S/O people are good

[luckyval]

Tell me a random act of kindness someone did for you

Added bonus: you can also brag on yourself and tell me something you did for someone

[game blouses]

I went to a baby shower when DS was 5 months old, and one of the women from church asked if I was still breastfeeding. I said yes, though it had been difficult in the beginning. She said, "I'm so proud of you. You're doing a wonderful job with him." I barely knew this woman and yet it felt amazing for her to say that to me.

[meggers5]

At Easter I went to the US to go shopping with my parents. We were in duty free and I was checking out John Varvatos Artisan cologne, because BF smelled it once and I knew he loved it. It's expensive though, so I asked the woman if it came in a smaller size. It didn't, so I started to walk away. When we were about out of the store I hear "sweetie", turn around, and the woman I had asked gave me a box with 3 sample vials of each John Varvatos scent.

I was so damn happy. She went out of her way to get it for me and track me down. It put me in such an incredible mood and BF loved it.

Another is I was in Edinburgh, sitting on a windowsill with my sunglasses on, crying (won't say why, it was dumb). A 20 something guy sat down beside and asked so sincerely if I was ok. It's nice that people look out for each other.

[margotmacomber]

We had a lot of people pay for our meals when we were in uniform.  It was really awkward for me the first time it happened; I truly didn't know what to do with myself.  

[meggers5]

I'll brag on myself too. I was in a club in Edinburgh and as it was closing and we were about to leave there was a girl totally slumped over her chair pretty out of it. A few minutes later I saw that the bouncers had helped her out then pretty much left her in the street. I got up in the bouncers biz asking if he was just going to leave her semi passed out in the street. He said she was out of the club, so no longer his problem. I kind of yelled at him for a few minutes to tell him that it was the club's responsibility to make sure people got home ok and didn't leave disoriented girls alone on the street at 3am.

He didn't care, so I started talking to the girl and she was answering somewhat. I got a cab, put her in it, asked if she understood that I was sending her home in the cab. She got it and then started crying and thanking me for being so nice. She couldn't say where she lived though, so I went in her wallet, got her licence and confirmed with her it was the right address. Then I got out money and asked the driver if it would be enough.

She was understanding what was going on, so I figured she was ok in the cab. I was so damn mad for days about the bouncer just being willing to leave her in the street to be picked up by some creep.

Had she been passed out completely, I would have probably taken her home with me.

[snipsnsnails]

After Super Storm Sandy, friends of ours came over with chainsaws and started cleanup on the several downed trees we had b/c we were away house sitting and babysitting for friends, so we couldn't get over to our house. When they did as much as they could, they paid for the costly bill from the arborists to come and do the large bulk of the cleanup.

When we first moved to CT, we were a 1-car household and I was riding my bike to work/train station. Friends heard about this and said they had an extra car that they weren't using and we could use it throughout the cold weather since biking in snow would be tough. I went to pick it up and it was a brand new Honda Accord Hybrid with heated seats and satellite radio.

We have people to our home a lot for dinner. We cook for 10+ people at least once a week and allot part of our grocery budget for this. Right after I got let go from my job and was unsure what was going to happen with our strained budget, someone left 2 $100 gift cards on our foyer table for us to find.

When we were about to go visit my grandparents for them to meet Charlie for the 1st time, I shared that I was worried that my grandfather (her namesake) was in such poor health that he might pass before my daughter had a chance to meet him. Two days later, my friend showed up at my door with one of those recordable storybooks with the instruction to have my grandpa record his voice reading my kids a bedtime story.

I have a million more. We have an awesome community of friends.

[luckyval]

Jun 4, 2013 14:15:36 GMT -5 @scottydeux said:

Kind of cheesy, but needed at the time, a sassy Chicos-wearing mom-type picked up a penny in a parking lot, handed it to me, and said, 'Honey, an angel is watching over you.' Winked, smiled, and sashayed into the store, wafting mom perfume after her. It made me really miss my mom, and I kind of wanted to run after her and hug her.

This made me stupid grin

[Deleted]

We went out to dinner with Jake's brother and his then fiancee, to the North End to celebrate both of our engagements. I accidentally bumped into a man who was older and quite drunk -- but somberly so. We chatted on and off the entire meal. He told me about his kids and how they don't visit him, about his big empty house in Gloucester, etc. He just seemed really sad but seemed to enjoy the company, too. Well, when we were done we asked for the check and he had paid for it all -- it was a $200 dinner. We thanked him profusely, left to walk around, and I brought him back a cannoli and a hug.

I still remember his name. Christopher W. of Gloucester. He also sent over lemoncello shots but *shrugs* Mormons!

[luckyval]

I had an old regular who came into my restaurant every week and he had this kickass old-school metal coffee thermos. Because he was generally awesome, and gave us regular business, I'd always fill up his thermos for free, arguing that he found the loophole in our free refills policy

After weeks of admiring his thermos, he came in with another one he'd bought for me. It was really sweet

Also, H and I went to Red Robin when I was a million weeks pg and someone paid our tab

[dana2006]

This was at least 15 years ago, when I still lived in NYC. I was taking a bus to CT to visit a friend and, b/c I was running late, did not have time to get a snack or drink. After I settled into my seat, I looked around and saw this woman across the aisle who's just about to bite into a sandwich. She saw me looking at her and I must have looked hungry, b/c the next thing I knew, she was offering me the first bite of her sandwich! I was startled but also extremely grateful, since I was famished by that point. So I thanked her and broke off a piece. After munching on it for a bit, I started realizing how thirsty I was. And guess what? She took out an unopened bottle of juice and offered it to me! I was floored. She has stuck in my mind ever since.

[Deleted]

When we had our flood in January a ton of people from Church showed up without us even asking. They had heard we had a flood from our Bishop and just showed up and said 'how can we help?' We had only lived in the neighborhood since August and didn't know the people all that well but they showed up and stayed until it was all cleaned up. I cried a lot that night.

Another lady from church brought us over dinner for a week straight after I got my kidney stone surgery back in April. I tried to protest but it was completely useless because she brought it over anyway. I love her.

This is one I witnessed last year when I was flying from SLC to Detroit for Christmas. There was a soldier on our flight and when he got on this older gentleman in first class got up and insisted he switch seats with him. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen and made me so happy.

[Deleted]

lol ninjabridemom we were at an Italian restaurant last week and they waiter randomly brought us two shots of something (I couldn't tell what it was) after dinner. We were like...uh...thanks! I felt bad that we didn't drink them.

[luckyval]

Oh, and one listed in the op reminded me:

I was with Hart at Trader Joe's after a big day at the kids museum and he was starting to lose it in the check out line. The cashier saw a meltdown in the making and started humming a quiet tune and completely pacified my kid. It was surprising and cool

[open24hours]

I was 12 and visiting my grandmother in the hospital. She was very ill and it really freaked me out. At one point during the visit, I couldn't be in the hospital room and I bolted and ran to a visitor's lounge. In the two minutes before my dad checked on me, a woman who was not affiliated with the hospital brought me a blanket and a bottle of juice. It seems like such a small and insignificant thing, but it touched me deeply.

[Deleted]

Someone paid for my coffee at the Starbucks drive through. Seriously made my weekend.

[glitzyglow]

After I moved into my house, I moved the fridge to clean behind it and found an old WWII picture with a huge group of men. On the back were all their names, handwritten. A few of them had included their addresses. I asked the woman who I bought the house from if it was hers and she said it wasn't. I forgot about that picture for a few years. Suddenly one day, I remembered it and figured I should try and find someone to take it. It wasn't an urgent feeling, just like something I'd been putting off that I really should get done.

I googled every man who listed his address on the photo and only one out of twenty or so came back as possibly still living at that address (60+ years later, mind you). There was a phone number so I called and asked for him. His wife answered and said he was unavailable and asked how she could help. I told her I found an old WWII photo behind my fridge that he was in. I told her his address was on the back which is how I found him and I was wondering if they wanted me to send them the photo. She started to cry and told me her husband had died two weeks beforehand and that she would love to have the photo. I sent it to her and she sent me the most wonderful thank-you letter (and a check for the postage of me sending it plus some, lol, which I tore up. What a nice lady!).

I have no idea how that photo ended up three states away from them or which guy in the picture was the original picture owner, but I'm so glad to have gotten it to that specific family. I was more of a vessel for something bigger happening, I like to think.

[Deleted]

My car has a really crappy donut on it so my boss allowed me to borrow one of her cars until I get the tire fixed.

I do random acts of kindness pretty often. My most recent one was the other day at a water park I saw a woman by herself trying to hold the button on an outdoor shower down while holding on to a squirmy toddler and washing the toddler's hair. I held down the button for for so she could wash her kid's hair. She was so grateful for the help and I was happy that I could help.

[Deleted]

Our car got hit by a tree during Hurricane Sandy. Among other damage, the back windshield was completely knocked out.

When we came outside the next morning to see what had happened to our neighborhood/to make sure the car hadn't flooded (apparently we were worried about the wrong thing), someone had taken a garbage bag, draped it across the shattered windshield, and rigged it in place with two big branches from the tree so water wouldn't get into the car. It worked, for the most part, and probably prevented a lot of further damage. It was so nice that some random stranger in New York City took the time during the hurricane to do that for us. I wish there was a way to find them and thank them, but there really wasn't.

[luckyval]

Jun 4, 2013 14:36:20 GMT -5 glitzyglow said:

After I moved into my house, I moved the fridge to clean behind it and found an old WWII picture with a huge group of men. On the back were all their names, handwritten. A few of them had included their addresses. I asked the woman who I bought the house from if it was hers and she said it wasn't. I forgot about that picture for a few years. Suddenly one day, I remembered it and figured I should try and find someone to take it. It wasn't an urgent feeling, just like something I'd been putting off that I really should get done.

I googled every man who listed his address on the photo and only one out of twenty or so came back as possibly still living at that address (60+ years later, mind you). There was a phone number so I called and asked for him. His wife answered and said he was unavailable and asked how she could help. I told her I found an old WWII photo behind my fridge that he was in. I told her his address was on the back which is how I found him and I was wondering if they wanted me to send them the photo. She started to cry and told me her husband had died two weeks beforehand and that she would love to have the photo. I sent it to her and she sent me the most wonderful thank-you letter (and a check for the postage of me sending it plus some, lol, which I tore up. What a nice lady!).

I have no idea how that photo ended up three states away from them or which guy in the picture was the original picture owner, but I'm so glad to have gotten it to that specific family. I was more of a vessel for something bigger happening, I like to think.

Between all the struggling mom stories in the op and this story, my eye make up is completely gone

[FastHands]

Jun 4, 2013 14:15:36 GMT -5 @scottydeux said:

Kind of cheesy, but needed at the time, a sassy Chicos-wearing mom-type picked up a penny in a parking lot, handed it to me, and said, 'Honey, an angel is watching over you.' Winked, smiled, and sashayed into the store, wafting mom perfume after her. It made me really miss my mom, and I kind of wanted to run after her and hug her.

I'm sure she meant well, and it sounds like you appreciated where she was coming from, but this would TOTALLY have weirded me out. lol

[Deleted]

-in college, i'd just learned that my VERY first boyfriend was cheating on me (i'd dated before, but he was my first "boyfriend" boyfriend, and we'd been together about 2 years). i was distraught. i drove over to my BFF's house, but she was out. when her housemate (a guy) told me that, i burst into hysterical tears and he sat with me for TWO HOURS and ordered a pizza and tried to make me laugh. we watched billy madison. he didn't even ask what was wrong. i should've dated HIM for 2 years. ha.

-my friend came over when L was a new-newborn with a present (and also food). on her way out the door she gave me a big hug, looked me right in the eye and said "i do NOT, under any circumstances, want to receive a handwritten thank you note for this gift. do not." she somehow knew i was already adding it to my mental to do list.

-i watched my friend in high school buy a meal for a homeless man and then sit with him and chit-chat. the man cried and hugged my friend when it was over and said "no one looked me in the eye all day until you."

[curtains]

I was 17 and worked as a waitress and lived in a room for rent. I was broker than broke and then I got into a car accident. Ins paid for the car and medical but I couldn't work I was pretty banged up and broken and even needed plastic surgery.

Waitressing doesn't give you "sick pay" so I was really struggling.

I got a call from my boss while I was on leave recovering saying she had to drop something off for me. It was seriously an envelop full of cash. $500! That was a ton for a waitress back then (1990 or so). She said they took up a collection at the restaurant for me.

I will never forget how happy that whole thing made me... not just the money but that people could be so damn good and kind.

I always try to pay it forward every chance I get.

[Deleted]

Oh!!! I love this one. People are good to me.

I was quite pregnant, but still commuting, so it was before 30 weeks. The subway was really late, so it was *packed*. There was a little old woman who I was standing in front of. None of the other younger people offered me a seat, so she said very loudly "Would you like to sit down???" and started to stand, **while the train was moving**. I was like "NO nononono I'm okay, I'm not going to take YOUR seat, please sit!!" And we gabbed for a bit and as she was getting off the train she made sure I could have her seat and said "SOMEone should have given you their seat."

It was all quite funny and adorable and sweet.

And then something I did for someone else, sort of, was also when pregnant and on the train. I was standing and a woman offered me her seat. Then she made some glib comment about how men never offer anymore. A man next to her was like "Excuse me?" They were both foreign (she was Australian, I don't know where he was from but he also had an accent). They started faux-arguing then discussing the matter, all in front of me, and then started chatting about themselves. It ended up in a date. So who knows!! I could be in someone's wedding toast RIGHT NOW!

[BaliHai]

The first year I participated in an Alzheimer's walk in memory of my Grandmother was really difficult. The support from my family and friends was astounding, but what really got me was when an anonymous couple (John and Jane Smith were the names under the donation scroll) donated $1200 to my fundraising goal, out of the blue. I still think about them. I wish I could have found them to thank.

I've had several people pay my bridge toll on the way into PA from NJ, and I like to do the same for others.

Once upon a time, a guy I was friendly with invited me to a BBQ at his Uncle's house because he'd heard I needed to get out that night (but had no idea why). I married him four years later. He's really my inspiration to go the extra mile for strangers; doing things to make life/situations easier for other people, people he knows and doesn't know, is second nature to him.

[ginamcp]

When I was in college my car battery died and both of my roommates were gone for the holidays and I knew no one but had to get to work. I bummed a ride from a neighbor I barely knew so I wouldn't get fired for missing work. I went to Sears on my lunch hour and bought a battery. The dude helping me asked where my car was and if I needed to have the battery installed. I told him it was dead in my driveway and that I was planning on putting the battery in myself though I had no clue what I was doing or how I was even going to get myself, and my battery, home after my shift. He took pity on me and told me to come back at 4:00 pm and he would take me home and install the battery for me. So I let him (because I was desperate and naive and dumb) and he drove me home, put the battery in, wouldn't let me pay him, and left. I was so grateful and SO lucky that he didn't murder and dismember me.

[ijack]

When I was on bed rest with #1 my friends put together a meal train for me and brought me dinner in the hospital EVERY DAY. There were nesties that I had never met before who came to bring me a cupcake and just sit and chat. It was really sweet

[snickers]

The person in front of me paid for my tea at the Tim Horton s drive thru yesterday!

[Deleted]

When I had my second baby, choir members from my church brought us meals.

When we moved, our first child was 6 months old. Several church members came and helped us. The women came to the new house and helped me clean while the men loaded the truck. It was so amazing.

[mbcdefg]

I went to a concert when I was 17 with an old friend and a newish friend. The newish friend was nice enough, I guess, but she was really loud and obnoxious on the train ride there and I was sort of embarrassed by her. Plus she started rolling a joint on the train, and then later in the bathroom at the concert venue, and I freaked out (I was a real goody two-shoes) and immediately regretted inviting her.

The concert let out and there was a young girl, probably 14. She was wearing one of those shirts that had no back and just laced up with strings, and all of the strings had broken and she didn't even have a bra or cups or anything covering her boobs. So she was walking around on the street in NYC and crying and holding the shirt up to her chest. Newish Friend immediately took off her jacket and told the girl to put it on and keep it.

[dottyblue]

When DS was born the women at my church brought us food. And not just one night's dinner. They brought us enough food to feed 4-6 people PLUS a different dish (again for 4-6 people) to keep in the freezer. And this went on every couple of days for three weeks. I literally ran out of room in my freezer for the extra food. We didn't need to cook for over a month. It was amazingly generous.