What are the kindest things that strangers have done for you?ve done for you

[TheKindestOfStrangers]

Just recently, we were on holiday in Europe and we went to a very well known "posh" cafe for coffee and cake as a special treat.

While we were there, we got talking to a very lovely couple from a central Asian country on the table just next to us. We chatted for maybe 10-15 minutes, and then they were ready to get their bill and go. Much to my surprise, they then insisted on paying for our bill too. I was bowled over by their kindness and amused by the slightly confused look on the waiter's face.

It got me thinking about other random acts of kindness that I have experienced from strangers. One that sticks in my mind is an American guy that I met at King's Cross tube station around 12 years ago. I was travelling to Heathrow airport to catch a long haul flight with my young daughter. We had left home with loads of time to spare, but there was a major problem with the tubes that day and there were no trains. Initially, I was unpeturbed as I had built in a significant buffer, but it gradually became apparent that the tubes just weren't going to be up and running any time soon, and I was starting to panic about whether we were going to get there. The American guy (who I had been chatting to on the platform while waiting) suddenly said that he would call us a taxi to Heathrow and he insisted on paying for it. So incredibly kind!

Please tell me your stories about the kind things that complete strangers have done for you! I am inspired to spread the kindness to others!

Oops, don't know what happened to the title there!

In Tokyo about 20 years ago. Long story short but we realised that we had no cash left and the local train station was cash only. We had to get a very early morning flight and had no way to access any cash before hand. We had just enough for DH to get to central Tokyo and use a cash point that would take our card. The one near us that would work was inside the post office. We were looking up solutions on the hotel lobby computer when a Canadian lady asked what was wrong. She gave us the ¥500 we needed to get the train ticket.

Place marking to come back to in the morning 😊

DS and GF went to Japan and first bar they went in was a little locals place, they got chatting to a couple one of whom on hearing it was their first trip there ran out to the local store and brought them back a bag full of snacks to try, at the end of the evening they insisted on paying the bar tab too.

It’s no surprise to me that there are already two examples from Japan - I’ve never known kinder people. My examples would be too outing bc I’ve told them to too many people 🥰

Ten of us - kids and adults were having fun on a beach in France, When we went to go home the locals who were having a sailing club get together invited us to join in with their food and drink - great fun.

After a church service in Greece some locals invited us to join in the church lunch afterwards - so warm and welcoming. No English and us no Greek but we all communicated through sharing a meal together.

Not me but DD was lent £100 by stranger (young woman US student) in S America when she lost her phone in the sea (messing around) and had run out of money but couldn’t tell us. She had to get a lot of complicated flights and taxis. So stressful, but this stranger saved the day and DD got to next destination and then was helped by friends! We sent the woman £100 plus money for a meal out to say thanks.So grateful years later.

lovely thread OP. It’s interesting how these kindnesses stay with us and become more than just a simple act.

Lol, I had to name change for this thread for that very reason.

The Japan thing is unsurprising to me too. I will never forget walking down a small town Japanese street in the rain and being chased down the road by two middle aged ladies who wanted to give us their umbrellas!

My DH also experienced extraordinary kindness in South Korea when he had an overnight transit through Seoul - he asked an official at the airport for a hotel recommendation and the guy said that he could go and stay at his family home. They are still in touch 25 years later!

Bit different to those above, but saved me from having a car crashing into me.
The green man came on, and I started crossing, only to hear a "err, umm, uugh" from the pavement. It was enough to stop me, and then a car came flying round (speeding, jumped his red light) and would have hit me if she hadn't had "said" anything.

I collapsed a few hundred metres before the end of the great north run (which as it happens is today! Not running this morning obvs.

anyway some middle aged gent who I very vaguely remember (I was delirious) and I could never thank in person, picked me up and carried me to a nearby ambulance, sacrificing his own finish time in the process. He left me there in good hands!

Not on the same level as any of these but when my grandmother was dying (at home) and we were all round her bedside for days and nights not knowing when she would pass, we ran out of milk. I was sent to the corner shop to buy some. There was only one bottle left when I got to the shop and the man in front of me got it. He said something like, "Oh sorry am I in your way?" and I felt awkward and said not at all, they'd run out of what I was looking for anyway.

I was about to leave when he tapped me on the shoulder and handed me the milk and said, "Please take this. I think you need it more than me. I can easily nip to the next shop. Take care." then disappeared with a smile.

It was all kind of odd but also really kind. And I wondered how he "knew".

There are some beautiful stories here. And I'm not sure that I agree, @HeyPrestoAlakazam, that your story isn't on a level with any of the others. Sometimes it is the smallest acts of kindness that can have the biggest impact, especially if they are offered at the times when we might need them the most.

We were in France, at the end of the longest day that had involved a hospital trip and lengthy delays...arrived at the campsite shop literally as it shut in front of me, 2small kids and no milk... I just cried. A lovely Irish mum scooped me up, gave me a hug and then gave me milk and provisions from her own tent. Still vv grateful so many years later.

Breastfeeding my first born baby on a park bench, when he was about 4 days old, a little bit shell shocked and exhausted, and a Spanish lady with a little girl came over to me and said to me 'YOU are an amazing mother, you are doing a fantastic job'.

She cooed over my baby and I've never forgotten her warmth.

I try and do the same when I see new mums now, too.

The lovely lady who stopped and comforted me after seeing my mum in hospital. I was so upset just sat on a bench and absolutely howling. This lovely lady hugged me until I calmed down. Never forget her x i did try and track her down but no joy

Pulled over to see if I was okay when my car caught fire on a duel carriageway and insisted on staying with me until the fire brigade arrived. Also lent me his coat because it was freezing and mine was in the car.

I was a very (very!) poor single mother living in a huge, draughty house with my five kids. Cheap rent but the place was almost uninhabitable, and REALLY cold. Oil fired heating but I couldn't afford oil, so we had one fire in the fireplace downstairs. Unbelievably cold winter, and one of the local clubs paid for a tank of oil for me, which got us through the worst of the weather. I've never forgotten.

GP receptionist drove me home with my child (in her child's car set) because it was late, raining and I was walking. I was having a difficult time and always remember this.

Bus driver stopped his bus and came over to me with tantruming child. I had forehead against window with tears running down my face because we'd just had the awful journey whilst toddler performed their worst.... he pulled over, came back and just said gently "are you OK....its hard isnt it

These are all so lovely. Interesting how these interactions seem to stick with people for years.

A secret worker at a festival years ago - very late / early - I'd drunk quite a bit of cider and was tearful over stuff in my life - I crouched down at the front of the party holding the bars with tears rolling down my face and he came over and I said, why are you here? And he said, I am here to look after people. I said why are you here with me? And he said, I am here to look after you.

I had a job taking care of other people in tough circumstances at the time, never looked after myself, and his kindness has stuck with me. I too was a person in need of care that time and there was a person there to do it.

I was weeping on DP in Costa cause BFing was going really badly, DD was struggling to put on weight and a different midwife was arriving at my house every day giving different advice. Total shitshow.

A mum with an older baby came up to me as she was leaving, gave me a little hug and told me not to worry, being a mum is so hard at first but it gets better. It did.

My dd was visiting a big children's hospital for treatment. It was Christmas time and in the entrance they had a Father Christmas. A proper authentic looking Santa and loads of children were around him in awe. But my dd wouldn't approach him as she was very shy. I was saying go on say hi to Santa but she just hid under her blanket in her disability buggy.

We left and she was upset that she hadn't told Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

Got back into the city centre and we hear a man calling my dd name!. It was the Santa! He must of remembered her name from me trying to get her to say hello earlier (or it really was Santa lol). He came over and spent ages chatting with her. She told him we were going to buy a new teddy and he said "oh can I come" and he pushed her buggy all through the shopping centre with kids gasping and waving. My dd felt like the best child in the world for that half hour ish she spent with him.

He left us at the train station and waved her off. I'm literally sitting here crying at writing this out ten years on. It was so kind, so special and he made a difficult Christmas feel very special

When I was 16 my foster carers suddenly up and left one day whilst I was at school, I came back to find my things in black bin sacks on the porch.

I got sent to a B&B which was not a great place. I had no money until my social worker had filled in some paperwork that took about a week but he had arranged for the B&B to give me breakfast... I had no lunch or dinner for about 5 days and somehow our head of year found out and brought me a big food parcel, I don't even know how she knew where I was but I will never forget that.

Some of these are making me a bit teary.

I'm so sorry that you were left in that situation at just 16, @TomatoSandwiches - that's shocking. I'm so glad that your Head of Year was somehow looking out for you.

As a teenager, I was walking to get the bus home after an evening out. A guy was blocking my path and acting in a really threatening way and kept lurching towards me and he wouldn’t let me pass at all. Out of nowhere a beautifully dressed lady appeared and without missing a step, linked arms with me and walked passed him without a word. She saw me onto the bus with a smile and carried on her way. It was effortlessly kind and classy and I’ve never forgotten it.

During Covid I was in a huge line in the rain outside our GP's surgery to attempt to pick up an urgent prescription for my dd. There were two lines for separate things and jt was very chaotic. I had been up all night wfh manning the MH safeguarding phone for the whole county and was knackered and a bit distressed.
A very posh older man came along and asked me very brusquely which line was this? I said I wasnt sure but I think it's for prescriptions. He began to loudly tell me off for not knowing which line was which, and why would anyone be so ridiculous, etc etc. (clearly unpleasant and possibly a bit batshit but didn't recognise it himself). After about 5 minutes during which I'd responded calmly and he became increasingly irate ' I was in charge of an international company and if I'd had to hire people as stupid as young people are today, you being the example, I would have been in real difficulty' etc etc... a woman in front of me turned around and quietly but firmly said ' you are being needlessly rude and aggressive to someone who has done literally nothing wrong. Kindly shut up so we can all line up in peace'
He still banged on, at which point several
Other people in the line also told him to pipe down. He huffed off in the end.

I just didn't have the wherewithal for it that day and it was a lovely feeling to have strangers stand up for me!