Tell me about a time a stranger has been kind to you - that unexpected kindness

[BridportSpectacular]

I was wondering around Cambridge waiting for a relative to get the yes or no after a biopsy at Addenbrookes, the prognosis was awful but this would give a bit more time.

I'm not a make up person really but thought I'd pop into a Department Store - John Lewis?? and ask about a new foundation.

The absolutely lovely middle aged make up lady took me under her wing, gave me a full make over, including doing my eyes twice because I cried when I explained why I was in Cambridge and chose me a lipstick shade that was perfect.

It was like a total therapy session. She was just so kind and it made that 2 hours I was waiting just go.

The news came back from the hospital that we had more time left than we thought.

25 years ago while at uni (I was 20ish) I was working in a hotel bar, chatting to one of the customers about this and that, we somehow got onto the subject of flowers, I said I'd never been sent a bunch of flowers...... subject dropped, I closed the bar, said goodbye, he checked out the next day. I came into work the next morning to find the BIGGEST bunch of flowers I have ever seen behind reception for me, they were absolutely gorgeous with a card 'stinkertroll, just for being you! Love Mike' I've still got the card on my noticeboard, never saw Mike again to thank him 😁

@maimeo that is lovely, how nice to be remembered.

Years ago I was driving round Heathrow perimeter road. Sunday morning, I'd just got off a flight from the US & was tired. Concorde was taking off beside me, and I took my eyes off the car in front for just a second. It stopped, I realised and braked but not quite in time, and dinked his bumper.

Only then did I recognise the Ferrari badge on the car I'd hit. The man driving stopped and got out. I thought he was going to be horribly angry, but he just asked me if I was ok, told me my car was fine, no visible damage, asked me again if I was sure I was OK.

I was so stunned, all I could do was nod, and then he drove off.

Most men would have gone into complete & total meltdown. It was lovely to know there are some sane reasonable ones out there. 🙂

Last year I lost my dad, I was very upset. Went to the gardencenter - life goes on - and met one of my neighbours there. He knew what a difficult time I was having, gave me a hug and said how much he understood my tears. The cashier, a lady I absolutely didn't know, overheard our conversation. (My neighbour is nearly deaf so we probably were rather loud.) When it was my turn this lady threw a packet of cookies in with my shopping and declared : what you need now is a cup of coffee and a cookie, so these are on me, with all my sympathie. I'll never forget ❤️‍🩹

Couple of months ago.

flight delays meant huge queue for car hire when we finally arrived in Orlando. As in a 2 hour queue.
It was evening in Florida, we’d left UK home at 6am, so we were knackered. Pal waited i queue and I went to get coffee, only to discover shop was shutting.
lovely lady took pity on me and gave me two iced coffees for nothing!

I was so grateful and it was so kind of her to pity on an old, very tired wifey.

In Scarborough whilst on holiday my DD picked up a toy at the counter whilst I was paying for drinks and crisps. I said no as I needed to save the rest of money for fuel for way home when suddenly the man in the queue behind me said "I'll get it for her" promptly paid the £9,99 and have it to my DD as a gift from him

Once ran into the car in front in a traffic jam, 25 years ago. Inner London, late for a wedding, I was lost and stupidly stressed. The bloke got out looking furious. I stammered profuse apologies. He looked at me, looked at his car, said 'you know what, it's fine, it's a tiny dent and an old car, don't worry about it!' I am still grateful!!

I used to have a long bus journey to work. One morning the bus stopped half way and the driver said they were terminating there. The passengers would have to get off, wait for another bus and pay again. I was frustrated at being late for work, but worse, had no more cash on me and was in tears telling the new driver I'd already paid, but he wouldn't let me on. A young woman stepped up and paid for me. A few days later I saw her again and paid her back. Had never seen her before and never saw her again but without her I don't know what I would've done.

New Years Eve 1999 and I was in Bangkok. I'd got separated from my friends in the new skyrail station and I had no idea where I was. I was pretty tipsy so wasn't panicking like I perhaps ought to have done!. A couple of people recognised me from the hostel we were staying at and offered to bring me home. We spent a really long time trying to hail a cab on NYE but eventually managed it. I am eternally grateful to them in hindsight for their kindness. Probably saved a reckless tourist like me from a very long walk home.

That one has made me cry

Loving reading these
I once stupidly decided I would ride my old bike to get fit again. Off I went leaving DH at home with the children but I forgot my phone. Ended up about 6 miles away with a puncture ! Sat on side of road and an elderly gentleman stopped. Took me in his house for a brew. ( no idea why I trusted him and followed him in his house !) then put my bike in his car and drove me home. I took him a gift a few days later and kept him touch till he sadly passed. Why I said how grateful I was and how kind it was he was shocked and said. Why wouldn’t someone help someone out in need. Restore my faith in humans.

What a wonderful thread. Acts of kindness and generosity are what are needed in this world.
The only one I can remember is starting a course in a strange city . I drove to a park and ride and needed to get the bus from there. I didn’t have any change and the bus didn’t take cards. I was nearly in tears. Someone gave me the money. I was so stressed I didn’t ask for their address. I have never forgotten it .

I had a 3 year old and a baby in a car seat and needed to go to the supermarket. I was on the verge of tears as it was as my husband was at the time in a redundancy meeting (he did lose his job). I was in a flap and had forgotten the pram wheels and had no coins for a trolley so I was so stressed going round Morrisons trying to corral a 3 year old, hold a car seat and shuffle a basket around with my foot whilst trying to hold it together. An older man who worked in Morrisons said to me “aw hen you can’t be going around like that, I’ll get you a trolley” and got me a trolley I could put the car seat on. He then looked out for me and helped me to the car with my shopping. He was a real spark of light in a shit day.

When I was heavily pregnant with my second baby and shopping at the supermarket, my DS had a huge meltdown at the till, I was mortified, stressed and absolutely exhausted. In the chaos my son caught his hand between the trolley and the side of the checkout. He was screaming and sobbing, I managed to pay and get to my car whilst trying to comfort him and just burst into tears. A lovely family who has been behind me in the queue caught up with me and handed me a box of plasters and 2 bars of chocolate, the mum gave me a huge hug and they both told me I was doing an amazing job and was really calm and patient with DS- I felt like I'd been the opposite. They sat with me and chatted until I was calm and I just remember feeling so supported. I witnessed a similar situation at the supermarket not long ago when with both my DSs and did the same for this mum, she was really grateful and it felt great to pass it on

I was in a hospital with my 2 young children who were really hungry and I'd had an awful day. Got to the front of the queue in the cafe with the kids lunch items they'd picked to find out it was cash only which i didnt have. I walked away and the kids were crying and I was so stressed. A man at a nearby table came up to me, told me to take the items back and paid for them. He wouldn't take no for an answer.. I cried! No idea who he was but I'll never forget him. You have no idea how much a seemingly small thing can improve someone's day.

I was miscarrying my first pregnancy and took myself to my local M&S to get some cotton underwear and picked a lovely cotton PJ and dressing gown set to make myself feel better. I've no idea if she actually knew, how could she, but the women serving me at the till was so gentle and kind in her chitchat. As she bagged up the PJs, I remember her folding them up and putting them into the bag so carefully, she gave the bag to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said 'now you look after yourself ok'. My mam was abroad and I felt so sad and alone, this woman's kindness enveloped me.

My second child had just been born and my eldest was three. I was sleep deprived and exhausted and running very late to get my three year old to nursery. I found a parking space a couple of streets away and grabbed the baby seat from the back of the car and off we went to nursery. It was a five minute walk and once there I chatted for ten minutes to another parent and five minutes to my child's nursery teacher. Feeling more relaxed now that he was in class I took my time back to my car. As I approached my car I could see a woman standing beside my car and the driver door wide open.

In my rush I had forgotten to close it when I got the baby and my 3 year old out of the back. This lovely lady had noticed my handbag sitting on the front passenger seat and my door wide open and stood by my car for almost half an hour guarding it. I was completely mortified but she just laughed and said she remembered the days of no sleep and wandered off chuckling. Hero.

Took my little ones to an arcade a few weeks ago for the half term, my toddler was after a little princess doll, we kept trying on one of those grabbers but it was getting flung everywhere, just about to give up as getting nowhere when the young lad who worked there came over, opened it up and rearranged the doll, swiped his card and said "you get a free go" with a warm smile and of course she won! She adores this princess doll she's not put it down!

He "helped" us win. I've paid it forward lots of times since

I was on the night bus in a city. A bloke was hassling me and wouldn't take no for an answer. A lovely man linked my arm and walked me out until he knew I was ok.

Always be that guy

This is fantastic! So intrigued what place serves whole unfilleted fish to hospital patients. Can you tell us the continent at least?

When I had my ds and we were being discharged from hospital, my dh handed me his wallet to pay for the parking at the front door so I could wait and be picked up there and he went off to the far side of the car park with the car seat and ds. Except when I got to the machine there weren't the right coins in his wallet (all 5s which the machine didn't take). I'm forever grateful to the lovely lady behind me in the now building queue to pay who just said don't worry about it and paid for my parking like it was nothing and refused the change I did have. I had just had a section and couldn't have faced waddling back inside to go down two floors to find the shop for change.

Imagine what the world would be like if every person looked for ways to help
others as a way of life. Everything would be completely different.

I have a similar tale from London.

Back in April I went to London for the day for work. On my way back to Charing Cross tube station I stopped to check the directions my friend had given me.

I was also using a long mobility cane (tip: don’t use a slimline cane with a metal glide tip in London - the number of times it got caught in cracks was ridiculous!). I have good central vision but issues with my peripheral vision and have to hold a phone about 3 inches from my face.

Anyway, I finished checking my phone and carried on, a few minutes later a gentleman approached me. He told me he’d seen me checking my phone while he was on the bus, so when he got off, he caught up with me to check I knew where I was and could get to where I was going.

He was lovely. I was also very proud of myself for not getting lost that day!

@ChocChipHandbag mainland Europe 😊

I was at the doctors with my daughter when she was around 18 months old, and was told to take her to A&E. I was a bit panicked as I had no idea about local buses (I'd just moved to a new town), not enough money for a taxi, and my husband was at work with the car.

A lovely older couple insisted on driving me to the hospital and seeing me all the way in.

I paid it forward a few months later by driving an elderly man to the hospital after he slipped on some ice. We had called an ambulance as he was bleeding badly from a gash on his head and it was freezing cold, but it was taking so long that we called back and said we would just take him ourselves. He was so grateful that he wrote to the local paper to thank us!

I've also had 2 random ladies separately stop and be kind to me when I was sat on the steps of a job centre crying because I was pregnant, again new to the area (lots of moving, it seems!) and they basically told me that they wouldn't help me find a job as I didn't need one - I could claim xyz while kids were small and I wouldn't get hired anyway as I was pregnant! Both ladies were very sweet, one gave me practical advice as she was in the same field as me. It just felt nice that someone cared, even if the job centre people had made me feel totally helpless and useless!

I've also had help from strangers while travelling alone and wrangling children in airports. One young man helped me carry babies/bags through a massive airport terminal for a connecting flight, went to a different queue as he was a local and I was foreign, and then waited on the other side to continue his good work! Another older man took my baby and held my toddler's hand while I got all the bits together after going through security and put my carrier back on, then handed the baby back to me. Both these were in Istanbul and gave me an excellent impression of Turkish people!

I also had a slight mishap at Dubai airport, again making my way through for a connecting flight. This time I had three kids with me (youngest only 2 years old) and there was a big crowd waiting for the lifts and one child got on but the rest of us couldn't. We'd been chatting while waiting to the Brazilian paralympic weightlifting team, and half of them were in the lift with my son so they waited with him on the next floor til we caught up. So kind!

I am ALWAYS helpful to people with babies/kids/buggies!! We can make such a difference to other people with so little effort, why wouldn't we?!