What is the kindest thing a stanger has done for you?

[grannyinapram]

I'll start-

When I had my first baby I used to avoid going to my local shop because the door was really heavy and I always struggled to push the pram through it.
One night I was walking with the pram toward the big heavy door, then a little girl got out of a car in the car park and she ran over and opened the door for me. Then she ran back to the car! She wasn't close either, she came all the way Iver just for me.
Beautifully kind little girl.

Another time I was walking with my baby and my toddler in the rain, it came down heavy and we were all soaked (except baby with the rain cover)
someone stopped their car and offered me their umbrella. They couldn't tell because my face was soaked but I shed a tear. Wonderful lady.

Another time it was quite the opposite- it was a boiling hot summers day and I was walking with my then about 1 year old in the pram again. he was crying because it was hot. We walked past a hand car wash place and the man washing the car sprayed the hose into the air and gave us a lovely cooling down.

I'm sure I have many more but those are the ones I remember most.

My incredible midwife when I was in labour with my first child. I had been through a traumatic bereavement only months earlier which was all over the news and so I was “known”. She stayed long after her shift holding my hand and reassuring me.

I saw her again four years later when I had my second and she gave me the biggest hug. I’ll never forget her kindness in one of the darkest times of my life, I was so terrified about becoming a mum at the same time and she just knew exactly how I was feeling and what to do.

These have reminded me of some train ones...

About a year ago a young woman boarded the train I was on, went to look for her purse to buy a ticket on the train (all allowed) and got increasingly upset as she realised she'd left it at home. Conductor was lovely but would have still had to issue a fine when a guy tapped him on the shoulder and said "I've got this, mate" and paid the £15 for her return journey. Sat back down and wouldn't accept the fare being posted to him. Was lovely, lots of smiles all round.

Traveling round France years back, English speaking strangers have helped interpret our obscure destination when our language skills weren't quite up to it at the ticket window, and told us about validating our tickets on the metro.

And a couple of years ago a friend working on a mainline train told of a lad who was in tears having missed a connection for his stopping train as it meant he'd miss his granddad's funeral. He was having to travel to the next stop on the fast train and double back, putting an extra hour on his journey. The train crew told the driver who arranged a special stop at his small rural station and he made it on time to say goodbye.

And lastly, a colleague traveling back from a meeting was on a train in the front carriage when it had a fatal collision. Everyone was distressed, especially the driver, but he said the help and comfort people gave each other was incredible while they waited and eventually traveled a different way home.

There are always many more kind people in the world than unkind, including on the trains.

When I had my last dc I had an emcs. When dh went off to see dc I was left with the student mw who had asked if she could use my pregnancy as her case study. In the recovery room I had a funny turn - suspected heart attack - tests proved it wasn't thankfully - but I started to panic thinking I was going to die and had no family with me. The student came and held my hand and calmed me down. Sadly can't remember her name.

What a beautiful thread, thank you for creating it. It's just what I needed.

In my twenties I had a stalker who left obscene voice messages 15 - 20 times a day. This was before the time you could block numbers.

I was on a bus in East London and my phone on silent but was constantly ringing from this stalker man. I burst into tears and was hysterically crying. I was sitting next to a young teenage boy who (with quite a bad stutter) asked me what was the matter. So I told him.

The next time my phone rang he grabbed my phone and shouted "stop phoning my f#@#g girlfriend" and then hung up. The boy was so kind to me and chatted to me for my whole bus journey until I got off. The next day I got a text from the stalker saying "sorry I didn't realise that you had a boyfriend" and I never heard from him ever again.

Such a wonderful act of kindness. I always instill in my boys now about random acts of kindness. When one of my son's was three he saw a man asking for food as we went into a supermarket. He asked me if I could buy some doughnuts for him and when we came out he marched up to him with the box of doughnuts and said to him "do you like jam" and the man said "yes" and my son said "these are for you" ❤️.

Talked me down off a bridge when i was at my lowest, i had climbed over and was in a state and was willing to jump!

He gave me his number when the ambulance service turned up, this was 5 years ago, we have become very close friends, turns out we had a alot in common, we chat most days over text and we both make the effort to phone/skype each other atleast once a week! Before covid we would meet up alot, and we now have kids similar ages aswell!

As far as im concerned this man saved my life and i am forever in his debt!

@Bookriddle that's such an inspirational thread to read. I hope you're in a much better place now ❤️

@Bookriddle ❤️ you've are an amazing person, so brace.
@FestiveChristmasLights❤️ I'm so very sorry
@ParkheadParadise ❤️ HH

*brave

Some of these have set me off 😭
I posted on here after we lost my dd's pony to colic, we were devastated and needed to vent. A lovely mumsnetter contacted me and offered to paint his portrait. It was such a thoughtful gesture to a complete stranger and has pride of place in dd's bedroom.

My moment of kindness I will never forget. We lost our mum after 5 years of a degenerative illness.. She was moved to palliative care.. A lot of the staff there actually knew my mother and always commented on how lovely she was and her smile lit up a room. We made the very difficult decision to withdraw her from treatment. It took 2 days. She drew her last breath.. And all of the staff came in to the room and stood for a minutes silence with me, dad, my brothers, and my uncle and aunt.. I'll never ever forget that.

My son broke his wrist in the local park. His friend called me and a male adult passing by spoke to me. He stayed with my son until the ambulance came and kept me updated as I rushed to meet my son at the hospital. I didn't get his name and wished I could have thanked him. So kind.

I was being assaulted by then boyfriend in a city centre. A group of young lads came and dragged him off me. He started on them and I am a bit ashamed to say I took the chance and ran off and jumped into a taxi. Hope they were all ok, because they saved my life that night.

These are really moving, both big and small acts of kindness.

I fell over outside a Morrison’s years back and a lady from customer service came to look after me. She got me a bag of frozen peas for my twisted ankle. She asked me what I’d come in for, lunch, and went to get me a sandwich and some crisis and a drink before helping me back to the car when I was ready. Wouldn’t let me pay for any of it.

@TinkersRucksack

This thread has proved to me that in a world seemingly full of shit cunts, there are many many good uns as well....

This ⬆️

I love this thread.

@ParkheadParadise I've read your posts before about that lovely man. I'm sorry to say I don't know your daughter's story as others seem to have worked out, but you and your daughter and that man randomly pop into my head from time to time and I send some positive vibes into the universe for you.

Thank you for posting this thread. It’s made me sit and think about all the kind things people do for each other - whether they are friends or strangers - and makes me feel like a very lucky person indeed for the kindnesses I have received. Even silly things like the man in Lidl yesterday helping me get my shopping onto the conveyor belt, or the lovely Morrison’s worker helping me jump start my car when my battery went flat, shows the good in humanity.

I really think this thread should go in classics.

This was many years ago, before palliative care was as well established as it is now. My dad had been diagnosed weeks before with pancreatic cancer. He was desperate to not go into hospital, but my mum very much wanted him to go in. There's was very little support from the GP particularly in terms of pain relief, so we contacted the local hospice ourselves to see if they could help with his pain control.

The same day, the consultant drove to our house to see what he could do to help. I don't think there was a community service, he just said he would come and help and could sense how desperate the situation was. He assessed my dad and decided her needed a morphine syringe driver for his pain. He drove to the pharmacy himself to get the drugs, and asked if he could do any shopping for us whilst he was out.

He came back and got my dad's pain under control. He's sensed that my mum was a very cold, hard person and asked me when she was out of the room, where did my dad wanted to die. When I said 'at home', he said 'dont worry, I'll make it happen'. He immediately arranged overnight help from Marie Curie. My dad was expected to last a few more days, so the consultant said, although he was away at a conference the next day, he'd call us to see how things were going. He rang the next morning as promised. My dad had died overnight, at home in his own bed, pain free. And all thanks to that consultant going the extra mile for us. I'll be grateful to him forever.

@ParkheadParadise just wanted to send you love and to say I'm glad there was someone who had such kindness and dignity with your daughter at that time I hope it's of some comfort.

This thread needs to be in Classics.

Small story in comparison to some, I’d got a job, it was a huge promotion, the company were in London and the job came with a car. I had to go to London from the borders for my induction and they just gave me the car keys and I was supposed to drive home one Friday pm. Obviously I was bloody terrified but I cracked on and drove off, no idea where I was going as this was pre sat nav etc. I somehow got to Trafalgar Square and drove round and round and round and round with absolutely no idea which turning to go off at. Was in tears by this time. Anyway I took one turn and drove for a bit and in the end just pulled in. Must have been near a taxi rank cos I was really upset by this time and thought no way was I ever going to get home. This cabbie took pity, guided me out of the city to a place where signs for the A1 started. I actually got home and so began my self confidence. He was bloody life changing, that cabbie!

@kleew1

Just the other night i forgot my purse at the petrol station and the cashier was being arsey and a man offered to pay it for me.

After having my DD i was struggling but had an anniversary work dinner and went with baby to get nails done (WTF). Anyway the lady was so lovely seen i was struggling and couldn't have been nicer even taking dd off me and showing me how to swaddle etc made such a difference.

I did this for someone. It seemed the right thing to do. Told them to pass the love on when they came across a situation similar.

I am agraphobic and suffer debilitating panic attacks when out of the house although I do try to go out with someone as part of my treatment to get better. During the first lockdown Dp and I had gone food shopping when at the check out I had a horrendous panic attack. I fled the shop hyperventilating, several people asked if I was ok on my way out I said I was having a panic attack and kept going as by this point I was hyperventilating so badly I couldn't see properly and was starting to be unable to walk. DP came out and helped me back to the car. He wanted to go back for the shopping (as we really needed it and it was when you couldn't get a home delivery slot) but I didn't want to be left alone. A lovely lady came over and said she could wait with me so DP could go back for our shopping. At first I didn't think I could do it even with her staying with me, and also I didn't want to put her out, but she insisted it wasn't a problem. DP went back and got the shopping and she chatted to me until he came back.

She was so kind and it really helped us so much. It also has helped my confidence in what people might think or do when I have a panic attack. It took me several weeks before I attempted to go back to a supermarket, but I have managed it a few times since then and when I have started to have a panic attack I remember her kindness and that I managed to get through it with a stranger, and it has really helped me push myself to stay a bit longer in the shop.

Mine was not a massive thing, but when my DS was 3 months old I went shopping to a local supermarket, a lovely woman came over to talk to me and coo over my DS, she asked several questions, how old is he, what did he weigh etc we said goodbye and I carried on getting my shopping. She caught up with me a couple of aisles down and said 'I hope you don't mind but I bought a little something for your DS' she had bought him a set of 2 baby grows, one blue with white rockets and one white with blue rockets. I was so touched I actually cried. It meant so much to me as we were really struggling financially at the time.

I'd just been referred to the mental health team due to PTSD and PND as a result of a traumatic birth. I popped into the Pandora shop after i'd been to the supermarket as my bracelet, which was a gift from my now husband on our first Christmas was breaking. I only went in to ask how much a repair would be or if it would be a whole new bracelet because it was well out of warranty. The shop assistant decided to just replace it free of charge out of stock, cut it off my wrist and put all my charms back on in order. It might seem so little but I was having a shit time and it really made a difference to me.