Has a random act of kindness stayed in your memory forever?

[CrushWithEyeliner]

Once when I was 21 I was on the tube going home after work when I suddenly felt really really awful and had to get off the train. I wandered up to the ticket barrier when a guard saw me and asked me if I was OK. I was feeling so faint I couldn't even talk I just said I felt sick. He then took me into the back room where he and his colleagues made me sweet tea, toast and talked to me for ages until I felt better then called me a cab home, they were really concerned.

I know it sounds really silly but I have never forgotten how sweet they were to me and how much better I felt for it and it was so long ago and such a little thing - does anyone have any similar experiences?

I will also always be greatfull and thnakfull to a group of mners from the Nov 2006 antenatal group, I was run into the ground and they got up a little fund for dp and I to take the kids to Butlins for a few days. It was bloody fantastic and I will never forget it.

Just read this thread start to finish and am crying. It's so lovely!

I work at a school as a 1:1. The girl I work with has ASD. Last Friday during gym, the kids were supposed to run around the track twice. She made it once and a half and then got upset. I started to go over to her but one of the boys beat me to it. He's already (at 9 years old) the "coolest boy in school", fantastic at sports and all that. He jogged over to her, took her hand, told her she could do it, and ran the rest of the way with her. I had to turn away because I was sniffling!

Also, every time they have to pick partners, he picks her. One of the other children asked him why he did that in a snide voice, and he simply said, "I don't want her to feel like she doesn't have any friends. She does." He is a star, this kid! :)

On a really warm day at the end of the summer my son was 6 years old money was very tight and we were in ASDA to buy a coat for the new school year. I was trying to persuade him that the coat he was trying on was fine and not too warm - in other words it had to do because I could not afford to go elsewhere. A rather rotund man with a white beard appeared pushing a trolley, bent down to my son and said, "Santa thinks it's great." The look on my son's face was utterly priceless - made even better by the fact that when he gathered himself to go to the end of the aisle to look, the man had disappeared. Such a wonderfully weird thing to do.

The only one I can really remember was sitting in the car, 8pm a few days before Xmas when the car had broken down, 100 miles from home and 100 miles from our destination. There was about a foot of snow on the ground, the AA probably wouldn't be with us for 2 hours and with 5 of us in the car (3 kids!) I was a mess.

We were not on a busy road, but the only person who stopped was a lady on her own in - bless her - an Audi TT. She was the only person who stopped and asked if we needed help or could she arrange for a tow. Was so nice of her, but luckily the AA showed up shortly after.

Sadly I can mainly remember the times when people haven't helped, mostly when they have walked round me struggling with a double buggy and shopping etc.

What a lovely, heartbreaking and amazing thread.

On the way to get on a ferry for a holiday couple of years ago we ran out of petrol on the way and just about managed to get off the motorway onto a small side road in the middle of nowhere. It was the early hours of the morning and there was no traffic on the road. We were running out of time to get to the ferry in time. Out of nowhere a passing motorist stopped to help us. Drove out of his way to take DH to the service station to buy a can of petrol and then drove him all the way back. We were so grateful and he wouldn?t take anything as a reward. Said his reward would be if we could ever help someone else in trouble. Thank you.

Also, the amazing lady who shared her hotel room with my dd; stuck because of the ash cloud and facing the possibility of spending a scary night alone on a deserted European train station platform. She came back for her especially. What a lovely example to set to a young adult (indeed to anybody) and we will be eternally grateful. Thank you.

I always think of mum. A lady at her till was short of 50p. She cried, the poor love. Mum said not to worry - owe it back. They became good friends. My mums till was short that day - my mum wasnt very well off either!

I have experienced so many random acts of kindness over the years, especially in my years as a penniless scruff hitchhiking around Europe, but 2 spring to mind: one was when I spent ages painfully reversing into a really tight parking spot in a car park in Poole, making a right pig's ear of it. I had no idea anyone had been watching me, but came back to find a card with a heart on it tucked under the windscreen wiper, with "Well done!" written on the back..!

The second was when i was v.v. pregnant, the road was icy and ungritted, and my van basically ended up sliding down it-sideways-getting pretty much wedged on a blind bend. A random passing lady (this was the middle of nowhere) called the local farm, who sent their "boys" out on a big green tractor, to tow the van safely into a layby. I took them some beer afterwards.

Just found this thread in classics - I'm crying now too!

Wanted to add my own too.

A couple of years ago when we had some really heavy snow in the south east I got stuck on the A3 on my way home from work. I was on my own, no food or drink, phone almost out of battery and no idea how long we would be stuck.
Got out of the car and started chatting to a lorry driver, he offered for me and another woman to sit in his (heated) cab, offered us food (he had a microwave in there!), let me charge my phone and help to dig my car out at 4am when we finally started moving again.

A few years ago my ds (3) and I were struck down with a bad bug on a flight to miami. I had an 'accident' in my trousers on the plane and when we got to the hotel late at night he started being violently sick. DD (10 mths) was fine but totally disorientated due to the flight etc so was being very clingy. DH had gone to try to buy some nappies from an all night supermarket and I was at my wits end.

I had called housekeeping to get some more bed linen as DS had been sick on it and the most wonderful woman turned up with the linen. She could see that i was struggling and took DS into the bathroom, striped off his pjs and gave him a bath. I calmed DD down and got her to sleep then this wonderful lady changed the beds and tucked DS in. She then bundled up all our dirty laundry (including my stuff from the flight) and told me to pick it up the next day from the laundry down the road rather than the hotel which was blooming expensive. She must have dropped it off for me on her way home.

When DH returned I just cried when i told him about this wonderful woman and we told the manager of the hotel about her and left her a thank you.

Another one was when in labour with DS. I had been admitted due to pre-eclampsia so was on my own DH had been sent home for the night. The next morning i was in active labour and i was starting to spin out and panic. A lady was walking past my room and came in and held me, breathing with me and telling me i was going to be ok. I have no idea if she was a midwife or a cleaner but she made me feel that i could cope. I never saw her again, she was like an angel.

Lastly we were house hunting in a new area and DS had a wee accident in the car (he is quite good really, not presenting him in the best light). i stopped in what is now our local tesco carpark and was mopping up his car seat and a lady walked over and handed me a pair of pants and some trousers. I told her i didn't live nearby to return them but she just told me to kep them. We were living in central london at the time and i think it made me decide that i did want to move out.

Must pay it forward tomorrow.

One more was in the same tescos mentioned above. I had forgotten my purse and was standing at the till with all my shopping when a mum from DS's school offered to pay for it for me. I didn't know her at all as her DD was in yr 6 when DS was in reception, she just recognised me from the playground. So lovely of her, i paid her back and gave her some chocolate.

What a lovely, heart-warming thread. So often,you only ever seen to hear about how badly people treat each other (I guess it's the something good, tell one person, something bad, tell 10 rule), so it's nice to read so many tales of people reaching out to help complete strangers.

My own is the lovely BA Cabin Service Director who moved me into Business Class when I flew from Singapore to Sydney at six months pregnant and suffered agonising back-pain. It was impossible for me to sit comfortably in economy and the only thing that relieved the pain was to lie down flat. I was in tears, exhausted and emotional, and thought I'd end up having to stand most of the flight.

Lovely crew made me a cup of tea, rubbed my back and got me a hot-water bottle to help relieve the pain. Flight was absolutely packed but they managed to sort out a seat in Business and I was able to lie down for the rest of the flight. CSD checked on me every so often to make sure I was okay.

I was so, so grateful for their time and thoughtfulness.

When I was in hospital after having a mastectomy in 2001, I was feeling very sorry for myself a couple of days after the operation; hair was manky and I just felt totally rotten and scared. A lovely auxiliary nurse came to talk to me and offered to help me to have a bath and hairwash. I felt so helpless and weak, so it was wonderful to have someone to do this for me. She told me that this was the sort of nursing she signed up for, rather than all the form filling and other bureaucratic stuff that they mostly had to do. I was discharged before she was on duty again, but I'll never forget her kindness.
Nine years later, in hospital again for two major operations, I was having a weepy episode, as I was in so much pain, and they hadn't brought the meds round yet. An angel of a woman in my bay, who had been told the day before that she was going to die soon, as they couldn't do anything to help her with her brain tumour; she was the first person over to give me a hug and some reassuring words. She passed away a few weeks later. I'm filling up just thinking about it, I'll never forget her.
During the same time, a lovely person from another forum, whom I'd only met once briefly, made a 150 mile round trip to come and see me.
My fab former workmates came to see me regularly in hospital, and when I came home. They once brought round a picnic to my flat, including drinks, napkins, plastic cutlery and paper plates, even a tablecloth.

When I was travelling alone last year, on the train from Guangzhou to Lhasa, I woke in the night feeling terrible (it was altitude sickness). I managed to stagger to the bathroom but when I came out I suddenly went blind and completely lost the ability to walk. This kind Chinese man saw that I was in trouble (I was clinging to the wall, I couldn't move), helped me onto a bunk, and went to fetch the train guards. He also woke up a friend who spoke a little English and could translate for me, since I don't speak any Chinese. The guards were obviously rather worried about me but my sight came back fairly quickly so they just gave me some oxygen and left me to it.

The next day the whole carriage had apparently heard that I was ill - people kept coming to check that I was OK, and a lovely girl gave me some herbal medicine. My saviour from the night came back to take my picture, and gave me his address and phone number in case I ever needed anything. I'll never forget how kind they all were.

the wee auxiliary on the gyne ward where i was recovering from a fairly major procedure was my angel in disguise - sick as a pig post operative, reaction to the general, miserable as could be, was out of it when the card for dinner options came round for 3 days. Day four, missed the cards again but was feeling better - must have looked wistful as the meal cart came round - lovely lovely auxilliary asked me if I was hungry and hustled off and made me sandwiches from her own stash & went and got me a can of cola from the hospital shop.
felt like crying with gratitude. I probably did a bit.

Not sure if it quite fits, but the thing that gets me through sometimes is a letter a student wrote to me once. I had been teaching her at summer school, she was part of a group of lovely Spanish kids who had been paid by the govt to come over here and learn English.

I have since lost the letter, a wanker ex binned it with all my stuff, but it was so nice. She said that i had made her see that growing up didn't mean having to give up being fun and that she was less scared of growing up because of me.

She obv didn't know how much that meant to me, as I have so little self confidence and it made me so happy to know that I had helped her. I so wish i still had that letter but the memory of it always makes me cry/smile.

Earlier this year my Father was in hospital 2 days after recieving a lung cancer diagnosis and I walked in to visit to find my Mother laying on the floor by his bed having a seizure. I couldn't breathe properly for a minute but the elderly wife of the very ill man in the bay next to my Dad put her hand over mine and said "you have to be strong for your Dad." For a minute I put my other hand over hers and got so much strength from her. Her husband was not much longer for this world and she managed to find some time for me.

I will never forget her.

I'm disabled and walk on crutches. When I first fell ill I lost a lot of weight so was very thin. One day I was out with a friend in Manchester. I was struggling to walk to the cinema, so we decided it was easier for him to go on and get tickets while I carried on walking at my own, painfully slow, pace. A man came out of a shop and ran up to me, thrusting a carrier bag from said shop into my hand, saying, "I thought you could use these!". He went off before I could see what it was.

My friend came back to find me crying and laughing at the same time, wondering why I was now carrying a bag full of chocolate bars!

When we were buying our "forever" house my dh and I fell in love with a house. The lady who owned the house was in when we looked around and we had a little chat with her about how her family had lived there 40 years and been very happy.

We put an offer in although we had been told there had been lots of offers already, and when the estate agent phoned to tell us our offer had been accepted he also told me that ours wasn't the highest offer, but the lady had really liked us and wanted us to have the house.

We have lived here nearly 6 years now and living here has made such a big positive impact on our lives, I often think of that lovely lady.

Shortly after my second child was born, I found a bag in my porch. Attached to it was a note that siad something like "Breast feeding mothers should make sure they keep up their intake of dairy products. Here they are." Inside was a home made cheesecake. This had come from somone who was quite a new friend and she had deliberately not rung to bell for fear of disturbing anyone. This might not sound life changing, but it was... we are now best buds.

When I was newly married, (and moved down to the South East from Scotland), my car broke down on the way to work. Recovery came and took the car to the garage and dropped me at the station, to get the train to work. I bought my ticket and phoned my DH to let know what had happened.

As I was on the phone, the train came into the station. I hopped on board and settled down for the journey. When the ticket man came to check my ticket, he said I was on the wrong train! Instead of getting a slow train to London and stopping at the village station I'd have to change at, I'd got on the fast service that didn't stop until Victoria in London!

I sat back thinking "Ah well, I'll have to go to London and back out again. I'm going to be really late for work now". A few minutes later, the ticket man came back and said "Quick, follow me!" I jumped up and ran after him all down the train.

He got the train to stop just for me at this little village station and then it shot off again, up to London.

It wasn't until later that I realised what a major thing he'd done for me. It saved me a lot of time, and I wasn't too late for work.

I ran away from a job in the middle of the night. I rang the doorbell of someone's house who had their light on but they answered and wouldn't help me. I found the train station and a lady gave me all the money she had so I could get home. Home was 200+ miles away. I got to London Victoria but BR wouldn't help me so I walked the streets of London at 3am. The guard at the coach station gave me money for a coach home. I always remember the woman but not the man so much as I dated him for a while and then he hit me so I don't have fond memories of him.

When DS was two he shut his finger in the front door and it was hanging on by the skin only. I threw him in the car with a bag of peas tied round said finger with a muslin nappy and drove. Being school run rush hour, every road around Wandsworth Common was jammed.

I whizzed down one road on the wrong side and came to the lights. A chap (himself taking his DC to school) came to my window to ask what was wrong. I managed to tell him that child and finger weren't completely together and he basically ordered me to get DS, sit in his car, parked my car (leaving note for the over zealous wardens and police) and drove us to St. George's A&E. He then took his children to school (now late) and reappeared in the waiting room where he sat and refused to go until DS had come out of surgery 2 hours later. Once DS was out of recovery, he went to get lunch/drinks, and waited with us until DS was discharged that evening. Drove us home, then went and collected my car.

Almost 13 years later he and his wife, and children, have remained very very good friends. Before that day I had never seen one of them before.

Oh I love this thread!!
Recently I had my purse stolen, abroad, from a church. It had all my money in it as I'd only just arrived in that country, plus cards, and most importantly my train tickets for when I got home. I had nothing and was there for 10 days. What was worse was that I'd had to get an overdraft to afford holiday money in the first place, so I literally had nothing. Random members of the congregation gave money to the priest to give to me, it all spiralled as more people heard what had happened and wanted to help too, and when I added it up it was almost as much as I'd lost! It turned a disaster holiday into a good holiday, and I even had some left over which went to charity once I'd got home. I can't believe the kindness of those people.

I suffer from a really bad back which goes into spasms sometimes without warning. I was struggling out of my local Tesco, nearly weeping in pain trying to push my trolley when an older man with white hair in a ponytail, appeared next to me and helped me. He was chatting to me, saying his back was bad too but it was ok as most of his work was seasonal. He had a bit of a tummy, and a happy smiley face and a white beard. He gently steered me by the elbow to my car and I said "it's the driving that hurts my back." He sympathised and said "hmm, for me, it's the chimneys"!

Totally made my day!

This thread is lovely!

I was wandering in a hungover state of mind though the town centre on a busy Saturday morning. I thought a road was a pedestrian only zone so wandered blindly into the road to get to Primark . Little did I realise there was a bus RIGHT THERE and would have run me over if a young teenage boy dressed head to toe in black with horrible ear piercings hadn't pulled me back by pulling my t-shirt, so vigorously we ended up in an awkward heap on the floor.