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

Am properly sobbing at these! And reading them to DH, or trying to- so choked up!

I remember when I went to visit DH (then my boyfriend) on a train about 7 years ago. I didn't have a cellphone, and had been dropped at a different station than the one we'd thought I'd be at. It was late and there was no one manning the station, no payphones and I had no cash anyone...not a very good traveler! I was exhausted and couldn't think what to do...I was in a strange city and didn't know if DH would ever find me, if I should try to walk to a police station, etc.

I just burst into tears and an older woman came up to me. She began questioning me in a heavy Russian accent. I was trying to tell her what was wrong and she just handed me her cell and wiped my tears away really briskly. She said "now, you will call this person, yes, and every thing will be fine. That's enough of that crying, now." I called DH and told him where I was. I said thank you about a million times and she just waved me off and walked away.

She was so competent and nice to me...I can still feel her hands on my face if I think about it, silly as that sounds.

Having emigrated to New Zealand We have been met with so much kindness we're still bowled over.
The first night, in a hotel at the airport, and with DS's awake at 2am with jetlag, a most amazing receptionist found cleaning things to deal with DS2's vomit and loads of random food to make him feel better afterwards. It wasn't a bug, just the upheaval ;0) and she knew just what to suggest. DH came back laden with yoghurt, and chippies (Kiwi for crisps), biscuits and cereal bars she'd found from little hideyholes all over the hotel.
The following day when both DS's fell asleep on the floor in the bank aged 8 and 6 the lovely bank lady found them pillows and hurried through the bank account and cards so that we could start our new lives.
Then I got a welcoming text from my boss to be inviting us all for lunch the following day with his young family. They have since become wonderful friends but I will never forget how much a friendly face and a real home helped in those first few days as we found our feet.

These make lovely reading and illustrate how these RAK's can transform a horrible situation into a really positive one! I used to run a project with schools and was used to the office staff being flat or even decidedly unfriendly and incipiently suspicious. I thought this was always the case. But now my DH and DD are at a high school where the office staff are just so nice that every phone call leaves me feeling really happy! They are so can do and ask how a sick child is and sypathise. The best ever was when the surly music teacher came in and said he could not teach my DD saxophone because a tiny rubber washer was missing. My musician DH had checked it so we knew it had been there. I rang the office and described this tiny black rubber ring about 6mm across. the secretary said 'hold on' went off and searched the carpet in the room used for music lessons and rang me back to say she had found it and popped it in an envelope and sent it to her form teacher for afternoon registration - and wasn't it lucky that the room hadn't been hoovered since? It made my day and cheers me up just thinking about it now! If I could afford it I would send them a huge bouquet every term .

Our wee puppy was only 14 weeks when she ran out into the road and was hit by a car in front of my neighbours house. My dp was not home and I had my 18mo dd inside and didnt want her to see it. My fabulous wonderful neighbour came running out as she saw it happening and sat with the puppy for the few seconds before she died (thankfully it was v v fast) and then she and another neighbour stood guard over her at the side of the road in the freezing cold armed with sticks to keep away our not so friendly neighbourhood fox while I frantically tried to get hold of my dp to come home. They stayed there for an hour so I could keep my child safe inside AND waited until my dp came home and then my neighbour got her husband to dig the hole in our yard to bury our puppy.
I will never forget their kindness and selflessness that day.

last year my DD and I went to the summer time ball at wembley. After, we called into the little tesco extra for something to drink. On the floor was a wallet so full of £50s that it wouldn't close.

I didn't want to go through it so we handed it in to one of the shop workers.

I hope that who ever lost their wallet that night got it all back!

My partner had left me and had cleared out our bank account leaving me with absolutley no money and a 9 month old baby. I went to the bank for £100 overdraft but 'computer said no' as I had no income. I mustered my last shred of dignity , smiled and said thankyou to the bank lady. As I was walking down the street , tears pouring down my face, the bank lady came running up behind me. She handed me a tenner and said the 'computer had allowed me to have £10'.
I took the money . I have never felt so ashamed and humble as I knew that the money had come from her own purse.
I will never ever forget her kindness.

My friend had a minor climbing accident in the Lakes - she could walk but was in shock and needed stitches. We couldn't get mobile reception to call a cab. A couple who were walking in the valley cut short their walk to take us to the walk in clinic. And a couple we met while we were waiting stayed after the wife had been seen so they could drive us back to where we were staying - it was about 10 miles away.

But the one that sticks in my mind are all the Virgin Atlantic staff and ground staff at Heathrow who rescued my son's beloved teddy and reunited him with it at our holiday home in the US within 24 hours, free of
charge. For that I will always be grateful.

One from the United States--

When I was a little girl, we flew across the country (North Carolina to Oregon) to visit an uncle. On our return home, a flight was missed/cancelled, and we were moved to another airline. Problem was, we were all seated separately. My mother was a few rows aheadI've no idea where my brother or grandmother wereand I was seated between a middle-aged man and someone I cannot recall whatsoever.

The gentleman in the window seat chatted with me (about our trip, our home, where he was from, and so forth) and generally made me feel better about the whole strangers-on-a-plane thing. He was very kind, and I hold him accountable for triggering my adoration of British men. ;)

(Honestly, I talked about him for ages to anyone that would listen. I don't see why my parents/DH/anyone, really wonder how this fascination started.)

I have another, when I went into labour with dd2 4 weeks early I had to be transferred from the local hospital to bigger hospital 40 mins away as I was bleeding ALOT ! Not only did the midwife stay with me for the whole ambulance journey and dd's very traumatic birth so did the ambulance crew who waited by the doors whilst she was delivered by ventouse but they also came in to see us both after :) They were all so very lovely x

When I was in my early 20s I was doing a placement in a children's home and was spending the nights there. I used to go straight to my room after work. One night, I decided that instead I would go for a drink with a friend and went out completely forgetting about my keys to get back inside afterwards. Had a lovely time with my friend, walked her back to the station for her to get back home and made my own way back. To my horror I got there and could not make my way inside and got really panicked as it was mid January and really cold. I went back to the cafe to give myself time to think about what to do. The waitress there was surprised to see me again and asked if I had lost something. I told her what was happening and she invited me to spend the night at her house and the following morning her husband had to wake up at 5am to bring me back to work on time. I have never forgotten about them, to this day , no-one I ever met could match this amount of generosity.

garlic I still do that in London. I know it's officially not allowed but who cares?

Not time to read the thread so will come back later, but just wanted to post my story.

The night before Millennium Night DH and I were travelling back to London from visiting relatives up north and stopped off at Tescos to get some food in before we got back home. All of a sudden, and I mean literally out of of the blue, I started to feel terribly ill and by the time we'd got to the checkout I was collapsed on the floor while poor DH was trying to pack the bags as quick as he could and figure out whether an ambulance was needed!!

I made it past the checkout and sat down on a window seat facing everyone at the checkout, feeling like death and then proceeded to vomit everwhere (very embarrassing). Unfortunately DH had just left with the shopping bags to go and fetch the car from a distant spot in the car park so I was completely on my own splashed with vomit and on view of a big audience of shoppers (although I didn't really care at the time cos I felt so godawful).

A lovely, lovely lady who I shall never in my life forget, left her husband at the checkout they were at and came over with a bag of frozen peas and put them on my wrist saying they would help to cool my circulation down if I was feeling faint etc. There was vomit on my hand so a bit of it must have gone on her peas, poor lady. She asked an assistant if they could clean it up off the floor and sat with me till DH came back. She was an angel sent from heaven, I tells ya!

So - lovely lady in Colny Hatch Tesco by the North Circular in London, if you are reading this, I have never forgotten the kindness you showed me in a yucky and embarrassing situation and wished you were reading this thread so I could tell you how grateful I am (still, after all these years).

(for anyone interested, I had a bloody awful stomach bug and was in bed for days with awful cramps and sickness and missed out on Millennium Night completely! It was still memorable, though, because of the kindness of that lady!)

yellowraincoat, I used to do that on London Transport. Then they banned it

Peppermint your story is stunning, so beautiful. A real tear-jerker.
Lions - that had me welling up too. What a lovely dog!

feralgirl- thank you. I am very proud of him- especially so because he hadn't always been the 'easiest' of boys. As for whether or not I had anything to do with it- well I don't know about that, but your comment and that American lady's comment certainly mean a lot to me.

I still remember when I was working in in Mc Donalds in Darwin (Australia) - I served this young Aboriginal boy a 50 cent ice cream cone and he went to meet his parents outside.
As soon as he got outside he accidentally dropped it, I'm guessing his parents didn't have the money to pay for another one as they started to walk off, the look of bitter dissapointment on this poor boys face was heartbreaking!
The next guy in line (young-ish) asked me to quickly make him another one and he ran outside to give it to the boy. He then came back and paid for it and his meal.
I always remember that, I thought it was so sweet that he would do that for someone he didn't know, and even though there was a big queue not a single person complained about the delay :)

Actually there was another bloke who used to come in at about 6am every day and buy a full breakfast for about 6 homeless Aboriginal people, then sit there with just a coffee for himself and chat to them while they ate.

I always wondered if he knew them but I suspect he didn't because it wasn't always the same people that he bought breakfast for - I like to think he was just very generous :)

I once found a tiffany pearl bracelet on the floor in Sainsburys - I handed it in even though it was worth about £400 and everyone I knew (including DH) said I should have kept it and sold it but I wouldn't have felt right doing that!

MiLady, your story has made me weep. You must be so very proud of having such a lovely lovely DS. What a fab job you must be doing to have such a little winner!

And I am also a bit at Lions' dog. Too cute for words (and this from someone who is not a doggy person).

When I lived in Berlin, it was very much common practise to pass your day travel ticket on to people if you weren't going to use it again.

People even used to leave them on the ticket machines if no-one wanted it. It was always lovely to save a few euros, probably happened to me at least once a month.

oh dear lionsntigers... your dog story has done for me.

Too many to name, I guess I've been really lucky. One that sticks in my mind recently is I had dd, then about 8 months old, in a sling and was in tescos pushing the trolley round. A picked up a bottle of cream cleaner and the lid must've been loose because it exploded in my face and got into my eyes. The pain was awful, and I was blind because I couldn't open my eyes but I couldn't get it off and I terrified it had gone over the baby. A man who I never saw and never got to thank stayed with me for the 10 minutes or so it took for tescos to find a first aider talking to me calmly and reassuring me that the baby was fine and none had got on her.

On another note though my dogs sometimes do random acts of kindness to strangers. My labrador cross used to somehow know when people were sad and once she saw an old man sat on his own in the park and went haring off over to him - she usually didn't go running off - and when she got to him just put her head in his lap. I rushed over to apologise for her disturbing him and to call her off, but he was just stroking her ears with tears on his face. Turned out he'd had to move into a home from his own house and had had to give up his own dog to do so, and had come to the park because it was a place with happy memories for him. After that we saw him at the park quite a bit and she'd always make a bee line for him.

Great thread this! Really makes you think and smile (two of my favourite things :) )

When I had just had ds1 I was feeling hormonal and teary and didn't want to be on my own so went to work with dh one day. He had to go to recording studio job and ds was crying is I had to wait in the car. Fast forward 4 hrs and dh is delayed on job and I am in car with nothing to do except (fail to) get ds to latch on for bf etc. very tearful and feeling hopeless in a town I didn't know and on an industrial estate not nr shops or anything . Rough looking man comes out of unit opposite and approaches the car... I had all the wrong judgy thoughts in my head and turned away locking the car doors. He came back a few mins later with a tray beautifully laid with a cloth, a china cup of tea and a plat of toast with strawberry jam all cut up neatly. He knocked on the window and I burst into tears with gratitude. Felt so bad I had misjudged him and and never did really thank him as I was crying too much. Best cuppa I've ever had.

Gosh I've realised how blessed I've been!

One of the most recent was in September, we had a call to say FIL in Holland had hours to live, DH went straight from work, and I caught a flight with 9mo dd just a few hours later on my own. So many strangers helped, when they could see I was struggling. I had a car seat pram, large suitcase( I'd had to throw stuff in for all three of us)and a silly amount of hand luggage. Once on the plane DD had missed her nap and was grumpy, being a little witch, I was worried about the other passengers, when this chap started to smile and play peek-a-boo. There was a huge group of them together, all amusing her. I was so grateful, and even managed to get a much needed coffee. It turns we were adopted by a Male Voice Choir, who had been playing the Philamonic Hall the night before. DH was a bit bemused to see us walk out with 30 strange blokes carrying all our luggage!

We had a regular big issue seller who used to stand opposite where I used to work. I'd occasionally get a copy to read on the train home.

One day I was self-absorbed, feeling completely fed up with life, when he said "Theres an new issue today" I snapped "I'm skint, No money on me", he smiled and said "take one anyway, you look like you could do with cheering up" I burst into tears!

A couple of months later, I was struggling on crutches, trying to juggle my work bag etc, it was only a 10 minute walk to the station, but then another 5 to the platform and I'd badly mis-judged how I'd cope. He insisted on carrying my bag for me, right to the train, and wouldn't accept the fiver I tried to give him...

Whilst skint I used to park my car on the road, and then get the train to work. I came back to find all my tyres down. An old lady across the road came out and on finding I didn't have breakdown cover, insisted that her son could sort it out . She took me in gave me a cup of tea and made me ring home. She said she suspected one of the neighbours was fed up, so suggested that I used her driveway as it was empty everyday! Her son drove over with an electric pump that he kept in his lorry! When the petrol strikes where on, she came out with a list of petrol stations that had got deliveries to make sure I was okay.

There are so many good people in the world, who have raised my spirits and touched my heart.

One event that had two random acts of kindness- when ds1 was about 7 I took him to London for the day. It was a big treat- he'd been saving his pocket money for weeks to buy a toy at Hamley's and he was so looking forward to it. I was already proud of him because back then I was a lone parent and he didn't get many treats or much pocket money and he'd done really well to save up.

We passed a homeless man at the top of the steps to the tube - I hadn't any spare change to give him and as we went down the steps I felt bad for that. When we got to the bottom ds1 stopped, turned round and ran back up. He gave the man all his pocket money. Obviously I was bursting with pride and a bit snivelly to boot. Then a lovely American woman came over, told me how she'd watched the whole thing and said 'What a wonderful boy your son is. You're doing a great job'. I'm afraid that that completely finished me off That woman's kind comments meant so much to me- as, of course, did ds1's kindness.

Devon that's so lovely. There's a homeless man I walk past every day and everyone else ignores him - he never asks for anything, just sits there and says hello if you deign to look at him (noone else does ) - I always have a chat with him. I was working in a cafe a while ago and every time the door opened a freezing gust of air blew in. I bought him a cup of tea with a few sugars in and took it round the corner to him - he was counting out his coins to see if he could afford one and hadn't had quite enough.

In Liverpool there used to be a homeless man who had a sign saying "I don't want money, just for you to smile at a stranger and brighten their day". I often think of him - it's amazing what lovely reactions you get.