Random Act of Kindness - to balance all the ranty threads, tell me of a random act of kindness that you have never forgotten.

[MmeLindor.]

There is a lovely thread in Classics about Random Acts of Kindness so I thought we could do with a lovely fluffy thread to distract us from the shooting and disembowelment going on at the moment.

I will start.

When DD was going through the "terrible twos", she had a tantrum at the supermarket. She lay on the floor and wept bitterly because I would not give her what she wanted it. I tried reasoning with her, I tried being stern, and finally I walked away.

The sound of her screams echoed in the supermarket, people were looking at us. I thought that they were judging me, thinking that I was a bad mother.

A man walked by with his two daughters - about 9 and 11yo they were. He stopped, patted my arm and said, "It is a phase. It passes. You are doing the right thing".

It meant so much to me, that I was not alone and that other people were not judging me but feeling sorry for me. And probably being thankful that their DC were past that stage.

Has a stranger ever done or said something nice to you that you still remember years later?

Here's another.When we moved in to our house there were loads of problems with the drains which kept getting clogged up so the toilets wouldnt flush and poor dh had to go out and try to clear them through two manhole covers.He was over 70 and found it very difficult especially as I was ill.The third time our next door neighbour came out with rods and did the whole job which was so smelly and disgusting.He then pressure hosed our drains every week until we had it sorted-what a star-thanks Nick!

First thing that came to mind was the lovely Irish nurse who did my post MC pregnancy test at Hammersmith EPU, she told me that when I was pregnant again, to come straight back to them as soon as I found out so they could give me a scan to put my mind at rest and not to worry as they'd look after me.
It might be common practice, I don't know, but after losing what was a random natural pregnancy after severe OHSS from a IVF cycle I had to stop, it meant the absolute world to me.

I was away at a conference on my birthday and someone there bought me a cupcake and put a candle on it... I was really touched as it was the first birthday cake I'd had for years; single parent with boys so my birthday gets ignored ;o)

I have a few...

I had a massive fight with my 'friend' in a bar (she'd got the wrong end of the stick and was screaming her head off at me blind drunk) - rather than retaliate I just walked out and burst into tears, hailing a taxi. He drove me home and then wiped the meter just as we got to my door.

I posted about this a while ago - I had a job interview and had to get the bus there. I didn't want to be checking my appearance just outside the interview site in case people so, saw I hid in the bus shelter and sorted my make up - I was so nervous I felt sick and thought it would distract me. A nice old man asked me what I was doing my make up for and I just blurted everything out about being nervous and he said "well I hope you get it - and you look a million dollars". I definitely didn't, but it was just what I needed to hear and it calmed me down. I got the job.

One on behalf of a friend - she was trying to get on the tube and her carrier bag split, sending her stuff everywhere. One man picked up all her things, another pulled her onto the tube before the doors shut, and once on the tube someone who had seen everything handed her a spare carrier bag so she didn't have an armful of stuff.

Aw, these are lovely.

A few months ago we took our 3 small DCs to London. On a quiet, sunny, very early morning in Trafalgar Square, before the crowds, our kids were having the best time playing on the edges of the fountains. They were engrossed for ages fishing out all the easy to reach coins and tossing them back. DH pointed out a nice old gent who passed by casually every now and then when they weren't looking and tossed some coins near the edge so their game could carry on.

After a tough couple of years we are not in a very good financial position. Usually we are down to pennies at the end of the month. A lovely group of friends clubbed together and made me a hamper of food, cleaning products, treats for the children, bubble bath and a bottle of wine. I sobbed. Just to have some treats that I now consider 'luxury' was a real blessing.

Again, money related! My washing machine broke and there was no way for us to replace it. A beautiful friend gave me the money towards buying a new one, with no pressure to pay her back - ever. I do intend to pay her though. On the same night, people from my local church had clubbed together and put some money in a card (the words on the card made me sob) and told us to treat the family. The two acts together meant I could get my washing machine. I didn't even have enough money to use the laundrette and have 2 small children. I gave the leftover money to a friend who was struggling financially.

Random acts of kindness I have done:

Neighbours clearly had worse finances than us. They'd just had a baby so I bought a couple of packets of nappies. Left them on their back door step without a note.

An old man was in the queue in front of me at the supermarket. He had a basket with a few reduced tins in, a couple of 'value' items and big bag of worthers originals. He put his goods through and went to pay. I could see him counting out his pennies but he didnt have enough so asked the checkout assistant to take the worthers back. I paid for them and ran after him, told him I'd paid and just dropped them in his basket and ran back to my shopping. I felt awful to think he'd miss out on his little treat.

A young girl and her little boy had broken down in their car. I stayed with her until she'd got someone to recover the car and her dad picked them up. Let her use my phone whilst I kept her little boy warm and amused in my car. A small thing but I know how important that would've been to me in the same situation.

I do believe there are a lot of good people and always try to make a difference to someone fluffy

Oh, i forgot the best one: when I first moved to London I made the silly error of stepping onto one of the old fashioned double decker busses, with the platform at the back, which wasn't at an official stop. As I stepped on the bus pulled off and I clung onto the pole for dear life. I dropped my handbag and a carrier bag onto the road and watched them fade into the distance. And around the corner came this young guy in a car waving my things, and he followed the bus to the next stop and returned them to me.

When I was heavily pregnant we had queued up to get a bottle of water and an ice cream. It was busy outside and all the tables were taken.
As I waddled out a really kind older couple got up and offered us their table, which was lovely in itself. The gentleman then said they had waited especially for us to come out to ensure we got the table. Such a sweet gesture, poor man I burst into tears!

Can I add in a few I've done? Not for any recognition, just because I still feel happy thinking about their reactions.

On a Eurostar there was a woman who spent the entire journey to Paris entertaining her 2 year old DD to keep from disturbing other passengers (including walking the length of the train repeatedly). In Paris is is a giant step to get from train to platform and she had her DD and two giant suitcases, so I offered her some help (meaning I would haul her cases off for her) and instead she said "oh thank you so much" and gave me her DD to hold. I had a lovely little snuggle.

Another time I was on the last Eurostar out of Paris during all the snow and there was an American woman who was trying to cram her pushchair into the (overflowing) luggage rack and she looked so stressed and said to nobody in particular "dammit, you pay $700 and you still get a piece of crap". I said slightly flippantly "it could be worse, you could have paid $800" and she burst out laughing and seemed to relax a bit.

Finally I reported saw a paramedic being abused by some strangers (she was refusing to treat a drunk man because he was lashing out - I was watching from my window) and they demanded all her details and said they would report her. I wrote her details down too and wrote to say that if the strangers complained it was totally unjustified and I was sorry I hadn't helped more at the time. I got a beautiful letter back that made my mum cry.

The beatiful nun who came to me in a museum where I was sitting...I was feeling very low at the time, my Dad had not long died and I was in a bad relationship..she chatted to me and asked me if I was Catholic and I burst out "No...I wasn't christened so I'm nothing." and she said

"Oh no...that only means you're everything!"

I never forgot that.

When 8 wks pg with DC1 and very tired, in very very hot spain, got a puncture. DH is wheelchair user and so i would have had to change tyre and was on the verge of sobs, when a car pulled into the garage we'd stopped at, scottish couple got out saying they'd seen me pull off motorway and decided to follow, man changed tyre, wife consoled me, then they left. I won't ever forget that.

Also to the fire engine and crew who stopped, picked me and bike up off the floor and took me all the way home when I was a student in Nottingham! I had fallen off and dislocated my finger and in much pain when they happened to drive past. Thank you!

Oh, sorry, I remembered some more (then I'll stop, I promise)

I was going to Paris (I lived there last year and everything fell apart) and had just said goodbye to my boyfriend at St Pancras. I burst into tears going through security and felt so small and alone and pathetic. A nice (French) security guard took me to one side and gave me a little pep talk, featuring the memorable line "ah, you are sad. You have said goodbye? Yes. But today is goodbye, soon it will be 'oh, you again. so soon'. You wait". He was right.

Now I think about it, all the Eurostar staff are lovely - I've never been upgraded, but I have often been taken out of the main security queue and through the first class one (just me, nobody else) because I've been sniffling quietly and security have taken pity on me.

Years ago, the summer I finished my Bachelor's degree, I bought an inter-rail type ticket to travel around the US on the train by myself. After buying the ticket, I was very, very broke and had a scarily tight budget for the trip. I was in Washington DC, which had the reputation as quite a rough city.

I was standing on a pavement near the railway station, looking at a map and trying to work out if I could walk to the Capitol building, when a group of young guys jostled by. One of them asked if I was lost. I told him that I was just trying to work out if it was too far to walk, and he asked why I didn't get the bus. I said I didn't have the money, and he just stared at me then went off to catch up with his mates.

He stared around at me a couple of times and as the group of them crossed the road, I saw him talking to the others, and a few of them started looking back at me too. I began to feel quite nervous, and by the time they got in a huddle after they'd crossed the road and started talking (obviously about me), I was just thinking 'Oh shit!'.

Then the one I'd spoken too came running back across the road and just jammed the return bus fare into my hands without a word and ran off again. I sat there with my mouth open and was so touched and grateful that I felt like crying. I still think of those boys to this day and wish I'd got an address so I could have paid them back 100 times over.

We ran from the house to the bus stop to catch the bus for DD's swimming lesson. She was four, and DS was 2. We had loads of gubbins with us, and somehow when we got on the bus I realised that we had managed to leave her swimming bag at home. "No problem!" said the driver - who drove the bus to our front door, stopped, and waited while I zoomed in to pick up her bag. Fab.

Ah, the story about the nun reminded me of when I was in o'Hare airport, Chicago. I saw a nun carrying a heavy bag and asked her if i could help, she refused saying that it was heavy but balanced and strapped onto her back well. So we walked on, when we came to the escalator she hesitated so i took her hand. At the top she said she'd hated them ever since they were brought in and that God sent me to help her. Bless.

My husband gave up his business class seat for a lady who was travelling with her nursling from Singapore to UK.

When I'd been shafted over by someone at work I cried on the train home at the sheer unjustness of the situation. The guy next to me asked me about it and listened to ne moan. Turns out his younger brother had just died in the Nimrod crash that killed 12 men. And here was I going on about work, and he sympathising!

Last yearwe were going down to visit friends and take dd to see her dad. I decided to stay in a hotel the first night since my friend was an hours drive from my ex and i didnt see the point in arriving at my mates then driving an hour back to drop her off only to have to drive straight back down.

Anyway we arrived at the hotel and had arranged to meet some other friends near the hotel for dinner. By the time we got back the twins were tired and grumpy. A really nice woman who worked at the hotel came and offered to help get the children and bags into our room. The twins were both crying as she left and i was about to run them a bath. 5 mins later there was a knock at my door and it was the woman with room service including milk for the twins, hot chocolate for dd, a big pot of coffee and some lovely biscuits. We hadnt ordered any of that.

But she wasnt finished surprising me. She told me to sit down and relax (i had done a 6 hour drive then went out to dinner with 3 grumpy children) and she offered to bath them and help get them ready for bed. Turns out her twins were now 21 and she missed the bedtime routine. While we were chatting i asked her when she finished and she told me she had just clocked off just before i walked in but thought i looked like i could use a hand.

I was still in hospital with DD shortly after her birth as she was quite poorly - she was in NICU and I would walk down the corridor from the post-natal ward (two hundred steps there and back) to see her first thing. The lovely lady who brought the breakfast waited until I was back to make me hot tea every morning I was there.

The lovely mnetter who sent dh a mp3 player to listen to when in isolation, and the lovely ones who have sent girls some stuff.

The person who dropped enough money to pay for 3 months carparking when dh was really sick

The lovely van company who collected dd1 piano completely free of charge and refused all money and then called to thank me for the biscuits and choclates!

The student nurse who sat by my bed all night when i was in a bad way, and then helped for the next 3 weeks while i was still in a bad way and looking after dd2!

I've a few which i'd forgotten about.

1. thailand 1992-The young student who was staying at the same beach appartments as DH(Bf at time) and I and arrived with cakes, biscuits, fruit and coke having noticed we had run out of money and had been eating nothing but boiled rice for 3 days.

1. The male nurse who sat and chatted with me when I was in hospital with quinsy 'cos I burst into tears everytime I was put on the anti biotic drip.

1. The friend who arrived with a big saucepan of dahl when i got home.

1. The hotel receptionist who rang my room to check I was ok and sent up tea and biscuits when I turned up at a local Premier INN which I booked into in afit of snot and tears following a flounce from home after a row with DH.

1. The man who stopped and offered to drive me to work when I was surrounded by snarling dogs from a gypsy/traveller camp which was on the industrial estate i worked on. I didn't know waht was worse the dogs (and I quite like dogs normally) or getting into a car with a stranger.I opted for the strangers car and didn't really register when he dropped me off right outside myplace of work (only second day there). I ran in, in tears and didn't even thank him. I saw him later that morning he had come to check I was ok - he was the chief Exec. I thanked him profusely and appologised for my earlier rudeness - told me not to worry and welcomed me to the company.

EEK post is getting ridiculously long - have met lots of lovely people. heres and for all of you.

the 2 lovely older ladies who walked me home when i was sick outside the chemist when dd2 was 3 weeks old. They waited with me till my mum arrived too,

All the people who took turns to help my DH carry a double matress up to the 17th floor of the tower block we lived in pre marriage and DC....on every floor another person would come along and relieve the last! The lift was broken (again) and he had no choice! He had help all the way up from around ten different people!

In the South of France last August, had driven there via Italy (as you do). It was a Sunday afternoon in a strongly Catholic area and DH went snorkling with the car keys in his pocket and oddly enough they had got lost in about 10m of water. My phone is in the car, all the money is in the car, for some bloody reason the spare car keys were in the car. I tried my best French but no one could help. In the end a lovely bloke heard me and came over, took DH with him to get a wire coat hanger from a nearby hotel (apparently he 'had some experience when I was younger'). It took him and two other blokes 2.5 hours to break back into the car for us, wouldn't let me just break the window. whilst their kids/wives waited patiently in 30 degree heat. I have no idea what we would have done otherwise as the camp site was too far away to walk. One of the men explained before he left that he was a Catholic and believed that if he did a good deed to us we would help someone else and eventually it would make its way round loads of people. Fantastic.

This is a lovely thread. Here's my story...

After a drunken, raucous night out with my friends, I was feeling very embarrassed, hungover and sorry for myself! Worst of all, I had stepped in broken glass and had loads of tiny shards of glass stuck in the soles of my feet. I tried to get them out myself, but just made the problem worse.

The previous week, I had been on one date with this shy, grumpy, funny guy that I'd vaguely known at school and he turned up unexpectedly to see if I wanted to go out for lunch.

I explained that I couldn't walk and showed him my feet and then promptly burst into tears. Without batting an eyelid, he went into the kitchen and filled a bowl up with hot water and produced (rather oddly now I think about it) a scalpel from his back pocket which he sterilised under boiling water. He then spent the next two hours carefully picking the broken glass out of the soles of my feet and bandaging my feet.

It was the kindest thing that anyone had done for me for years and I think I fell in love with him there and then.

(BTW we've been together ever since and got married last year).

Oh another for next.

The twins must have been about 5 or 6 weeks old and we went into next for a wee look. Both babies threw up at the same time and they were covered. It was a nice warm day so they only had on sleepsuits and they needed clean clothes. I was a bit skint but the manager saw it happen and came over and asked if he could help. I said looks like i need to find them both something very cheap to wear and asked if he could get me a packet of unisex babygrows (twins are b/g). He came back with a gorgeous dress and a pair of dungerees and a packet of vests. I told him it was just babygrows i was needing since i only had £15 with me. He told me not to worry about it and wouldnt take any money for them.