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Original poster

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

309 replies

CrushWithEyeliner · 18/02/2008 20:09

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?

OP posts:
Kateaw · 20/12/2008 13:06

DarksomeNight - its outrageous that you were fired for that. Well done you.

My father uses crutches and can't walk or stand without them. He dropped one when out and about. While struggling with one crutch and trying to make his way towards a nearby tree to lean on and sliding the dropped crutch along the ground, a bus stopped and the driver leapt out, ran over the road and picked it up for him.

A driver once stopped and remonstrated with my ex boyfriend who was walking me home from the pub and had got a bit physical (grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me against the wall). I am still very grateful to that guy even though I wasn't in any real danger from the exbf who knew fine well how much trouble he would be in if he did hit me.

bracingair · 20/12/2008 23:21

What a lovely thread!

I was in Great Ormnond Street with ds 2 days old. He couldnt stop crying all night and the nurses were really rushed off their feet (except to offer formulae - but that deserves its own thread lol). Anyway the women looking after her granddaughter next door came in and took ds for a while so that I could have a break. I will never forget that kindness - i had felt so alone and she and such a difference

Gorionine · 20/12/2008 23:30

I was walking to pick up my Dcs from school, pushing the pram with DD4 in, it was very cold and I heard a voice calling me. When I turned arround, there was this nice lady urging me to take the gloves she was handing me. She had just seen me through her window and thought I could do with something warmer on. I thought this was the kindest thing to do to someone you do not know.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 20/12/2008 23:36

My car had broken down on the dual carriageway when DS was about 3 months old.

I was stood there, holding DS, on the hard shoulder waiting for the AA.

Someone else pulled up in the layby. Turned out he was a car mechanic. He and his pregnant girlfriend had been driving on the opposite carriageway. They saw me and pulled off at the next junction then turned round to come back to me.

He fixed my car (turned out to be something very simple) and I was able to drive off.

Lovely, lovely people. They had seen me with the baby and decided to come and help.

herbietea · 20/12/2008 23:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Simplysally · 20/12/2008 23:47

I will always remember the kind German tourists who seeing me sitting down on the spiral staircase inside the tower of Saint Pietro in the Vatican City, offered to help me down the stairs. I am prone to claustrophobia and am also scared of heights and spiral staircases. I got up to the cupola ok but coming down some other tourists behind me were a bit too boisterous for my liking. I had a minor flap and was unable to move so I sat down on the stairs where I was. There was space for people to get past.

Everyone else just streamed past me but these tourists stopped to check I was ok. In the end I realised if someone else had been sitting there I would have hated them so embarassment made me get up.

The other kindness I remember was a few months ago: I caught a train without a seat reservation and plonked myself in any old seat. I had to give this up but the person in the seat next to me gave up his seat for me as I quite frankly looked like death warmed up. He stood in the corridor for over an hour until a seat became free.

Thank you so much to the people concerned .

jingleMAMADIVAsbells · 21/12/2008 00:02

When I was 15 my dog was about 10 weeks and I took her out a walk up past a main road but there was a huge grassy hill upfrom it so I let her off the lead (admittedly stupid)and she ran off the hill and straight down towards the road by the bus stop and there was a bus coming, a random man just lunged toward her and grabbed her whilst he thudded towards the ground he basically saved her life.

I thanked him and later saw him at the bus stop on crutches, he had badly hurt his hip bone in the fall I think I said thanks to him every time I saw him.

pantomimEDAMe · 21/12/2008 00:03

I once fainted in the street in Camden. A nice lady came running out of a cafe, picked me up, dusted me off and sat me down with a huge pot of tea and stern instructions NOT to move until I was feeling better.

Dh is very good at RAOK, far too many to list here. Sadly when he was severely depressed, he lost this part of himself. I knew he was on the mend when he was late to pick me up and explained he'd had to stop on the way because he'd driven past a biker who had managed to fall off. Dh turned round and went back to help - seems the guy had managed to trap the hem of his jeans under the bike stand so was completely helpless and unable to get out.

When dh explained why he was late, I was THRILLED because I knew he was getting better

WalkingInAWonderStuffingLand · 21/12/2008 01:01

I was visiting my friend, she had her new baby in a sling and I had dd in a buggy, dd was about 6mo, her dog ran off and was hit by a car, my friend was a pieces, and I had only just arrived and had no idea how to get back to her house, a couple in a house nearby had seen the crash, they took my friend and her dog to the vets, and a young lad who was passing walked me and the babies back to my friends house because I didn't know the way, we were about 30 mins away from home and he had to go totally out of his way. I don't know what we would have done without these people.

TisTheSeasonToBeSolo · 21/12/2008 01:28

When I was about 14, I was out on my bike with my brother when I misjudged trying to bump up a kerb(at the wrong angle)I fell off and hurt myself and a lady rushed out of her house, taking me and Db into her house where she fed me tea and rang my Dad to come and pick us up.
Recently(this week), I have had so much kindness from several complete strangers that I am astounded. Because of their kindness, my Dc's will have Christmas gifts to open next week. Thank you to those wonderful people you know who you are.

HolyGuacamole · 21/12/2008 14:10

Aw, this is my favourite thread ever, especially nice to read at this time of year....love it!!

Original poster
CrushWithEyeliner · 21/12/2008 15:43

Aw this thread has been revived for Christmas - fab I am so proud of starting it

OP posts:
lottien · 21/12/2008 17:14

There have been loads:

-pg standing on the bus to work and not brave enough to ask people to give me a seat, one of the other passengers asked for me (and made the people who had been pretending my huge lump didn't exist feel really bad into the bargain!).

The first time I took DD back to England (at 4 weeks) we flew. I was on my own and very nervous. Of course she cried and I could see all the other passengers getting tense. I managed to get her bfing and got her to sleep. As we were getting off the plane the man in front of me turned round and just said "well done!". Those two words made me feel fantastic!

When DD was 2 I was seduced by a Eurostar offer to travel in first class for 10euros extra. As we got in to the carriage (which was full of quiet, posh people) she started bawling and I knew that I was faced with 3 hours of disapproving looks so I asked the hostess if we could stay in the lobby outside the carriage (DD in her pushchair and me on the tippy seat). Instead she got the train manager's permission for us to travel in the little staff room where they usually eat their lunch. So I got my first class travel and DD got to make as much noise as she wanted.

An exboyf and I got stuck in a little town in the Pyrennees after missing the last train. All the hotels were full (or at least said they were to a couple of scruffy and foolish backpackers). We went to the campsite where they let us camp without a tent and because we had no food and the camp shop was closed, the woman running the site did the rounds of the camp and came back with bread, milk, sausage and lots of other bits and pieces. Then our neighbours invited us in for coffee. I remind myself of this whenever I come across unkind French people (which happens!).

HeadFairy · 21/12/2008 17:21

One recently sticks in my mind. It wasn't a massive gesture but it was really kind and I haven't forgotten it. I was in the supermarket queuing with ds to pay for our bits and bobs. There was a massive queue, eventually I got to the front and the old woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder said to me "do you know those kitchen rolls are on two for one offer?" I thought about it for a minute but then it was my turn to go, it was pretty close to ds' tea time so I just said "oh well it's my turn to pay now, never mind" and she said "here, take mine, I'll go and get another one and queue again". Small gesture but it was so sweet. Doesn't happen often in this world. I think about her all the time, I hope she's happy and well.

SmileyMylee · 21/12/2008 19:15

Was away for the weekend with DH and DD1 (8 months) and had a call that my mother who had terminal cancer had taken a turn for the worse and I should come straight away. We were about 250 miles away and set off straight away.

50 miles in the car broke down. The rescue service turned up and drove us to the nearest garage. The car was not immediately repairable and we were told to come back the next day. One of the men was finishing his shift. His father had died of cancer the following week and this was his first day back. He immediately loaded our car onto his recovery vehicle and drove us to the hospital 200 miles away and then took our car to a local garage.

Without that act of kindness I wouldn't have seen my mother before she died or be able to be with her when she did.

KateF · 21/12/2008 19:42

This is a lovely thread. 4 years ago dd2 was very ill and our GP had just taken blood to test for leukaemia. I was in bits and struggling to think of something to cook for dd1 for tea when a lady from toddlers knocked on the door with a meal already prepared. Thankfully dd2 turned out to have a chronic viral infection and gradually recovered but it was such a kind thought.

trumpetgirl · 21/12/2008 20:31

When dd was 2yo, she was recovering from a stomach bug and I had tonsilitus. The electricity ran out and I needed to go and top up my key. It was about 6 or 7 pm and I had to walk for half an hour to get to the petrol station to top it up. When I got there, they said the machine was broken, and the nearest place that would be able to do it was about 15 miles away. I broke down in tears. I didn't know anyone with a car, or anyone who would help me. Behind me in the queue, there was a taxi driver who took pity on me. He drove me there and back, and didn't expect anything in return. I asked for his address so that I could pay him back, but he refused. Without him a weeks worth of food would've been wasted, and I would've had to live without electricity until 10am!
Thank you random taxi man

WalkingInAWonderStuffingLand · 21/12/2008 21:49

Such a great thread. Makes me think of my grandfather, at his funeral on the order of service it said 'If he could he did' which really summed him up. Now my grandmother is ill, family all live a long way away, but she seems to be surrounded by good people who will go the extra mile to help her out, she says that she thinks my grandpa is looking down, helping her out, I think she is right in a way, people remember his kindness and all these people he touched are now rallying round for her, so in a way he's still looking after her.

Smiley that story made me cry. What an amazing person.

Danae · 21/12/2008 22:35

Message withdrawn

mamalovesmincepiesANDmojitos · 21/12/2008 23:00

beautiful stories.

when i was roughly seventeen myself and a friend stupidly decided to hitch a lift (for a journey of about 200 miles).

a flashy car pulled up and a gorgeous man invited us in. he told us that it wasn't really safe for us to travel with strangers and that he couldn't leave us there.

he played us music, chatted away to us and when we stopped halfway bought us coffees and cakes. he brought us the whole way and was so kind.

thank you wherever you are.

Leedsmum2b · 31/12/2008 15:43

While pregnant earlier this year, I had to visit London most weeks - say about 30 Tube journeys in all.

I never once had to ask for a seat on the Tube, there was always a lovely person who offered me theirs!

unavailable · 05/01/2009 18:11

Just found this lovely thread - here's mine..
Many years ago, when hugely pregnant with ds, I rashly decided to go Xmas shopping in the West End. Bad decision - it was heaving. I got badly jostled and a bit disorientated which made me step off the curb and into the path of a cyclist. He screeched to a holt, and then shouted at me before cycling off. I promptly burst into tears. A woman passing took pity on me, and took me to her office just off Oxford Street. I sat in her (very plush) office and drank tea. She even offered me money to get a cab home to North London, but I couldnt accept.

Jujubean77 · 04/12/2009 15:32

This is a lovely thread this time of year x

lisalisa · 06/12/2009 22:33

Yes it quite restores your faith in mankind doesn't it?

E45 · 08/12/2009 19:54

Unless your name is LisaLisa and you have not established whether you were Ghosty's angel.