What's the kindest thing a stranger has done for you?

[GimmeDaBoobehz]

Equally, what is the kindest thing you have done for a stranger?

Beautiful thread.

One of the nicest things that happened to me was when I had a miscarriage the lovely nurse that I saw afterwards just gave me a hug. It was unexpected - the human contact - and I really needed it. Then when I got pregnant again I went in for a scan and some blood results - I can still remember her doing a fistpump and shouting 'YES!' when my bloods came back fine - she really cared.

More recently, I broke down on a baking hot day this summer with a young child in the car, and a man who owned the café across from where I broke down brought two bottles of ice cold water and some biccies across for us as we waited for the RAC.

My first one I did was when I was really young - we were going on a rare holiday (just a train up to Scotland as we didn't have much money) and we passed a young boy about my age (14ish) sitting on the steps in the station. I walked with mum and my brothers into the station but felt horrible all the way. Then I suddenly made up my mind and told my mum I'd catch up with her, and ran back up about a zillion steps to the boy, and dumped my precious £4 holiday savings into his hand. He looked stunned and I had to rush off to catch my train (and catch up with my very anxious mother).

I also later looked after a homeless guy in what turned into a bit of an epic saga - started by buying him a sarnie and drink in Greggs and then asked him if he'd be ok for the night and where the nearest shelter was. Walked with him to the shelter but he couldn't get in and so we walked to another one they directed us to, stopping to buy him a bit more food on the way. He was absolutely barking mad and told me his life story as we walked around, including how he was the secret love child of Goldie Hawn.

My most recent one was actually today, when I was in a shop and a woman was taking her visibly anxious and profoundly disabled teenage son around the shop in a chair. She kept talking to him, staying so calm and soothingly telling him 'You're doing so well!' whilst he kept seeming to panic and shouting 'Mum' and making distressed noises and hurting himself. Eventually when she'd parked him temporarily and come over to get something off a shelf near me I said, 'I think you're doing so well too!' with a smile and her face lit up and she said, 'I'm having a rough day actually!' and I said 'Well I think you're a fantastic mum, so patient and amazing' and she cried (and hurried off grinning). I think sometimes it helps to have someone recognise that you're having a hard time.

I always try to do little things, too, like give parking tickets, help older people with their shopping etc.

Only a little thing but a sweet elderly chap stopped to give me and my DS half a loaf of bread to feed the ducks this morning.

LalyRawr don't be gutted about it, maybe he wanted you to have the teddy.

I was quite ill and very sad with PND when DD was a young baby. I thought I was the most terrible mother.

One day I was in the cafe at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool with my daughter, we were having lunch and I was entertaining her in her high chair with books and things, and a glamorous older woman came over. She said she just wanted to say what a good job I was doing, how well I was teaching her and how happy she looked. I went to the loos and burst into tears afterwards.

It made a difference.

This is my grandparents so is at least second hand.

My grandfather got his call up papers towards the start of WWII. He had basic training and then some time off and after that had to be in Liverpool to get on a ship.

My grandparents went to Liverpool the night before, with my dad who was a toddler, intending to stay in a B and B.

All the B and Bs were full so they started looking at hotels which they probably couldn't afford.

They were leaving a hotel that was also full and were approached by a man who said he was a chef, just going in to work.

He gave them his mother's address and told them to go there, say he had sent them and she would put them up for the night.

They went and were duly put up for the night.

Thank you kind family in Liverpool who made sure my grandparents last night together for 5 years wasn't on the street.

This is one of the sweetest threads I've seen! It's actually really cheered me up and made me rethink my attitudes after having a few weeks where all I've been able to see is the bad and selfish in people. Can it be put in classics if we ask our omnipotent MN overladies nicely? I'd hate to see it disappear.

I do try to do little things like help parents with pushchairs or people overloaded with bags at the station. I also returned a wallet I found, but these are things that I would hope most people would do! I love the idea of doing more unexpected random acts of kindness, and am trying very hard to think of things to make a person's day a little better.

I remember once crying uncontrollably on a bench in the middle of Bath when I was suffering quite badly from depression, and three separate people came up to me to ask if I was alright. It was nice to be reminded that people can be caring at a time when I thought I was alone.

When I was very unwell In a poor country a local woman closed up her shop and drove me to hospital and wouldn't accept any money. I wish I could have helped her in some way.

butterfly you were tandem feeding twins whilst sorting two other children's tea in a service station cafe.

Fuck me, you're amazing.

This is a brilliant thread :)

I have to add I left my face make up bag on a train last week and whoever handed it in deserves some recognition, wish I knew who they were!Trivial perhaps and my own daft fault but I'm grateful.
I always hand in things if I find them. And at a cashpoint some time ago a guy walked off without his £ and I ran off after him.

Just remembered another one.
I had a really bad tube infection some years ago, was discharged from hospital and on antibiotics but still could hardly walk. I hobbled to the shop across the road (with a coat on over my nighty, I was in too much pain to wear anything restrictive so I must have looked a sight for sore eyes!) to try to get a top up voucher for my mobile because I had ran out of credit and felt very isolated without any contact (didn't have the 'net at the time).
They didn't sell phone vouchers, I kinda knew they didn't but had a slight bit of hope-and I was right to have hope.
A lad in there, must have been about ten or 11 heard me talking to the cashier and said he'd go on his bicycle to the garage to get one for me. And off he went with my £10 note, and returned promptly to the shop with a phone top up card.
So grateful for him, especially seeing as the youth of today get a bad press a lot of the time. I gave him a couple of £ for it. No way could I have managed to walk to the garage myself at that time.

Sat in the centre of town totally incapable of remembering what I was there for because I was so tired after being up with a small baby and a poorly child all night, an older man came and sat next to me, offered me a cigarette and just sat with me. He didn't really say anything, it was just the calm, quiet company that made me feel better.

When DS was young he got stung by a bee and was just howling in the park. A group of teens came over to see what was up and one of them shared his chocolate with him, this group of kids then whisked him off to the swings to cheer him up!

I paid for some milk yesterday for a lady who had left her purse at home, she didn't realise until she got to the till.

I like seeing others do it as well. I used to work in a pub and a lady came in who obviously had some learning disabilities of some sort. She'd been in before and was very pleasant and always wanting to chat to everybody, sometimes people got annoyed with her.

She was 5p short on the drink she wanted that day and straight away my friend who was sitting at the bar gave it to her saying 'Hey I'm not letting 5p get in the way of you having a beer love'.
Small thing/big thing.

Lovely man who bought me and my friends a pizza when we were camping in France aged seventeen, woefully unprepared and pretty penniless, looking for enough change for a proper meal. Also gave us some good safety advice, we survived on luck rather than any sense that trip.

The kind couple sat in front of us who told me how well behaved my DS had been on a long flight when I'd been really conscious of making sure he was wasn't too noisy.

The kind lady who came over to me when I had just braved breast feeding DS in a cafe for the first time and was really self conscious and said what a beautiful baby he was, I felt lovely after that, like she was reassuring me- sounds daft I know.

Big thanks to the lovely lady who helped me carry the pram down three flights of stairs when the fire alarm in the museum last week meant the lifts couldn't be used, lots of stronger looking people pushed past us!

I always try to do the little things like offering seats, parking tickets, carrying prams. I also made some mince pies and other things for my neighbour when his wife died a few years ago, it got to christmas and I thought he might miss her baking.
I also my my regular Big Issue guy a coffee and muffin.

Heartwarming to read this thread, it's really cheering me up today.

Two come to mind:

Firstly, I was with DS2 in Sainsburys doing my weekly shop, when he spotted a little Makka Pakka toy that he took a fancy to. It was £5 so not hugely expensive, but a lot for what it was. I said he couldn't have it because we didn't have the money for it (this was actually a white lie - I just didn't want to buy it). Anyway, an elderly lady overheard and insisted on giving me the £5 so I could buy it for DS. I tried to refuse but she insisted, so I took the money, and bought the toy. I then went home and made a charity donation for £10, with that lovely lady in mind.

The second one was when we were on holiday in Switzerland. Our car had skidded on ice, and we had crashed. We tried to continue driving, but the car really wasn't safe, so we had to stop in the middle of the road. Another car pulled up behind, with a family on board. They were British, but living over there while the Dad worked as a ski instructor for the season. They offered to take me and our two children to our apartment a couple of miles down the road, while DH waited for the rescue truck. Our boys were young - 5 and 2 years old, and pretty worried by the crash. I was so addled I initially refused his offer, but he sat tight and waited. A few minutes later he offered again, and then persuaded me that this really was a good idea, and I realised he was right. He took his own family down the road to the next town, where he dropped them off in a cafe, before returning to pick up me and the boys. He then loaded his car with our belongings, put my younger son in his own child's car seat, and took us back to our apartment, before helping us take our belongings in. His actions made such a huge difference to what was a pretty stressful situation. We saw him a few days later when he was teaching on the mountain, and told him just how very grateful we were for his actions that day.

So many whilst living in London, heavily pregnant and on crutches (SPd). All sorts of people helped me, workmen, people in suits. Once I was struggling to get to work sat on a bench and cried. A white van man stopped and gave me a lift to the end of the street. One doddery old man insisted on carrying my shopping basket round tesco metro he was in a worse state than me we were a right pair.

Slightly uncomfortable about people n

DD was potty training, whilst unloading trolley at checkout. So quickly rushed her to the toilets. When I came back the man in front had finished paying and had started to pack my things as the lady put them through the till. Very unexpected and I was extremely grateful.

Sorry pressed send - nominating themselves reminds me of an evangelical Christian acquaintance who earnestly lists her good deeds. Think the magic is when a good deed is done for a stranger quietly and without fuss.

I just wanted to mention the absolute overwhelming kindness I had bestowed on me by 'strangers' on here around last Christmas time.. It was the swap/I have/I need thread.

We'd been having an absolutely lousy, lousy time financially and was owed money by a Temp Agency and at wits end.

I received 3 wonderful, wonderful parcels of clothes/pyjama's, books and some toys - ALL of which have been worn, read, loved and treasured so much over the past year - something about every time I see DD with something from the parcels just makes me smile so much and to those three women who sent them - I will never, ever forget the little (generous) act of kindness that just made that shitty time a little brighter. (I remember being so happy DD had some pjs that fitted)

I wont name them and don't sadly know if they still post on here but those parcels meant the world to me.

Kerala, I don't think people are nominating themselves and didn't a make a fuss at the time either, we are just answering the OP and sharing nice acts of kindness whether given or received.

People aren't expecting anything back from doing kind things, that's sort of the point I think. You do a small (or in some cases large) act of kindness and then go about your day feeling a bit nicer because of it.

When I was in 12-step programmes, there were lots of people who'd never done a random act of kindness (as well as lots who had, of course.) They were amazed at how good it made them feel :) I think it's worth celebrating this gorgeous aspect of human nature, Kerala!

I had a late missed mc and had been admitted to a hospital in Croydon for a D&C.
In the early hours,I miscarried naturally, the nurse on duty was a nasty piece of work,she scrubbed be down with cold water,no words of sympathy.
The lady in the bed opposite,also in for mmc, came and sat by my bed,wiped my tears and held my hand all through the night talking to me until I slept.
I have never forgotten her kindness.

A few years back I collapsed on the concourse at Cardiff station while waiting for my train home from visiting a friend. When I came to, a man I'd never met before had put his coat under my head, got another passer-by to hand over his coat to put over me (it was February and very cold), alerted the station staff and phoned for an ambulance. He also asked me who he could phone and got my friend to come down to the station, sat with me until they arrived and didn't ask for his coat back until the ambulance staff had been and I was on my way back to my friend's house. I never knew his name and I can't even remember what he looked like as I was so dazed, but he missed his train to help me and I'm seriously grateful.

I was in Aldi a few years ago having just left an abusive relationship and moved 400 miles to be away from my ex. I had my three year old with me and I was stressing about money, having never really had to budget alone before. I managed to get everything I needed, and was queuing up when my son spotted a pack of sweets. I was counting the pennies in my purse and came to the conclusion I couldn't afford them. Son was disappointed but well behaved about it. As I was packing up my shopping a lady came over and handed me the sweets he had been looking at. She said she had no grandchildren and wanted to reward my boy for being so good, but she thought she had better check with me first as she knew some people didn't like their child having sweets! That was lovely, I went home and cried.

I've also had a lovely offer of help from an MN-er, I took her up on it and we are now good friends, I will always feel grateful for that and offer it up to anyone who says "oh only the ROYALTY have things sent to them,,nobody notices me here" etc. I was a newbie and didn't know anyone!

I shamefully can't think of many RAOKs I have performed but I do try in small ways - giving someone my weekly bus ticket when I realised I didn't need it for the whole week for example.

One thing I did which I don't count as an amazingly kind thing, but was received as if it was, was a few years ago. I was on holiday with my family and eating in a cafe. A lad came over to us and watched. He was about nine I'd guess, and quite disabled, he had the most wonderful smile! His mum came over and apologised, she said he loves babies and seems to seek them out! I asked him what his name was and his mum told me he doesn't speak. I carried on talking to him and gave him a biscuit we had bought. After a while he went away again. As we were leaving his mum thanked me so sincerely, she said people usually ignored him and hardly ever spoke directly to him. I said I was totally inexperienced with disabled people so once she said that he didn't speak I was unsure what to do but my instinct wouldn't allow me to ignore such a lovely child. She was so grateful. Like I said though I don't see that as an act of kindness really, I couldn't believe how happy she was about it!

Lovely thread.

I was in hospital with my son for his 4th and final surgery, it was a day surgery where we had to be there by 7am and hopefully be discharged later on that day.

He was on the early list so was back from theatre by 11am.

His reaction to the GA was to sleep and sleep and sleep... There was a Cypriot family there with their daughter who was having the same op as my son. We got chatting and found they had a shop in an area that we used to live. The Dad popped out and came back with a huge spread of Turkish food, they insisted on sharing with me. It was lovely because I was on my own and didn't want to leave my son and not be there when he woke up.

I was starving having left my house at 6:30am and stupidly didn't think to pack a sandwich.

I thanked them profusely, but they brushed off my thanks as though it was nothing.

Lovely people.

My son slept until about 6pm in the end, I think I'd have fainted if they hadn't fed me!