Has a random act of kindness stayed in your memory forever?

A few years ago my ds (3) and I were struck down with a bad bug on a flight to miami. I had an 'accident' in my trousers on the plane and when we got to the hotel late at night he started being violently sick. DD (10 mths) was fine but totally disorientated due to the flight etc so was being very clingy. DH had gone to try to buy some nappies from an all night supermarket and I was at my wits end.

I had called housekeeping to get some more bed linen as DS had been sick on it and the most wonderful woman turned up with the linen. She could see that i was struggling and took DS into the bathroom, striped off his pjs and gave him a bath. I calmed DD down and got her to sleep then this wonderful lady changed the beds and tucked DS in. She then bundled up all our dirty laundry (including my stuff from the flight) and told me to pick it up the next day from the laundry down the road rather than the hotel which was blooming expensive. She must have dropped it off for me on her way home.

When DH returned I just cried when i told him about this wonderful woman and we told the manager of the hotel about her and left her a thank you.

Another one was when in labour with DS. I had been admitted due to pre-eclampsia so was on my own DH had been sent home for the night. The next morning i was in active labour and i was starting to spin out and panic. A lady was walking past my room and came in and held me, breathing with me and telling me i was going to be ok. I have no idea if she was a midwife or a cleaner but she made me feel that i could cope. I never saw her again, she was like an angel.

Lastly we were house hunting in a new area and DS had a wee accident in the car (he is quite good really, not presenting him in the best light). i stopped in what is now our local tesco carpark and was mopping up his car seat and a lady walked over and handed me a pair of pants and some trousers. I told her i didn't live nearby to return them but she just told me to kep them. We were living in central london at the time and i think it made me decide that i did want to move out.

Must pay it forward tomorrow.

Just found this thread in classics - I'm crying now too!

Wanted to add my own too.

A couple of years ago when we had some really heavy snow in the south east I got stuck on the A3 on my way home from work. I was on my own, no food or drink, phone almost out of battery and no idea how long we would be stuck.
Got out of the car and started chatting to a lorry driver, he offered for me and another woman to sit in his (heated) cab, offered us food (he had a microwave in there!), let me charge my phone and help to dig my car out at 4am when we finally started moving again.

I have experienced so many random acts of kindness over the years, especially in my years as a penniless scruff hitchhiking around Europe, but 2 spring to mind: one was when I spent ages painfully reversing into a really tight parking spot in a car park in Poole, making a right pig's ear of it. I had no idea anyone had been watching me, but came back to find a card with a heart on it tucked under the windscreen wiper, with "Well done!" written on the back..!

The second was when i was v.v. pregnant, the road was icy and ungritted, and my van basically ended up sliding down it-sideways-getting pretty much wedged on a blind bend. A random passing lady (this was the middle of nowhere) called the local farm, who sent their "boys" out on a big green tractor, to tow the van safely into a layby. I took them some beer afterwards.

I always think of mum. A lady at her till was short of 50p. She cried, the poor love. Mum said not to worry - owe it back. They became good friends. My mums till was short that day - my mum wasnt very well off either!

What a lovely, heartbreaking and amazing thread.

On the way to get on a ferry for a holiday couple of years ago we ran out of petrol on the way and just about managed to get off the motorway onto a small side road in the middle of nowhere. It was the early hours of the morning and there was no traffic on the road. We were running out of time to get to the ferry in time. Out of nowhere a passing motorist stopped to help us. Drove out of his way to take DH to the service station to buy a can of petrol and then drove him all the way back. We were so grateful and he wouldn?t take anything as a reward. Said his reward would be if we could ever help someone else in trouble. Thank you.

Also, the amazing lady who shared her hotel room with my dd; stuck because of the ash cloud and facing the possibility of spending a scary night alone on a deserted European train station platform. She came back for her especially. What a lovely example to set to a young adult (indeed to anybody) and we will be eternally grateful. Thank you.

The only one I can really remember was sitting in the car, 8pm a few days before Xmas when the car had broken down, 100 miles from home and 100 miles from our destination. There was about a foot of snow on the ground, the AA probably wouldn't be with us for 2 hours and with 5 of us in the car (3 kids!) I was a mess.

We were not on a busy road, but the only person who stopped was a lady on her own in - bless her - an Audi TT. She was the only person who stopped and asked if we needed help or could she arrange for a tow. Was so nice of her, but luckily the AA showed up shortly after.

Sadly I can mainly remember the times when people haven't helped, mostly when they have walked round me struggling with a double buggy and shopping etc.

On a really warm day at the end of the summer my son was 6 years old money was very tight and we were in ASDA to buy a coat for the new school year. I was trying to persuade him that the coat he was trying on was fine and not too warm - in other words it had to do because I could not afford to go elsewhere. A rather rotund man with a white beard appeared pushing a trolley, bent down to my son and said, "Santa thinks it's great." The look on my son's face was utterly priceless - made even better by the fact that when he gathered himself to go to the end of the aisle to look, the man had disappeared. Such a wonderfully weird thing to do.

Just read this thread start to finish and am crying. It's so lovely!

I work at a school as a 1:1. The girl I work with has ASD. Last Friday during gym, the kids were supposed to run around the track twice. She made it once and a half and then got upset. I started to go over to her but one of the boys beat me to it. He's already (at 9 years old) the "coolest boy in school", fantastic at sports and all that. He jogged over to her, took her hand, told her she could do it, and ran the rest of the way with her. I had to turn away because I was sniffling!

Also, every time they have to pick partners, he picks her. One of the other children asked him why he did that in a snide voice, and he simply said, "I don't want her to feel like she doesn't have any friends. She does." He is a star, this kid! :)

I will also always be greatfull and thnakfull to a group of mners from the Nov 2006 antenatal group, I was run into the ground and they got up a little fund for dp and I to take the kids to Butlins for a few days. It was bloody fantastic and I will never forget it.

I could have been that lady Ghosty I probably wasnt but I have comforted many sobbing paents in the pead ward and many have comforted me.

We tried for a baby for ages and nothing happened. Then I lost my job, DH's was threatened, which would have meant our house - and I found out I was pregnant with DS.

I bought a baby sleeping bag from Ebay and the woman sent me two, and a message via saying she hoped that was okay and I didn't mind. I emailed back thanking her profusely and saying we were not in the best position financially so actually I was hugely grateful - and then she sent me all her gorgeous, barely-worn baby clothes from 0 - 6 months, with the loveliest message imaginable. Not patronising or pitying, very positive on how her son was a late-in-life unplanned surprise and how he was the best thing she had ever done. It was one of those moments when the genuine, unforced, altruistic kindness of a total stranger makes you feel like you can handle something that overwhelmed you before. It was one of the sweetest and most thoughtful things. If she is on Mumsnet, I hope she knows what that meant to me, and does even 3 years on (and those things have now gone to another mother who was struggling financially, too).

When I had ds he was put to the boob everytime he cried and I buzzed for help which was great but I was exhausted. Been awake for 36 hours, very painful slightly traumatic labour and I was exhausted. Really nice nurse came and sat next to me as was getting upset and worried I'd drop him as was so tired. She said if I wanted them to take him for an hour they would so I could rest. She left me and not long after he started to cry again. I buzzed. She just walked into cubicle, took one look at me and wheeled him away. So so grateful.

What a really lovely thread. Have been in (nice) tears over so many of these.

About a year ago, I lost my wallet, with all my cards, a bit of cash, and a few sentimental things in it. I then got a message through Facebook from the guy who had found it in the street and tracked me down to return it to me. Thank you, kind man!

Actually I do remember one (just the one!) - I had PND at the time, didn't realise until later, and a 6 month old in a pushchair plus 2.3 year old wilful dd. Was at DLL (usually populated with twunts)...went to get out of the lift and something (can't remember what)set dd off - she lay on the floor and tantrummed, whilst people stepped over her and looked at me scathingly. I couldn't think what to do. A woman got out of the lift and started talking to dd, engaged her completely and got her out of her tantrum. I was so relieved I could have kissed her (and I am definitely not given to over demonstrative displays of affection). It doesn't sound much but this woman radiated empathy, it was like she could see inside me and how desperate I was feeling (had been feeling for a while). I expect she has forgotten all about it now, but I haven't

I was working last week (Am a nanny) and had one of those days from hell
Had to drop one charge off somewhere, on the tube with a 9yo and a 1y in a buggy

Spent the whole journey there being shoved and pushed and grunted at, 9y being pushed everywhere etc when he helped with the buggy!

on the way back (minus 9yo) the "up" escalator had broken down...its huge! hundreds of "steps"...I had to take a sleeping 1yo out of the buggy, then transfer everything from the buggy into various bags (Its a Mac.quest...refuses to fold if anything DARES be in the basket ...then trying to fold buggy up ready to go up the escalator....all while trying not to wake the baby and with everyong shoving past....

this lovely lovely man was coming down the escalato, got off, picked up all the stuff walked backup the escalator with it, got the buggy open and helped me put bags on etc, then turned around and went back down the escalator to catch his tube

He completly and utterly made my day....thank you random tube man :)

Nice to see this thread out and about again.

I have another one - when I was 11, just started at secondary school, I took the bus to school for the first time. For some obscure reason, when school ended, I got on the bus from the same bus stop I had got off that morning - and so ended up going the wrong way. I got off after about 3 or 4 stops and was completely disorientated - no idea where I was at all. Highly distressed, I looked to see if I had any money to phone my mum - but I only had 2p and you needed 10p to make the call (sooooo long ago! ) A lovely old lady saw my distress, asked the problem and promptly gave me 10p, plus a few extra 2ps as well. Not a big thing, maybe - but it sticks with me.

The porter who regularly pushed me from ward to scan during my 2 month stay in hospital (I was very ill). He called me 'smiler' and always seemed genuinely pleased to see me again, would tell me I was looking better and generally make me feel like a human being instead of a sick carcass.

The wonderful nurse on the mixed gynae ward where I was having an op to remove an ectopic pregnancy. She saw through me, desperately trying to keep it together, and without saying a word let me know that she knew how tough I was finding it. She slowly and carefully explained what had happened and showed me the notes from the operation. then she stood over the junior doctor and instructed him to write me a sick note for 6 weeks off work. I often think about her and wonder if she had experienced something similar or if she was simply a very good nurse.

when i was 13, i started my first period suddenly while out in a shopping centre. I was in pain, scared and embarrassed, staggered to the toilets where there was a mahoosive queue. Honestly thought i might faint.

A lovely kind old lady who was at the front of the Q noticed my distress, put me in the next free cubicle and told me to wait 5 minutes. She returned with some baby wipes, some sanitary towels and a pack of pants. Once i was cleaned up and came back out, she took me to the cafe and bought me some juice and made sure i was ok and had money for the bus home (i did, but i'm sure she would have given that to me too). I was so mortified i'm not sure if i even thanked her properly but i have never forgotten her gentle, caring voice.

I was in a nightclub in Paris. It was an African place and jammed packed, hot with very little air. I was starting to struggle with atmosphere, felt really weird, then suddenly couldn't see a thing. A really kind man who realised I was in trouble guided me out of the place. Even though I was really frightened and couldn't understand him he was incredibly reassuring. He stayed with me until my friend found me. He was so kind and I'll never forget that.

Hate to spoil the vibe but i can mostly recall random acts of unkindness rather than kindness

Just discovered the classic threads and had to add this (although is very trivial compared to many of the stories on here)...when my DS was very tiny and screaming his head off at the checkout in the local supermarket, an older gentleman said "that is the loveliest sound in the world". I thought he was being sarcastic but he went on to explain how he thought a babies cry was beautiful because it was pure and without malice. Actually I am making him sound a bit barking now but he made a new and red faced mum feel fab and less embarrassed and that was one of the kindest things anyone said after my DS was born.

I have just discovered this thread for the first time and read it all with a lump in my throat.

When I was about 10 my sis & I were playing on a really muddy building site (1970's). We got stuck thigh deep and were panicking as there was no-one around. An elderly couple living nearby heard our screams and rescued us, dug out my lost wellie, and took us back to their house where they cleaned us up and gave us tea and sandwiches.

I live by 'treat others the way you would like to be treated' and love love love RAOK

OMG fatheadsgirl

On a train through Spain in the middle of the night myself and my friend met a nice Irish guy. We'd been talking about how little money we had before we discovered he was also Irish. We chatted long into the night and just before we got off the train he gave us all his pesetas in change as he was en route to france. We almost wept with joy!

My secondary school tutor kitted me out in school uniform when I was in year ten as my mum was AWOL and my Dad didn't get it (I was working a a silver service waitress and he felt that I should be providing for myself but I'd spent all my money on my brothers school stuff). I had no idea she woud do that, it actually made me cry. Ten years on and she still writes to me to make sure i'm ok