Am I the only one who gets irritated when someone shares this?

It's a nice story. I mean, that's all it is...a story. But it is a nice one.

Also 100% didn't happen.

And consideration would be to ask one of his female friends, or hers, on the bus, to tell her.

Because if he helped her pick up her dropped lunch, would it still be a story worth posting about?

That's a silly comparison. Dropping something happens all the time to all sorts of people who are assisted by passers-by.

What if she had sat in something else that marked her trousers? Not sure what point you are making here. If the anecdote is true it's not impossible to imagine someone helping out for any sort of potentially embarrassing stain.

It's probably bs and never happened but I have no issue with it. I am usually the first to roll my eyes at men being applauded for being basically decent human beings but the bar is extremely low for teenage boys these days, and they do get demonised and have very few decent role models. I'd kind of hope if they read something like that, they might think about helping a girl out in that kind of situation rather than teasing her.

I have a lot more time for stories involving teenage boys and children than I do for fully grown men, because they are still learning. If it was a man who had shared that story, it would be one thing, because patting themselves on the back is just so irritating, but it wasn't, so it's a little different.

This 100% didn’t happen.

I would be hoping the mum in question wouldn't be identifiable, as sharing that on social media would be excruciating for the daughter. But that wasn't the issue you were raising in your initial post.
The hairy handed aspect wouldn't even occur to me, it hardly goes into wank fodder details.

You’re overthinking it. If it was my daughter I’d like to think that someone (male or female) would take her aside and help her.

Maybe I'm too old and cynical, but I actually wouldn't be grateful if some random dude told me I had blood on my trousers and offered to cover it

So you'd rather people didn't tell you and let you get on with wandering around obliviously?
I'd be beyond embarrassed if it was pointed out to me, but I'd be grateful if they did as at least I could tie my coat round my waist or something then scuttle off quickly away all embarrassed

I just took it at face value, a pleasant young lad - they do exist. And as for the stain being at the back, tmi but that was always how it happened at school, sitting all day. I remember smoothing the back of my skirt as I was sitting down as if I was stopping it from creasing, but really I was checking for wet patches. Wouldn't go back to being a teen for anything.

Pressed too soon
this story is less of a wholesome anecdote and more a patronising way of insinuating that women NEED men because they're at the mercy of their biological functions

Don't see it like that at all - just that there's nice people out there, regardless of what sex they are.

I think it's a nice story (no idea how true it is or not, but anyway)
If it is true, it shows that there are nice people about and a bit of positivity.
Which I'm always up for!
It kind of reminds me of that person (the one who sued waxers) who used to start threads about what to do if they were in a gender neutral toilet and a young girl asked for period advice
Yaniv? Genuinely curious as to how that is in anyway the same? Or are you talking about someone else seeing as you say they used to start threads here, assuming Yaniv wasn't?