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Random Act of Kindness - to balance all the ranty threads, tell me of a random act of kindness that you have never forgotten.

339 replies

MmeLindor. · 25/01/2012 16:33

There is a lovely thread in Classics about Random Acts of Kindness so I thought we could do with a lovely fluffy thread to distract us from the shooting and disembowelment going on at the moment.

I will start.

When DD was going through the "terrible twos", she had a tantrum at the supermarket. She lay on the floor and wept bitterly because I would not give her what she wanted it. I tried reasoning with her, I tried being stern, and finally I walked away.

The sound of her screams echoed in the supermarket, people were looking at us. I thought that they were judging me, thinking that I was a bad mother.

A man walked by with his two daughters - about 9 and 11yo they were. He stopped, patted my arm and said, "It is a phase. It passes. You are doing the right thing".

It meant so much to me, that I was not alone and that other people were not judging me but feeling sorry for me. And probably being thankful that their DC were past that stage.


Has a stranger ever done or said something nice to you that you still remember years later?

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sozzledchops · 25/01/2012 16:41

Was flying back from Israel as a youngster and this nice American couple shared their taxi to the airport with my friend and I and gave us money to get a sandwich.

People have also went out of their way to hand in lost purses and meet up to return mobile phones. I like doing stuff for folk as well though.

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DoesNotGiveAFig · 25/01/2012 16:50

Trying to do the three peaks last summer. There was a HUGE charity group doing it too, and so they had check in points for their participants roundabout the place. I hobbled off the second peak, I really felt like I couldn't walk anymore, despairing because it was a zillion miles to civilisation, and we came across a check point with a van. They saw I was struggling, and even though we weren't with the charity group told us to hop in and gave us a lift to the village where our car was. I burst into tears in the van and made a donation the next day.

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Dirtydishesmakemesad · 25/01/2012 16:55

when I was pregnanct with my ds I had preeclampsia, I was in hospital and feeling really unwell and also worried as i was only 35 weeks. The consultant came around and told me i would be havign my baby in the next few hours since i was ill which upset me.
She went off to finish seeing other patients on the ward but 15 minutes later she came back with a nice drink for me and sat with me and just chatted and reasaured me until the midwives came to get me to take me to the labour ward. I know that she was at work doing her job etc but most consultants would have left me to it on my own not bothered to come back.

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MmeLindor. · 25/01/2012 17:05

Really lovely stories.

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tablefor4 · 25/01/2012 17:11

I fainted on the tube when pregnant with DD1. Various people caught me and hauled carried me out of the train at the next station. A couple of peope then waited with me, one gave me his lucozade, until I felt a bit better.

Everyday, when people stop and help me with the buggy, especially on the tube.

[Londoners can be nice emoticon]

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lazydog · 25/01/2012 17:16

I'm sure there have been others, but for some reason the one that really sticks in my mind is when DH proposed (in a restaurant) the couple at the next table, who were just finishing their meal, said "Congratulations!", paid their bill and left... Then the waiter came up to us with a really expensive bottle of champagne and said that it was from the couple who had just left, so we never got to thank them!!

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Ryoko · 25/01/2012 17:17

..............I have not punched many people who have annoyed me over the years, I think thats pretty kind of me, they should be grateful.

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boogiewoogie · 25/01/2012 17:21

A few:
When I was 8 and my younger DB was 5, we went out as a family to dinner in the evening in London and walked from Covent Garden to Leicester Square along Shaftsbury Avenue. It was dark and DB wasn't holding anyone's hand and of course got behind a bit. Parents then realised that he wasn't with us, panicked as we retraced our steps along Shaftsbury Avenue. We spotted a couple of young men who pointed at us with DB in tow. The immense relief we all felt when he was found and gratitude we felt towards them. We were extremely blessed.

More recently, DD and I were waiting at a bus stop. It was very cold and wet which DD doesn't cope well with. DD started wimpering and weeping because of this and I tried my best to reassure her that the bus was coming soon. Kind old lady offered DD a sweet to cheer her up and told me she hated seeing children cry.

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boogiewoogie · 25/01/2012 17:26

I was feeling dizzy in a restaurant and told a colleague that I needed to go out for some air. About half way towards the door, I fainted and almost immediately, I felt a jerk here and there and someone's hand on my pulse. Later I heard "It's alright, I'm a doctor" Grin followed by giving advice to my colleague (who was also a doctor but Phd Wink).

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NotMostPeople · 25/01/2012 17:27

Years ago driving through central London one car towing another hit our car at some traffic lights, my exH got out and in trying dislodge the towed cars wing mirror from ours moved the towed car. There were a number of small children and babies and e male drivers of both cars got very angry with H. For some reason I got out of the car and H got in. The two drivers took out wrenches and crowbars from their car and started smashing at the windows to get to H. I have no doubt that they would have done him some serious damage, it was terrifying and horrific to see H trapped in the car. A stranger walking past somehow managed to pull the two drivers off and calm them down, the police arrived and apart from some scratches to the car everyone was ok.

In the confusion of the moment we didn't get an opportunity to thank that man, he just disappeared into the crowd. I've always deep,y regretted that we didn't get a chance to say thanks, he put himself at risk for us.

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WetAugust · 25/01/2012 17:51

On holiday alone.

I was in Oporto, Portugal. There was a stall on the opposite side of busy road to me that was roasting chestnuts. Lots of smoke billowing from the stall and quite an unusual thing to see.

I got camera out and took a couple of photographs. The afternoon was overcast and drizzly so the flash activated.

The next thing, the chestnut seller, a small tough looking lady came running across the road towards me. I thought she was going to tell me off for taking a picture of her working at her stall.

Instead, she thrust a handful of roasted chestnuts into my hand, refused my attempt to pay her for them, then turned and walked straight back to her stall.

Will never forget that.

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ProPerformer · 25/01/2012 17:53

The Harvester manager who went the extra mile for us when DS was sick in her restaurant.

She not only helped us clear up and moved other diners who wanted to get away from the scene discreetly to other tables, but gave us an old t-shirt of her sons for DS to wear to get home so he didn't have to wear sicky clothes (was like a massive dress on him but still nice) and refused to take any money at all for our meals (not even a tenner!) as we had hardly started them.

Luckily we live quite local to the restaurant and so the next morning we were able to drop off a thank you card and a picture DS had drawn for her.

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WetAugust · 25/01/2012 17:55

Also,

When DS2 was a toddler we were walking through a shoping centre when one of his shoes fell out and landed at the feet of a young man.

He bent down and picked it up and I expected him to hand the shoe to me to out back on DS's foot.

Instead, he bent right down to DS's level, carefully placed his little foot in the shoe and did up the laces for him.

When I thanked him he said 'It was a pleasure ma'am'. He was a young American tourist.

I hope he now has wonderful family of his own by now.

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ThreeNine · 25/01/2012 17:57

I've had both an iPhone and a diamond ring returned by taxi drivers.

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TooEasilyTempted · 25/01/2012 18:07

Having lunch in a restaurant and my DS spotted a premier league footballer having lunch with his family. He kept turning round to stare over at him and I told him off. Footballer noticed DS staring, came over, signed an autograph, posed for a photo and sent a dessert over for DS when we'd finished our meal. He must get the staring all the time and I thought it was really very kind of him to do what he did.

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theressomethingaboutmarie · 25/01/2012 18:19

We were on holiday in California with our then 10 month old DD. she was making eyes at a couple in the restaurant we were dining in and we got talking with them. They were locals ( we were in Sonoma) and were delighted that we loved their town so much. We talked about the lovely inn we were staying in etc.

We came back to the inn the next day after a day out at the vineyards to find a huge basket of wine, snacks and chocolates and a card from this couple wishing us a wonderful holiday.

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GrimmaTheNome · 25/01/2012 18:20

The lady who held my un-put-downable 5mo DD when we were out somewhere so that DH and I could both eat.

The couple who went the extra mile in returning the purse I'd left on a bus.

The lovely chap who calmly took over when MIL hypoed when we took her out for her 91st birthday lunch, and quietly melted away when the paramedics arrived (never did get to say thanks properly - he was a qualified first aider who was also a diver and I think had dealt with a few emergencies. In Gloucestershire... If anyone thinks they know him, I owe him a pint!)

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BiancaCastafiore · 25/01/2012 18:24

My mother died when I was 17 and a very kind friend and neighbour of ours bought me a bag of carefully selected blemish-free apples (apples have always been my fav fruit) :) So simple but so thoughtful.

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Rindercella · 25/01/2012 18:34

I have several.

Many years ago when I was living in Italy, my car broke down in the middle of nowhere. I had to get it towed to Siena and then a train back to Florence and then another to Pisa as I was flying home for a week. I had no money at all - it had taken every last lira to get my car towed. I had been up all night trying to get the car sorted, hadn't eaten for ages and I was really fretting, wondering what the hell I was going to do. Got chatting to a Northern African chap who was a student. He gave me L50,000 (about 25 quid). He had no knowledge of whether or not I was going to return that money and he was not a wealthy man. That act of kindness has stayed with me for 20 odd years.

Then there have been the acts of kindness from MNers to me in the last couple of years. From popping round to look after my DDs when one of them was sick so I could go and see DH in the hospice (thank you if you're reading this - I know we don't speak any more, but I will always be thankful to you for that), to amazing, generous gifts from complete strangers in our times of extreme stress, I will never forget.

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candr · 25/01/2012 18:49

Really nice thread Smile
I got knocked of my bike by a taxi that didn't stop and was unconscious in the road in heavy rain, I came too to find myself covered with a duvet, head on pillow being sheltered by an umbrella. Someone had seen it happen from their window and grabbed their beddng to keep me warm as they were worried about moving me - was very surreal but so sweet, took round wine and chocs when I left hospitle.
Also the bus driver who used to walk to the top of a really long scary path to meet me from work and escort me to the bus when it was dark as he worried about me being mugged (had happened to a friend of his there), made me feel much safer.

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FetchezLaVache · 25/01/2012 18:49

When I was about 15, I had to ring my dad for a lift home from the town where I'd been dropped off after a hockey match. Due to struggling with my hockey stick, games kit and enormous bag of goalkeeping kit, I managed to leave my briefcase in the phone box, but didn't realise until we were on the way home. Returned to the phone box and it was gone, along with lots of my GCSE work- gutted. When we got home (a fairly remote farm), it was sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me- someone had found it, got our address from my bus pass and driven miles out of their way to get it back to me! And because it was my dopey brother who answered the door to them, we never found out who it was and were never able to thank them properly.

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drippyVaJjandVagBean · 25/01/2012 18:57

I grew up in a small town where you reconise most faces and When ds was small he was coo'ed over by a regular bunch of people on our usual trip to town, he has a taggie blanket and we dropped it once, someone who simply knew our faces walked town until she found me and returned it.

Also ds, tesco every friday the same old lady would be in the cafe when I arrived, dp was on a building site nearby and we'd have breakfast, ds would be asleep and shed always ask after him, most weeks the minute I hit the till and the trolly stopped he'd go off like a siren, this lady would come and cuddle him whilst I paid, I know some people would say its risky allowing a stranger to do so but she'd rocked his carseat for weeks and one week it wouldn't work, she told me once ds was weaned and would knaw on a rice cake instead those fridays were the highlight of her week, so instead I met her for coffee whilst ds babbled in a highchair, I haven't seen her for 3yrs :( but having someone help me in such a simple way made such a difference.

Also shopping one, once we added dd to the family it got more interesting, she wasn't ff like ds so no one could settle her but me, dp used to stay home with ds whilst I went to asda with dd (I know it would be easier for me to stay behind with both but it was a break for me and I actually enjoyed going) one week she freaked as I got to the till screamed and screamed and two asda ladies came and loaded my shopped on the conveyer packed it all and brought it out and waited for my taxi with me.

And the biggest one, with newborn dd and 1yo ds, dp and me had a bad patch and he walked out, I was home alone in january about 7.30pm ds was in bed and the electric went out, can't drive it was raining, I'd got dd bundled up in the sling managed to move ds to the buggy still sleeping and wrapped him up to trudge to the shop 20min walk, only to find I was Over drawn I'd got £3 in coppers change in the nappy bag so got £3 elec, all wet snotty and miserable the lady behind the till smiled and said, it passes soon sweetheart and gave me a bar of chocolate and when I got home I stuck the key in and there was £10 on it, I rang imeadiatly and she said not to worry it was no accident she'd put the extra on, I went in a few months later with flowers for her, I was truly miserable that night and she saved me from very dark thoughts. I popped in that same shop last week, 3yrs later nearly to the day with my two dcs and she gave me the biggest smile and said, I told you so, I wanted to hug her :)

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discobeaver · 25/01/2012 19:12

I was on holiday in Italy ages ago by myself, and was at a cliff/hilltop lookout area, just admiring the view and wishing I didn't have to go home.

A lady with her family came and told me in very broken English it was a place where people sometimes jumped, and she wouldn't leave until I was on the bus back to the hotel!

I wasn't suicidal at all, just dreamy - but if I had been, she might have saved my life

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ProPerformer · 25/01/2012 19:23

Another one I have thought of from when I was little.

I must have been about 5 or 6 at the time.
I was at the seaside amusement arcades with my parents and there was an old man in a wheelchair playing on the toy grabbers and he was winning loads of them but couldn't reach them to get them out so was asking random people to help him. At one point I was near the machine when he won two toys so I went and got them for him and handed them to him before he asked. He then said I could keep one for being so helpful and honest!

Similar thing last year with DS when we were in Brighton. Hed been watching a couple of 'hoodies' play on one of the pier games and winning prizes. Anyway we finished watching them and about 15mins later they came up to us saying 'excuse me' and I thought we were in for it, but they showed us a toy parrot and asked if it was ok for DS to have it!! Had a few times like that with DS!

Also a few years ago my grandad was dieing of cancer and I was in a card shop buying him what I knew would be his last ever birthday card (he died 2 days after his birthday) and suddenly got really emotional and burst into tears. A lady came over and stood next to me and offered me a tissue and a hug (I took both!) and asked what was wrong. She and her husband stayed with me for a good 5 mins or so listening to me and reassuring me until I was calm enough to carry on. Such a small thing, but very much appreciated at the time.

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MmeLindor. · 26/01/2012 07:19

CandR
I laughed at the thought of someone bringing out their duvet - that would never have occurred to me. How sweet.

Here is one the other way around.

We were in a restaurant in Zurich. Next to us sat two children while their mother bought the food. It was a self-service place and really busy so they were alone quite some time. The older child was about 9yo and he was looking after his 3yo sister. They sat quietly and drew pictures, the boy helping his sister until their mother came back. I heard them speaking English and so when we left I said to her, "I just wanted to compliment you on your very well behaved children, I am impressed how nicely they waited".

She was so chuffed. I got the impression that she had been having a difficult day until then and was a bit stressed out.

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