Random Acts of Kindness

[Earlybird]

I was in Starbucks this morning and when it was my turn to pay, was told that a woman had paid for drinks for everyone in the queue.

That gesture of generosity made me think about those rare moments in life when total strangers do something kind just for the sake of it.

On occasion, I will put change in parking meters...and, while I do it to help those who are about to get a ticket, must admit it's also to aggravate the parking wardens who are too zealous in performing their duties, IMO...

As the holiday season approaches, I am aware of how fortunate I am, and how much I take for granted. I could easily be kinder to others, if I consciously made the effort, and if I did, perhaps it would improve my karma , or simply be satisfying to know that my actions had made a small difference for someone.

Have you ever been the recipient of a random act of kindness? Have you ever spontaneously done something kind for someone?

awww how lovely!!
I do always try to be kind to others as much as I can. Its that warm fuzzy feeling you get afterwards- better than money can buy!!
I give people my car park ticket if there's time left on it. I give tramps food- they are always so polite and grateful.And I just won on a raffle 5 expensive toys and donated them, as my kids have enough coming this xmas.
I love goodwill - makes the world a better place!

Just given this months Child Tax Credit-£300 to Hospice who helped girlfriend who recently died,then I burst into tears.
I dont give beggars money,they are given food instead.

I did the accident thing once, I got in a car with a lady whose car had been hit by a drunk driver and sat with her whilst they cut her out (that was scary)- the odd thing was, no idea how I got in but they had to cut me out too! PMSL!

I had jumped out of the car (a friend came to get me, we were in the traffic snarl up behind) and thrown my high heeled shoes to the wind- some bugger nicked them!

One of the best acts of kindness you can make is to get a first qualification IME, you never know what difference it can make! A friend of mine has a medal for resuscitating someone whose car crashed outside his house- wow, how special is that?

One MN'er - who shall remain nameless - unexpectedly sent me a card with £10 in it a few months back when we were really struggling - another also sent me £10 (which I knew about before it arrived - she would't take no for an answer LOL), another sent me a small parcel with children's toys I could use as presents when DS1 was invited to the birthday party of triplets, and another - NonDePlume not only sent me a copy of Dora the Explorer for DS2 but also another DVD for DS1

a woman in the supermarket car park took my trolley back to the trolley stand with hers because she was passing

it was so minor, but meant so much

This morning I was in a taxi and the bill came to 23 reais (local currency) I gave the driver a 50 note but he had no change whatsoever so he told me it was OK not to pay and happy christmas! Once when I was touring Europe on a motor bike and camping in the pouring rain the guy who ran the campsite told us the weather was too bad to camp and invited us to stay in his chalet complete with basket of food and drink and a roaring log fire. But the most embarrasing was on my way to an interview once when a total stranger ran up and gave me a bouquet of flowers! I took them to the interview with me which must have looked quite odd - but I got the job!

Iwas thinking about this and what Christmas should really be about the other day because of an old woman who started talking to me ias I walked along the street with ds. She asked what age ds was as she had just bought exactly the same jacket that he was wearing recently in about the same size. I waffled back a bit , thinking she was just maybe a bit lonely and was going to tell me all about the grandchild she had bought the jacket for.
I was really suprised when she said "I bought it for a child in a women's refuge , I thought that it would be much more useful than toys " She then turned down a different street and said goodbye. I was so touched by her kindness , I had been feeling quite fed up and she made my day.
This is a lovely thread

I got caught out by a freak thunderstorm when DD1 was little(er). I had just got her out of the car and was busy trying to wrap my coat (which had been in the car anyway) around both of us.
A man walked up and invited us under his brolly, then proceeded to walk us to the shops which were in the opposite direction of where he was going .

The other day, a lady turned up with xH's rucksack. He'd left it on the bus and it had all of his cheque books and CEMAP certs in it (still under my address). She'd got off several stops prior to her own and walked some distance from that stop to drop the bag off with me!

I lost my purse in a supermarket recently and just as I was making my way to customer services to report it missing, an elderly couple appeared. The had found it in the bananas! All cash, cashpoint and credit cards were still there

I don't think I've been involved in some 'great' act of kindnesss TBH. Usually give someone the right change for parking rather than swapping coins, or help the person in front of me in a queue if they're caught short when purchasing something.

The thing that often changes my day though, is when a complete stranger bothers to make eye contact and smile! I don't know why, it's a small but priceless gesture IMO

I dont do much but try to do little things, like giving people parking meter money if they ask me to change up, or handing over an underused parking ticket (i gather its not legal though.....)

A couple of weeks back i saw a young guy trying to help his mate who was having a nose bleed in a car park and handed them a bunch of wet wipes.

I get bread or whatever else for (and sometimes treat her to a tub of icecream ) my neighbour, a little old lady whose health is failing now.

Have had lots of strangers helping me with buggies, giving DD balloons, or letting me jump queues if DD is being a typical 2 year old.

Here's one for the list - someone's been generous in Birmingham!

Parking Santa

a friend of mine went on his first date with this girl. they had a picnic in a park in london. had a lovely time. they had pretty much all of a baguette and a most of bottle of champagne left. my friend gave both to a homeless woman who was sitting on the pavement where they walked past.
plus another friend was waiting for the bus and this quite young homeless guy was sitting by the busstop, obviously crying. she felt sorry for him and gave him a hug and talked to him. he had a harmonica in his pocket and taught her to play a simple song. it made me cry when she told me this. most people would have awkwardly ignored it, i'm sure.

i took my mum to new york for her 60th birthday, just for the weekend, just after 9/11

whilst having dinner on the saturday night, in soho, we were sitting on the patio under the stars and started chatting to the couple in the next table - they were from New Jersey

they left about 30 minutes before we did, and when we came to ask for the bill, the waiter told us that the couple who we had been chatting to had paid for it all (and it would have been at least $100)

we had no way to thank them, no way to contact them, and didn't even know their names

this one incident influenced my mum's view of all things american, and i think now she is their biggest patriot and tells everyone how generous and lovely they are

I came off the dual carriage way on the way home one day, and slowed down at the give way, and noticed a car had broken down, and the girl in the car was crying, I pulled over and found that her battery on her mobile had gone flat, so I let her use mine, then insisted that I run her home rather than wait at the car. It took an hour out of my day, but she did 1471 when she got home and called me that evening to thank me, , the problem being I hadn't told DP, and he was a little worried that I had given a lift to a stranger, would do the same thing again though.

When our town was flooded (one of the major ones) in 2000 we were sitting in the pub watching the local scenes on the tv feeling thankful we weren't flooded.

Then we went to the Town Hall and offered our 2 spare rooms to those who were camping out there. We got 2 young brothers who had left their new flat with the water lapping in their front room and they had no insurance.

We felt good about it but I feel bad that it was 5 years ago and I can't think of anything since then

I went to Argos to but a small bookcase last year. Had DD with me. When it came out it was a bit bigger than i had realised but I could just manage it in the pushchair with DD walking. But a lovely man - dad of twins girls DD;s age he told me - took it off me and insisted on carrying it to my car - completely wrong direction for him and a good 5/10 minute walk each way. But he insisted and was so lovely. Made me day it did

When I was little my mum used to take me to an old people's home once a week and sit and chat with the men there. She had a friend who worked there who said that some of the men (it was for retired clergy) didn't have any relatives. She said some of them loved having a toddler around to fuss over (and her nattering on too I'm sure).

She did it for months but found it hard when her favourites died.

I've always thought that was a rather fab thing to do.

Oh - and BIL/SIl went for a meal in London to TGI Fridays. SIL fell ill and couldn't even manage to start her meal, so they asked for it to be boxed up. They left the restaurant and gave the boxed, warm meal to a homeless lad sat round the corner.

i've paid the bus fare for people who've only had notes.

DD1 insists on giving choccy bars to the big issue seller

recieving end hmmmmmm
when i first joined mumsnet someone sent me a cosytoe free of charge

A woman who I say hello to, cos I always see her when on my way home from the morning school run, gave me two presents for the DTs on Tuesday

When dh and I went on honeymoon, the boyfriend of a collegue arranged a fab upgrade for us on the flight to Malaysia and in the hotel, where he was a regular visitor.
When we came to check out he had paid £100 to be taken off our bill. Although I had met him a few times through work, I didn't know him very well, and was stunned (and delighted!) by his generosity.
I have never done a good turn of that magnitude, but I try to be polite and courteous. I have recently been a parking disk good fairy twice, as for some reason I carry them around in my handbag.

A lady in front of me in a que in Gateways didn't have enough money... I pretended she had dropped some and picked up the pretend money and gave it to her telling her "you just dropped this"..
You do a good turn.. you get a good turn.. or what ever the saying is...

How do you spell que (durrr)

queue

cheers... I'll try to remember that...
I knew it was wrong.. but couldn't for the life of me remember how to spell it
que
quew
quoo
queue