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.

I genuinely believe most people are kind. I have so many.
The man that paid my friend and I s bus fare in Mexico when we miscalculated our spending money and didn’t have the cash on us to get back to the hotel

When I had SPD in late pregnancy so much kindness. Builders in vans who pulled over and offered me a lift when I could go no further
Elderly men in shops who carried my bags

The couple on their honeymoon who pulled over when they saw my granny’s car had broken down and stayed with her until the breakdown van arrived

Dh had booked tickets to an amazing event in Germany. We got the day wrong and turned up a day late - we had our two little girls with us we were all dressed up. They said no entry fully booked that’s it. Then the staff whispered together and came over gestured and led us down some corridors. They gave us the only seats available- the directors box. So kind they didn’t have to do that.

My son got lost on the beach, I couldn't go far as I had a toddler as well, everyone on the beach was looking out for him, calling his name etc and a lady found him as I was about to call police, this lady had a baby too but still joined the search. I secretly hope she would read it as I don't think i thanked her properly on the day.
Also when I was younger I was on the train with my friend, two drunk guys starting to harass us. There was only one other passenger in the carriage, who told them to leave us alone. The drunk guys were about to start a fight with him but he managed to get out at the next stop.

I have a few....

Newly living/working abroad and an Australian friend and I were trying to find a bike shop (as everyone travelled by bike). We had a hand drawn map that wasn't exactly accurate and ended up at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere explaining, in our limited use of the local language, that we were looking for the bike shop. The man working at the petrol station asked us to wait a minute, spoke to his boss, then ushered us out into his cube car. He took us directly to the bike shop which, turns out, was a good 10 minutes drive away in the opposite direction than we had been travelling in!

Years ago I left my husband and ended up living back near my home town with my 2 year old DS. I didn't have a car and had trudged back from the supermarket with a week's worth of shopping on the bus. I had stupidly overestimated what I could realistically carry and was really struggling up the hill from the bus stop to my rented flat. A lovely man appeared and insisted on taking all of my heaviest bags and carried them all the way up the hill and up the 2 flights of stairs to my flat's front door.

I will always be eternally grateful to the kindness of these strangers.

Driving home from work on a Friday night and my engine management light came on (car had been in for a service that day). Panicked i drove on and came to a small garage closing at around 5.30. The owner was shuttimg up and i explained the situation. He agreed to look at my car and a spark plug had been fitted incorrectly and broke. He had to take my engine up and spent an hour and a half on it before ficing the issue and replacing the damsged spark plug. He wouldn't accept any money at all just said enjoy your weekend

One of our cats got wedged underneath the bonnet of our campervan and my sons and I drove a few miles into town, parked and then heard his meows. During the hour in which we were trying to free him, my sons were looked after by three lovely children’s nurses who were on their way to a concert, a guy in a pristine white t-shirt was trying to see if any bits of the engine could be removed (I will never understand how his t-shirt didn’t get filthy when I managed to get covered in oil!) and the front of house manager from the restaurant opposite filled up our water carrier so we could cool the engine and cat down, brought ham on a beautiful plate to see if that would entice our cat out and she stayed with me throughout. Our friend who is a mechanic drove about 10 miles into town to help, and arrived just as our cat freed himself. It was the most remarkable hour with truly the best in human nature on display. Our cat was OK after a night at the vets. He sadly died two weeks ago from an unrelated illness so I’ve been thinking of this story a lot recently.

I took my two DC to see Santa last year in a large department store. The visit is free but due to great demand the queuing process had changed; take a ticket & wait for your number to be called by text. I didn’t notice the current number was hundreds away from my ticket as I sat in the waiting area to feed baby DD. DS Is both beautiful and disabled so tends to get a lot of attention. An elf came over and asked if we would like to skip the queue and go into Santa. We had a lovely visit. When I got home 4 hours later I got the text saying my Santa visit time slot was due I could never had spent all that time in the city waiting!!

On that same visit I was trying to show DC the toy floor of the department store and take photos with the nut crackers etc. However it was almost impossible to manoeuvre a wheelchair and buggy through the entrance. A lovely, but bossy woman took DD’s buggy from me & marched off with her into the steep entrance. If she hadn’t of been there I may not have gotten in at all

That was the first time I had to take both DC into the city for a hospital appointment and braved going to Santa. From the kindness of those women they made, what could have been such a stressful day, so lovely

Paid my train fare when I got caught faredodging as a teenager.

I was going to a university interview and had no money. He was the ticket inspector and the dad of one of the girls at school.

He wouldn't let me pay him back. So kind.

My mum died a really awful death and there was nothing I could do but sit there and watch, it was utterly agonising and at the last moment I left the room and told a nurse I couldn't cope so she came in and sat with us and held my mum's hand and talked to her until she'd passed, then hugged me and made me a cup of tea and talked to me until I was ready to leave the hospital. I will never forget her name ❤️

I had to go for an ERPC last year after a mmc at 9 weeks. The doctor trying to get the line in on the operating table kept trying and failing and I was getting more and more distressed, and turned to the nurse in tears saying I know my baby's dead, but I don't want you to take him away. There was a lovely woman doctor there who basically said enoughs enough and put a mask over my face and after that everything went lovely. I know it was her job but I'll never forget her face when she stepped in to help me.

I was walking along toad with 2 bags of shopping when I felt a sharp pain in stomach. I leaned over and a lovely lady came over and helped me to a seat and brought my shopping to me. I was miscarrying. I felt a lot of pain and there was blood. She called an ambulance and came with me to the hospital. She waited with me until my dh got there and then quietly left. I was so grateful to her because without her I would have been scared and alone.

I.

I couldnt carry him as he was a tall chunky shit and i had a bag of co op shopping and a chippie tea in my hands.^

this paragraph made my night

I'd broken my arm (been pushed over and assaulted at a station) and was in shock so had just carried on to get my train up to visit friends. Once on the train, one of the stewards realised I was in shock, scooped me up and took my up to first class where she iced my arm and looked after me, along with quite a few passengers (one of them was a doctor). They called my friends for me and made sure someone was there to pick me up at the station to take me to hospital.

I was getting the runaround from the Home Office bureaucrats about my visa. Should have been straightforward as I was married to a British national. After five months of immense frustration, and yet another trip to Croydon where I was told the opposite of what I'd been told by another staff member the previous week. Threatened with deportation because I apparently wasn't following the correct procedure, I burst into tears on the way out.

A lovely woman who'd been mopping the floor in the corridor put her arms around me and said, "Oh honey, it's okay, you can appeal!"

Some of these are harrowing people truly can be amazing.

DS2 was just a toddler, he was being discharged after an emergency hospital stay. DH was at work. However I had a bundle of bags and couldn't carry DS and the bags. I was getting ready to take the bags out to the car and come back for DS. DS was getting really distressed at me trying to leave, then the Dad at the next bed offered a hand. Omg so much appreciated he carried the bags and I grabbed DS.

I was once walking my dog and about 30 minutes into the walk he stopped outside sainsburys and refused to walk any longer.
(Didn't realise at the time but his cancer had come back)

A lovely women started chatting to me and then went in to do her shopping shockingly 20 minutes later he still hadn't moved and I was really stuck as to how to get him home and I didn't live near my family at that point.

She offered to drop me off and I declined as I felt rude and she left and suddenly pulled up her car right beside us and told me to get in and drove us all the way home. This was years ago and I still remember it and am thankful.

A man saved my life when I was 10.

It was summer, around 2 pm and I was at holiday at my grandmother's house in a little Mediterranean village. Important thing to know is that during the summer at 2 pm that village looks abandoned, not a soul to be seen.

I was riding my bike down the hill at full speed when I realized my brakes are gone. I'm clumsy at best of times, but in that moment when panic hit me I was useless to do anything. 50 metres down that hill was construction site, big hole 5-6 metres deep with machinery and remains of bricks and other things. There was nowhere to change the direction and I was heading right there. On my way there there was a little lane on the right and just in that moment a man passed, caught my bike and saved me. The fact that he was there was a miracle. Even bigger miracle is the fact that the same man saved my mum's life while she was drowning 15 years before.

And I would like to use this opportunity to thank you all lovely Londoners. Before COVID I used to come to London every year in October and I have never met kinder people in my life. From the man in Boots who took me by my hand and took me to sit behind the counter when I was sick (and made me tea), from all the people who helped me last time when I was pregnant and feeling unwell and fainted two times while walking. Thank you. You're the best.

@2lostsouls

This thread needs to be in Classics.

This thread does need to go into classics ,but not just yet . Threads seem to die when they go there .

When I was a young and inexperienced driver my boyfriend lent me his car. I made a mistake and had a crash on a busy roundabout, miles from home.

The other party, after seeing I wasn’t injured, took my details and drove off. I was on my own with a car full of broken glass ( the drivers window had burst inwards) in the middle of the round about. I was only slightly cut but in shock and my boyfirend was not answering the phone (I couldn’t remember the insurance details...)

An off duty paramedic on his way to work pulled up and helped me get myself and the car to a safe place. He then stayed with me for nearly an hour while I recovered and helped me make a plan on what to do next.

He was so lovely, he must have been so late for work, but I never got his details to say thank you properly. I will always remember him and be grateful.

I was in a cafe with my DS when he was a toddler and he was massively playing up. I was highly sleep deprived and just exhausted. When his food came and he refused to eat it and kicked off I just started crying at the table. I was so tired and just didn’t have anything left energy wise. The owner of the cafe came over and put her arm around me and said to ignore anyone looking at us and that children are very difficult sometimes and it can be hard to be a mum! She gave DS a chocolate cake which did the trick and I could eat my food. Such kindness and I’ve always remembered it as it just made a difficult situation so much easier. We always go back to that cafe now whenever in the town. I don’t know if she would remember us but I’ll always remember how nice she was.

My son and I, he was 6 or 7 at the time, are season ticket holders at Man Utd. We live 90 miles away but never miss a game.

We’d lost 1-0 at homer to West Brom, and stopped at services on the way home, we never do this.

We went to the toilet and passed a family stood by a vending machine. When we returned they were still stood there. They all looked very distressed, as we walked I smiled and said hi to the man (they were Asian, the lady was in a full,length veil sorry I don’t know the correct term). The guy said I’m really sorry mate but could you change a £2 coin?

We were born in our united shirts and he was in a very expensive looking suit, his kids well dressed and she had expansive looking jewellery on.

I said sure, and just gave him the coins for the coffee machine. He said thanks, and paused and said no really, thank you. We’ve been stood here 20 minutes and you’re the only person to even acknowledge us. I said don’t worry about it, is everything ok. The lady and kids started talking to my son and the man said my wife’s dad has just died, we set off from home in Devon this morning to get to (I can’t remember where he said but north) to say goodbye and we got a call an a hour ago to say it was too late.

The lady was clearly upset but spoke to my son about football and her kids were asking him about it too.

As we said goodbye the lady said wait, please.

My dad used to love football but rarely went to a match, he used to hear things he didn’t need to hear so mostly watched it at home. (Needless to say allowing for the era and his background it probably wasn’t pleasant) She then opened her purse and put £80 in my hands, I immediately said no no take it back. She grasped my hand with both of hers and said please, for my dad, take this and buy your son the new kit when it comes out.

He wasn’t a united fan, it doesn’t matter who he supported, but please take it, it’s the last thing he can do to help someone and he’d be happy helping a young football fan, he would want me to do this.

Will never forget that moment. I am not religious etc etc but I like to think he would have known about that moment and enjoyed it from above.

Although football has its critics, we have had many other moments to remember, but this will live with me forever

Sorry about the typos, we were in our united shirts not born in them haha

When my baby was born sleeping at 21 weeks, the midwife had literally just started her shift as I delivered, so I hadn't met her during the day.

My DH couldn't stay, he was too distressed so he went for a walk. Midwife stayed with me while I met my baby and cuddled her and spoke to her.

Then she asked if she could wrap my baby up and take her for walk to look at the stars. I knew then that she would be well looked after once I was discharged and it meant so very much.

I'll never forget when I had a miscarriage and the nurse said 'every nurse in this room has been in your shoes' and the three nurses sat down and we all chatted. It sounds weird but it helped me so much.
I was short 5c in the shop and the very young cashier ran out a second later with 5c he'd found.
Also a million instances of people helping with doors or helping me carry bags when I'm struggling, honestly it's the little things.
My sons giving the last of something or splitting eg sweets

Coming out of a large supermarket with my then toddler ds being a typical toddler and trying to carry bags of shopping across busy car park, clearly stressed. A lovely lady came up and took ds by the hand and walked us to the car whilst saying what a great job I was doing (I clearly wasn't!) and how things get easier but never forgot them when they are this age. As quick as she came she disappeared so I never got the chance to thank her.
Another time when I was very unwell in hospital but had newborn dd with me who had been screaming for days a lovely nurse took her away for a few hours overnight. Plenty had offered before but I always declined. But there was something about this nurse, she almost didn't give me a choice to be honest and I have no idea where they went. However without that break I don't think I would of coped.