Park. When getting to the bus i asked bus driver- lovely lady, whether this bus goes to Mac park. She said "yes". When we arrived to Macquarie uni she announced it was the last stop. I did not notice the sign on the bus advising of this… I asked her how far was Optus office and mentioned my job interview- first one in Australia. And she said - do not worry, i gonna take you right to the office. And she did. She drove the bus straight to the Optus main entrance!! i got that job. This simple act of kindness made me think there are so many nice people in Oz. Time proved it right.
Ah! That sounds so sweet! I'm so glad to hear, are you still working at Optus?
It was in the middle of Perth, I was just walking along, doing my own thing (daydreaming) - suddenly, an elderly man walking next me tripped on a cobblestone, and fell flat on his face. When I think about it, he was just shuffling along - a recipe for disaster for elderly people, especially on uneven surfaces.
He went down hard - the thump onto the pavement gave me a shock.
I stood there stunned for a moment, as did most of the other people around.
Then I crouched down and helped him roll over onto his side, at the same time another person ran up to assist me. Within 10 seconds there were about 10 concerned people standing around making sure he was OK.
He was in obvious pain, so we sat there with him for a few minutes, and then helped him up onto a park bench (he was so light!). Someone else gathered up his bag & the few things he had in it that had also gone sprawling.
Eventually it was just me left sitting next to him, everyone else had cleared off. I offered to give him a lift somewhere, or maybe call his family, but he insisted he was OK and that I should just leave him there.
So I did, and went on my way. But I often think back to him, and hope that when I'm old there'll be someone who'll help me up when I fall over!That was so sweet! Thankyou for being a kind person :)
Ok this Goes back a few years ago when we landed fresh of the plane in Sydney and then in Newcastle with nothing to call our own,
To save money we would walk to the job network member office ~ 8 kms away from the caravan park where we were staying. That was the only place with free internet and telephone so we could call and spam the companies in the area with our resumes and applications.
Once we got walking on the Highway almost every single time We'd get offered a lift, Lost count of the number of times people offered us a lift. So many nice people would actually drive us down to the caravan park gate and not leave us on the highway ~ 500mts off the highway and away from their route, It made us feel very welcome in the initial days in the country.
In memory of those times I always stop and offer lifts to anyone who's asking if I'm going in the same direction.
I think these days people are a bit more hesitant about giving lifts to strangers because of the headlines about people getting murdered and such, but it's very kind of you to be so open about helping people, and I'm glad you didn't have to walk the whole way!
Take care
I think these days people are a bit more hesitant about giving lifts to strangers because of the headlines about people getting murdered and such,
Yeah I know that's sad, but the people who gave us lifts were really very kind,
Since both me and my friend are non-white( in general more suspicious) and I'm 6+ feet tall and Male so not your ideal lift receiver.
As far as giving lifts, I'd have to be very unlucky to be overpowered and mugged but so far so good.
Not enough people as imho. I sometimes even stop and offer to people at busstops etc but for the above mentioned facts I have about a 50 % take up rate and these days don't offer unless asked.
That's really nice of you, I think there's that sort of fear of "you don't know who's who". I mean, if you offered me a lift… I'd honestly run >< I'm not even 5ft tall so you could easily just pick me up and leave.
Dropped my wallet somewhere outside Sunshine shopping centre a couple of years back. I had close to $100 in the wallet so I was pretty much sure I'd never see it again. I reported it as lost at the Sunshine police station, but even the officer told me not to hold my breath.
As I handed him the completed form and turned around to leave the station I noticed a guy (dad) and a little girl (daughter) in the queue, inside the police station. I vividly remember thinking to myself that they didn't quite belong there (it was around 9pm on a Friday night and everyone else in the station looked way seedy).
When I got home there was a message on my answering machine from police telling me that someone had brought the wallet back. I collected the wallet from the police station and asked for the contact number for the person that returned my wallet. Called them immediately, thanked them immensely and asked if they happened to be there with their daughter and, sure enough, that was the same person I'd seen in the queue behind me. :) Got their address, went back to the shopping centre and spent all the cash I had in the wallet on buying a nice bottle of whiskey for the guy and chocolates for his daughter. He refused to take it initially but I had to insist.
Will never forget that moment - gave me some hope in humanity.
This! Not enough people would try and express their gratitude, I know plenty of people who'd just be like "great, got it back" or whatever, I'm really glad you were kind enough to buy them really nice gifts! :)
Thanks for starting this topic @pyro love bird,
And thanks for this story @Apey75.
No worries, it might restore some faith in humanity :)
Same thing happened here in SA, although the police weren't allowed to give an address or Phone number of the kind people :(
I was driving the other day and my car felt odd. Waiting at the lights a guy in the car next to me waved to get my attention to let me know that one of my tyres was flat. I thanked him and pulled into a car park near a few furniture retailers.
Being a girl who is pretty hopeless with cars, I ended up asking for help at the local Super A Mart - and a lovely helpful man changed my tyre for me. I offered him a tenner for his time (grab a coffee or something nice to eat as a thanks) but he declined. Such a great man - there are some amazing people out there!!
Back in the day when there was ebay but nothing like paypal it used to be VERY expensive to cash cheques from overseas. So occasionally I would trade with a buyer for the same value in local goodies - eg Frys chocolate creams, galaxy bars from the UK etc.
One time I sold something for roughly $40 and was expecting a small package of goodies. Instead I got a huge package which would have cost considerably more about- $100 we reckoned. I offered to pay the difference but the guy said it was not a mistake - he just liked the idea of trading so much and he knew I obviously loved chocolate!
I think he got carried away :p
Them were the days when I loved selling on ebay - not many Aussies did so you could find enough to sell. A lot of payments came via snail mail and NOTHING was automated. It was a huge pain sometimes, but you really got to know about your fellow ebayers.
Gave away a double movie pass I won to a random person.
Advised me of a bargain, with no personal gain for themselves!
https://www.ozbargain.com.au