Can I have some "people are lovely" stories to restore my faith in humanity please?

[JocastaNu]

I work in social services. Very little surprises me but every now and again you get a case that hits hard. Today is one of those days. Can't go into any details but I'm definitely having a "people are shitheads" moment.

Could you share some stories of how people are not shitheads please? Anyone done anything lovely for you unexpectedly recently? I feel I need to hear how there is still good in the world.

I have two one old and one new .

The old one was bittersweet. I worked in a prison where ducks for some reason had moved into the green and mainly clean areas. Every year they would have ducklings and you would see the mother pootling along with her ducklings following. It actually became oddly traumatic because there were also lots of large old drains. It was an old prison and for obvious reasons there are very strict rules about what can be done maintenence wise so the drains were big enough for little ducklings to fall down. Over time it would be sad to see the amount of ducklings drop as a few would drop down.

One day I was unusually moving between sessions and I was behind a group of prisoners being moved by staff to a different area. Mama Duckling pooled past with 5 ducklings waddling unsteadily behind her .

I heard the prisoners and the officer have a brief word (the prisoners were clearly asking hin something) than as a group they sort of formed a guard around the ducks and gently guided them away from the drain area and escorted them to the nearest safe space. With them all chatting to the ducks. One was telling the mama duck she was doing a job , another jolly ingredients along the last baby duck telling him he could do it. Big burly , let's be honest less than pleasant blokes (it was not a cat D prison....I accept you weren't in there for insurance fraud ). Officer was with them at all times.

It didn't negate their crime but it was a moment of kindness and softness in a very hard world and it made me happy to see kindness like that.

The other recently was a woman with an autistic child walking and the child had a meltdown because one of their fixations was not returning on the same route home and a local jogger stopped and ended up sitting down with the child to support while he came down and talking and smiling. It was a small thing but on a seafront where people can be quite judgy and nasty it was a lovely moment for a stranger to help.

I've talked about this before.

When my dd died, the loveliest guy found her when he was returning from working a night shift. He stayed with her until the police came and placed his jacket over her.
He never ONCE spoke about it he was asked repeatedly to give an interview to reporters. He came to her funeral with his wife.
We met him briefly before the court case. I admit at the time I didn't really think about what he had been through and how it affected him.
He lives in my hometown although I didn't know him personally at the time.
Every anniversary he always puts flowers at her grave( without fail). We have met up several times. I was pregnant with DD2 when DD1 died. His wife bought her a lovely gift.
It's nearly 6 years now and he's someone who I often think about.
He will never know how grateful I will always be to him for the kindness and dignity he showed to my beautiful dd.
I always think
An evil bastard took her life BUT
A lovely person found her.

When I was 25 I got pregnant and decided to have an abortion. Extremely hard decision and illegal in NI where I live. So I had to fly to Liverpool to have the procedure by myself.
I remember sitting nervously in the waiting room with a girl and her mother. We said nothing to each other.
After the procedure I gained consciousness to find I was lying next to that girl in the bed next to me. Without saying anything she smiled at me and took my hand. We just lay there together holding hands.
It still makes me tearful. In that moment I felt such goodness, warmth and kinship that in my delirious state I actually thought she was an angel sent to comfort me.

@ParkheadParadise

@Bathtime17

I was on a train once and a load of local ‘yooth’s’ got on. They had their hoods up and were talking in slang etc. I looked down at my phone but became aware that there were some raised voices and one of the youngsters had put his foot in the train doors and they were holding them open. I was just thinking ‘bloody teenagers’ when I saw a women with a child running. Turns out the young men were actually holding the door open for a women so she didn’t miss her train. They were really lovely to her when she got on and seemed like really nice guys. I felt like such a nob thinking the worst of them because of how they looked.

I honestly believe most people are good and if you help people when you are in a position too, when your time comes someone will be there for you. I get so much pleasure (pre covid) from seeing the faces and empty plates from the lunch project I ran - after my marriage ended they bought me a lovely bunch of flowers and the idiots guide to dating!

Such a lovely thread .

Thanks for starting it, op

At the pub a couple of weeks ago - outside of course - a lady was struggling down stairs with a buggy. DD who was on the outside leapt to her feet to help her. I was a very proud mum.

I volunteer with the emergency services and at any public incident there are people rushing to help and people asking us if there is anything they can do to help the person or help us.

I have great faith in humanity.

I have a friend who always has my back even if I fuck up/have a shit 5 minutes (usually longer) they will be there saying the right things.. I dread the day we don’t work together

Most of mine involve being out & about with my DS2 who is autistic & non-verbal. People in hospitals and shops have let us skip queues, generally do what they can to make life easier for us. He was having a meltdown once in the supermarket & a lady loaded our groceries onto the belt & bagged them while I looked after him.

My lovely 72y old neighbour bought me bottle of champagne upon hearing that I have failed my driving test today for the 4th time. Absolutely made my day better!
I used to work for SS (children) years ago. for you, OP.

This is a lovely thread.
I had to have an op in January & needed to self isolate for 3 days before and 2 weeks after, my neighbours across the road came and walked dpup for me every day, bought me a lovely card and some biscuits and let me add stuff onto the online shop.
DP also moved in with me for 10 days and looked after me. Nothing was too much trouble. He's a good egg.

I agree, there are defo more good than bad people in the world. I always try and be one of good ones and help out where I can.
I'd want someone to help one of my relatives if they needed it.

During the first lockdown I was in my local Co-op buying some ready made bottles of formula for my newborn. There was no sign on the shelf so I picked up two and went to the till. The assistant said I could only buy one due to Covid. I did, and went out to the car park. There was a shout and the man who had been behind me in the queue came running over. He had bought the second bottle for me and wouldn't take any money.

Had a girls weekend in Barcelona. A friend who turns into a wanderer when she's drunk wandered off and wasn't answering her phone. We spend a sleepless night awake trying to get in touch with her. The next morning it turned out she'd wandered off and her phone battery had died, she couldn't remember the bar we were in or our hotel, two girls found her and took care of her, too her back to their apartment to sleep in off and charge her phone and then drove her to the hotel the next morning after giving her breakfast. They truly went out of their way to make sure she was ok even though her drunkenness was pretty self inflicted.

Ds has just received his asd diagnosis. Our lovely neighbours dropped in his favourite cake and a beautiful "congratulations" card their son had made with the nurodiveristy infinity symbol on. During the first lock down it was often hard to get hold of his safe foods, they took a list of what he would eat and enlisted their friends to pick them up when shopping if they saw them. One of them worked at b and m and delivered a massive box of his favourite bits and said the manager wouldn't accept payment for them.

@ParkheadParadise I am glad there was some kindness for you in those terrible days.

I love this thread. I have a few about the kids.

When I was heavily pregnant with my DS, my DD was still under 1 so just a baby. I regularly shop at Aldi so would have her in the trolley, and I have trouble with my hands so gripping items can take longer if my hands are cold. Attempting to grab items, sort wriggling toddler, and pack was nigh on impossible and the manager used to come and help me pack and then carry my items to the car for me 🥰. When he wasn't there, other staff members did the same and even called a member of staff to the front to come and help me. When my DS arrived, I'd put him in a sling and my DD in a trolley and they still carried on helping me so some time until he was big enough for a proper seat and I could manage better.

We went on a cruise - DD was 2.5 and DS was 1.5. He was teething and had just learnt to walk so was equally grumpy and all over the place because he was bloody quick. Many nights, my husband or I were spent walking around the deck at 4am and we got to know a man who was regularly walking around at the same time due to his insomnia. We had some good chats 😂. He started to have a cup of tea ready for either of us to drink as he knew we would be along shortly with the pushchair and DS would start crying the second it stopped.

Same holiday, husband was having a lie in after having the night shift with the kids so o got up and took them for breakfast. We went to the buffet and a lovely older couple were sat next to our table. They sat and played with the kids whilst I got their breakfast and they insisted that I go and get my own. The husband got me a cup of tea when I sat down and another before they left and both were incredibly kind. They both said they remembered what it was like to have to have tiny ones and everyone deserved a hot cup of tea. We saw them most mornings and they'd remember the children and chatted to either my husband or I about the other from the day before 😁.