People Share Unforgettable Moments of Kindness from Strangers

Knight in Shining Armor

I worked in the computer lab at college, and there was a guy who had a crush on me. He was a total creep, however, and his crush was more like “stalking”.

He found out the hours I was working, and would always show up about thirty minutes before closing time. He’d pick up his computer, and sneak stare at me. It made me wildly uncomfortable.

One night right after he started this routine I announced closing time, and people got up to leave. He did not. He came over to the front of the room, leering and hanging over me, asking me if I had plans for that evening. I said I did. Then he’d ask about other evenings, and I murmured I was busy. I said it was time to leave again, but he just wouldn’t get the hint.

Another guy who I knew casually in the lab was packing his stuff up when he witnessed this. He came up and said loudly, “Hey honey, are you ready to go? We’ve got to get over to so-and-so’s house.” I made eye contact with him and said, “Yes!”

This casual contact guy was no hottie, not someone I’d ever noticed much, but I was happy to be his “date” for the night! He escorted me to my car and asked me if that happened much. I told him this guy had been creeping on me for a while, and my new male friend made sure to come into the computer lab every night I worked, and when I was done, he’d walk me to my car and say good night. He did this for the whole semester. We’re still friends, 15 years later.

The creep guy later hacked my school account and sent me offensive and threatening emails. I had to eventually report him to school authorities who threatened him with expulsion from college if he didn’t stop. He did. Thankfully it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten even his name.

The Water Angel

I was out hiking with my dad on Mt Hood during the summer, and we had picked a particularly hard trail, and though bringing two big water bottles had finished them before reaching the end. I was mentioning to my dad that I was really thirsty and this lady heard me and offered me some of her water as she had like 3 bottles strapped to her belt. I drank it down and later realized that I was probably on the way to heat exhaustion and dehydration. Thanks, random hiker lady for the drink of water! I shall pay it forward.

Grace and Kindness

My husband and I have gone through some tough times together, and four years ago we were at the lowest we’d ever been. When the housing bubble burst and the recession hit hard, we had to give up the house we had worked so hard to buy. It was our pride and joy and we were devastated so we decided to move to a new city and start fresh.

By the time Christmas came, we had been in our new place for just under a year and we were still struggling. I was an emotional mess, was only working part-time, and had taken fewer and fewer clients in my small consulting business. I had saved up enough money to buy a nice Christmas dinner for us plus some other groceries for the week, and that was a huge deal since we’d taken to visiting the food pantry when we had no other choice. So we shopped carefully to stay within our budget and when we got to the register, our card was declined. I’d done the math wrong and tried putting a few items back but the card would just not work (I found out later that we were charged erroneous fees and our account was negative). All of the groceries I had so carefully planned out had to be put back and I had no idea what we were going to do for food. I tried hard not to cry but I had just had enough. We started to leave, embarrassed and broken-hearted and we must have looked pathetic. The woman behind us in line spoke up and said “Where are you two going? Your groceries are all right here!” I told her there was a mix-up with our accounts and she saw right through it. She said, “No – I don’t think so – it works just fine.” And just like that she paid for our groceries with her own credit card. Even my husband cried. We hugged her and she said “Stand up straight – we’ve all been there. Just remember to do the same for someone else whenever you’re able.”

I’ve always tried to give a little extra here and there, like buying a meal or two at the grocery store to be donated to needy families during the holidays but this changed me. The effects reached far deeper than just dinner that night. I learned first-hand how an act of kindness can change someone’s perception of the world when all they’ve known for so long is losing in a hard-fought battle of life.

THANK YOU SHANNON, WHEREVER YOU ARE!

A Little Bit of Home

I can only think of today’s, I work at a local family-owned hardware store. One of my regular customers bought a bunch of Fannie May chocolates as it’s Valentine’s tomorrow. I helped him get the best deal, pointed out the buy 1 get 1 free etc. He asked me what my favorites were because he was tired of choosing and women know chocolate. I’m a Seattle native and told him I loved the mint meltaways because they reminded me of home.

Been a sh*t weekend, my parents have COVID and my mom ( vaxxed and boosted) was doing REALLY bad, with a couple of trips to the ER. So not much sleep and lots of worries.

Took my guy up to the cashier and went back to see who to help next. Next thing I know he was giving me a box of my faves because “everybody needs a little home sometimes” he had no idea how f*cked up my weekend was. I was so touched, I had to go take a break to cry. It was such a sweet, sweet, gesture that I REALLY needed it.

The Milk Must Flow

I went home after picking up my baby and everything was fine till he got hungry. I went to the cupboard to get his formula and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I called my roommate and asked if she had seen it and apparently she had spilled it so she threw the whole thing away. She just never bothered to call me to tell me even though I walked passed the store on the way home and stopped in before my babysitter brought him home.

So here I was in the store buying formula with a screaming infant because he was hungry. Of course, it was a busy time and I was in a huge line. The lady in front of me turned and asked if everything was okay. I stammered out the issue and she just turned around. The next thing I know the huge line in front of me just parted like the red sea and I got pushed to the front of the line. I was being pushed by the first lady and she smiled at me and said go get that baby fed. It meant so much to me as a first-time mom who was embarrassed at the moment and terrible for my kid who was starving. Wish more people were like this.