People Share Unforgettable Moments of Kindness from Strangers

“Do You Need Help”

Generally, I’m extremely outgoing and can talk with strangers easily; however, the moment I noticed this fellow approaching, an overwhelming sense of fear washed over me and my brain kept telling me to get out of there fast. My naive 14-year-old self decided to stay where I was, thinking: “There’s no way in h*ll anything bad could happen to me since I’m obviously invincible to the world. Bad sh*t only happens in the news. Don’t judge a book by its cover, aphrodite_whities! He’s probably a lovely guy.”

He approached and asked me if I had any cigarettes. I said no and that I didn’t smoke when he suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand. He stood there shaking my hand saying how he was just dying for a cigarette, increasing his death grip every time I tried to pull my hand away. He kept closing the distance between us while strangling my hand and eventually he had me backed into a corner, all the while he keeps fiddling around with something in his pocket (I don’t know what it was; he never took that hand out of his pocket the entire time). He kept saying how he wasn’t even there to see a movie, just wanted some cigarettes. He was insistent that we go get cigarettes and kept trying to steer me towards the side door.

I was so scared that I was probably on the brink of pissing myself. I looked to see if anyone was around, only to notice my two friends standing outside the bathroom door — not doing anything while this man was forcing his body onto mine in a public place. They were the only people around and they were just standing there. Understandably, they later said they were confused as to what was happening and didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, a movie lets out right in front of where the man has me trapped.

Every single person passed by without so much as a second glance. Sh*t, I thought, I’m gonna get kidnapped. This man wouldn’t take his eyes off of mine for a second and pushed his chest against mine every time I looked around for help. I was too afraid to yell.

Suddenly, a group of three guys (probably only around 15 or 16 years old) came straggling out of the theatre. They didn’t notice me at first, but just as they were rounding the corner out of the lobby, one of them turned around and stared at me oddly. He mouthed “do you need help?”, and I nodded as discreetly as I could.

The guy came running up and threw his arm around my shoulders, saying things along the lines of “thanks for waiting, babe. Are you ready to go? That was a great movie, huh? I’m glad we went in the end. Who’s this guy?!” The man instantly lets go of my hand, keeping his other hand in his pocket, and backs away quickly, mumbling how he just wanted a cigarette, and then he ran out of the emergency exit at the back of the lobby.

My guy escorted me outside, and I was in such a state of shock that I think I just hugged him and ran away to my mom who had been waiting in the parking lot. I had been so sure that no one was going to help me, not even my friends, and in such a moment of panic, I was really not thinking straight enough to follow the steps I should have (i.e. yell for help).

Ever since I’ve made an effort to make sure I’m aware of my surroundings just in case someone needs help but can’t ask. Haven’t “saved” anyone yet, but only time will tell! The extent of my “paying it forward” is saving girls from bad situations at the bar, nothing heroic yet, but hopefully, I’ll be able to help someone out when they really need it.

aphrodite_whities

Remembering Mom

About 10 years after my mom passed, it was around Mother’s Day and everyone was posting pictures of their mothers on Facebook. As my mom passed before cell phone pics were really a thing, I didn’t have any on my phone and I posted on FB that I was sad that I didn’t have any photos of my mom to post. I don’t know why I didn’t think to take a picture of a picture but, regardless, both my aunt and former neighbor had posted pictures of my mom.

Fast forward about a week or so, and an older gentleman, Neil, who would deliver products to my office every week came up to my desk and said he wanted me to have something. When I looked, he had taken one of the photos of my mom that was posted to FB and made a beautiful magnet. I started crying right there and then because it was just so thoughtful of him and such a surprise.

Ten years after that incident and I’m crying again as I’m typing this. Unfortunately, Neil got sick and also has passed, but I still have that magnet of my mom, it’s hanging on my refrigerator, and I think of him and his kindness every time I look at it.

The Unexpected Hero

I was at the grocery store with my two daughters, who were 6 months and 3 years old. I was trying to buy about $20 worth of staples, and my card was declined due to insufficient funds. I didn’t have any other forms of payment, and I was trying not to cry while figuring out what I could put back so that I could cover the cost while still getting what I needed to feed us until the next payday when the lady behind me in line offered to pay them for the whole thing.

I think about that a lot. I hope I get the chance someday to help someone the way she helped me. I’m very grateful.

SuperSpeshBaby

A Classy Stranger

I was having a pretty lousy day in New York City when I was visiting some friends. It was gloomy and cold, but also I was sad about something unrelated. I decided to go down to my favorite coffee shop in the lower Eastside. One of their specialties is the Olive oil cake loaf. I had never had one from them, so I decided that that would be the day I would. But when I got there, I ordered my latte and the loaf but unfortunately, they were out.

I stepped outside, drinking my coffee, and just being glum when I see a lady – this lady is wearing a forest green fur coat, a matching pillbox hat with gold buttons on it and donning a Marlo Thomas silver hairdo. Very stereotypical, older, pretty sophisticated, New York, woman stereotype. I struck up a conversation with her because she was eating one of the loaves. She mentioned how delicious it was and I told her that I would be coming back tomorrow to finally try it. She reached into her Hermès bag (again, stereotypically sophisticated) and took out another loaf. She had bought the last two, one for a friend who seemed to have stood her up. She said that I would love it and to cheer up and enjoy the city and that everything would be OK. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that woman as long as I live.

Three Lost Foreigners

I was an exchange student in Japan. My friends and I were visiting Kobe for the weekend. Of the three of us, I spoke the most Japanese, but even that was intermediate-level at the very best.

Predictably, we got lost. It was late and cold and we had nowhere to stay (hadn’t booked a room or anything). We were passing a karaoke place. It’s pretty common for someone to be standing outside of these places yelling about deals and shoving flyers at you. We were so desperate at this point that I asked the guy for help finding a place to stay. He tried to describe a place but even though I could understand most of what he said, we didn’t have a map, smartphones or know any street names, so his directions were useless.

The guy paused, looked around and then started running, waving for us to follow. He personally led three foreigners who had no intention of spending money at his karaoke place through the streets at night, apparently at great risk to himself because he seemed absolutely panicked about getting back to his job quickly – even though he took us right to the door of a place where we could stay. We collected every yen we had and shoved it at the guy, but he threw up his hands, seemed aghast and wouldn’t accept a dime (figuratively speaking).

I encountered some racist sh*t in Japan, but this guy made up for all of it.

reddituser

The Wet and the Kind

I was 15 and I owned a moped. It was late and raining and this car did not see me as it turned left across my lane. I was t-boned going about 30mph. The car hit me right in my left thigh and my upper body hit and rebounded off of the hood, I flew maybe 20 feet before hitting the pavement. My left thigh snapped in two when the car hit me. I’m laying on the ground screaming for help when this guy comes up and kneels down with a knee on either side of my head so I can’t move it around. He does his best to keep me calm and keep the rain off of me until the EMS guys show up and put me in traction and take me to the hospital. During that time the guy is asking me my name and address, making sure I’m coherent. After they took me away he drove to my parent’s house and informed them that I was in an accident and mostly okay and that they should go to the hospital to see me. He wanted to make sure they got there as soon as possible and thought it would be less jarring than the police showing up at their door. I never got a chance to thank him either but I think about him and his kindness from time to time. I hope one day I can do something similar for someone in distress.

Good Karma

I was buying Mcdonald’s breakfast for all the guys at work and somehow miscalculated when I was collecting everyone’s money and orders. Anyways I came up like 5 dollars short and an old guy that saw what was happening paid the rest for me and said “someday, someone will need you to help them out too.” So now anytime I can help someone out I do it in hopes that all the good karma makes its way back to that guy.

The Power of Four Paws

it was a dark, cold and damp Thursday night when I was taking a walk in my suburban neighborhood when I was 13 years old. I often go for walks, especially during the night because it feels refreshing and I like not being able to be seen by people when I walk. Anyways, a dark truck pulls up to me and the man rolls down the window, inside is a middle-aged man who made eye contact with me before saying anything. He proceeded to ask me “how are the kids?” Not knowing what to do, I thought it must have been someone who lived near me and recognized me, so I tried to be friendly and responded “haha I’m only 13.” He then said, “for a dirty mex, I thought you’d have 5 by now.” I was shocked, partly because of this crude remark by some middle-aged white guy in a truck and partly because I’m Chinese, not Mexican. I guess during the night he couldn’t see me clearly enough. Anyways, I felt the situation was getting pretty sketchy so I started to walk forward. I wanted to cross a street when I noticed that this man was going to follow me. As I tried to cross the street, he sped up and pulled over to block my way. This was when I realized he was up to no good. His headlights were blaring perpendicular to where I was while I was in the complete dark. Out of nowhere, two neighborhood dogs come running towards me. They were two huge half-huskies. I recognized them as my neighbor’s dogs that he would often let run around his yard and around the neighborhood without a leash. I had always thought that to be dangerous for the dogs in the case of cars, but they never got hit or into any harm. They came dashing towards me barking so loudly that not an ear in the entire street could have ignored them. That’s when the driver pressed his gas pedal full force and tried to get out of there. He thought that the dogs meant that there must have been an owner with them coming to check up on me. However, little did he know that it was just the two neighborhood dogs coming towards me themselves without my neighbor. They had perhaps saved me from being kidnapped or injured by this strange man in his truck. To this day, (I’m 16 now) I am super grateful for both of those dogs being there. I try to return the favor by playing with them when our neighbor is busy and keeping them company with treats and dog toys.

Good Samaritan or Guardian Angel?

I was a teacher for 30 years. It was nearing the end of summer, and my car needed repair. $645. I told the garage that I could only do some of the repairs. I called and asked my daughter to come and drive me to the bank to transfer the funds. I went back to the mechanic’s desk, asking the exact amount of the repairs they were doing.

The guy at the desk told me the full amount. I was horrified. I simply did not have it. That’s when a guy in the waiting room, with whom I had been chatting, told me that the entire bill had been covered, By him. I still to this day believe that he may have been an angel in disguise. There was no reason for him to give over 600 to me, a stranger. Where ever he is now, may God keep blessing him.

A Narrow Escape

I was 15 years old (male by the way) waiting at a bus stop. This old guy starts chatting with me innocently enough, then the conversation turns and he asks me if I want to come back to his place for a beer. That is when I knew things were not so cool. I went to leave the bus shelter but he stood at the entrance, so I kept back as I didn’t want to get into his reach.

A young woman in her early 20s was walking by and from the look in my eye she probably saw something was up and pushed the guy aside, grabbed my hand and said, “there you are, we thought you were at the other bus stop, c’mon Mom and Dad are just parked over there”.

She walked me out of the bus stop and back to the restaurant I worked at. That is when I started shaking and freaking out realizing what I just escaped. We called the cops and they were there in minutes.

Some of the cops stayed with me and about 10 minutes later another cop came in to let me know they caught the guy. They said that He was known to the police as a predator but they could not arrest him because he never actually touched me. They did say that they roughed him up so much that he would never be coming back out to our small town and alerted his parole officer of what happened.

After that incident, it had a dramatic effect on my life. Obviously, I check a little more often to keep myself safe, but at the same time, I also keep an eye out for others and will always intervene to make sure everything is okay.

Teased and Terrified

I was 18 and at a pool party in a foreign country with my two best friends. My friends and I had a system when it came to these parties where one of us would stay sober to watch the other two and make sure that nothing bad happened to them, and that night was my night to be sober. I was sitting off to the side of the pool with everyone’s purses and watching my friends dance, watching their drinks, etc.

While there, I got the attention of a Brazilian man. He sat next to me and our conversation began innocently enough, but eventually, he ended up pinning me to my chair with one arm and asking for a kiss. I kept saying no and trying to flag down my friends, but they were too busy being drunk and having fun. He began kissing me and biting my neck while forcibly holding me down in my chair and each time I said no, he said, “Why do you resist?” I was terrified, I thought it was a matter of seconds before getting dragged off into the bushes.

A guy saw us, passed by, and then walked around again. He probably saw the terror in my eyes and waltzed up saying, “I hate to bother you, but the lady promised me a dance.” The guy scurried off and told everyone at the party I was a tease before following me around and moping the rest of the night. My friends thought (and still think) it was hilarious and to this day will tease me by saying I’m a tease. Even when I told them the story, they simply laugh and ask me questions I’ll say no to and respond with, “Why do you resist?” I’m happy that at least there was someone there to save me.

My savior was going to a UC school (I think San Diego) at the time, so if you’re reading this and recognize the situation, thank you so so much. I always scan bars and parties for girls who are in that situation with every intention of saving them.

When Life Gives You New Tires

My truck was requested by neighbors. I told them I couldn’t rely on my truck because the tires were worn out. Mr. Neighbor called the next day to say he was getting new tires for his suburban and that I could have his old ones. They told me to just show up at this particular tire shop and they would put them on. I went to the tire shop and they put on brand-new Goodyear tires. I inquired about the status of the old tires I was supposed to receive. The shop owner claimed that the “old tires” were just a ruse to get me into the shop. Instead of the old tires, he said I could have, Mr. Neighbor bought me a full set of new tires.

Best Birthday Gift

It was my junior year of college and the last year that I would be a triple major. I had a summer gig at my favorite cafe spot and both the restaurant manager and Cafe manager knew that I was starting production for my theater degree before classes even began.

I had just moved into a new apartment and told them how stressed I was that I wouldn’t have time to unpack my stuff before getting tossed into the swing of a new semester.

A week or so later it was a Saturday night, my birthday actually, and I was just running into my place to change or something when I noticed that everything in my room was unpacked. Everything was put away. It was put away in a way that made sense. It was just all taken care of. With a little note from those two wonderful rascals at my summer job.

Those guys snuck into my apartment and unpacked my boxes for me while I was running around between work and the show and class. It meant the freaking world to me that they’d do all that for me… starting with figuring out where I live.

Holy sh*t. Still love them for it.

A Stranger’s Compassion

I was 17 (5’7 105lb, blonde girl) in the downtown area of Atlanta at night when I ran out of gas, my fuel pump sensor was broken so I didn’t get the little low fuel light on my dash. I pulled right over into a sketchy-looking gas station, the type where the attendant is behind a thick shield of plexiglass and cameras everywhere, and attempted to open the door to my gas tank using a lever on the floor of my car. Turns out the cable connecting the lever to the door was disconnected so I couldn’t get it open. And my cellphone was dead. It was clearly not my day. I went to the gas station and asked the attendant if I could borrow a phone. He told me no because for safety reasons I can’t come behind the counter which I understood because this was a bad side of town. I had been begging him to let me borrow a phone when a group of scary-looking dudes walked in and he turned his attention from me to them. I quickly walked outside. Luckily, I keep a small roadside kit and tool set in my car for emergencies (thanks dad!) and pulled out a flathead screwdriver to try and pry the door open. At this point, I am visibly shaken up. Then I hear the door of the gas station and turn to see this big scary guy walking over to me. I froze on the spot. He took off his hat and said, “Ma’am are you having car trouble? Do you need to call someone?” from his pocket, he pulls a phone and handed it to me. He carefully took the tool from my hand and asked if I wanted him to give it a shot, I was speechless so I just nodded. While I am dialling he asks, “What’s a girl like you doing out here on her own? This is a bad area, you need to be more careful.” I explained that I had been at work and was driving this way to get on the interstate. My dad picks up and I tell him what happened, he starts asking where I am and I really wasn’t sure. The guy asks to speak to my dad so I hand him the phone and he says, “Sir, I got your daughter here at (gas station name) on (name of the road) off exit ___. She’s just fine but I wanted to ask if you’ll be alright with me removing the door over her gas tank so she can fill it up. Alright then, I’ll stay here with her til you get here.” The home was about 45 minutes away but he stayed with me the whole time. When my dad got there and thanked the man and he just held up his hands and said, “It wasn’t any trouble. I would just hope that if my daughter was ever in a similar situation that someone would be so kind to look out for her.” And he left.

A Heartfelt Thank You

My father got admitted to the ICU. I was there along with my mom. It was the first time in my life that I was facing anything this serious. I made my mom sit in the waiting room and came back to stand beside the door to the ICU. My brain had just completely stopped functioning and my heart had taken over. It was crumbling down, and I remember holding on to a wall to make myself steady. There was a lady guard outside the ICU, who had noticed everything and started talking to me. She reaffirmed that nothing bad would happen, and asked me about myself. By then, my relatives had arrived, and they were all consoling my mom. No one even bothered to check how I was doing. The doctor came and told us to go to the room, and that he would call in case of anything. While leaving, the lady just shouted at my relatives ” Take care of the child too.” She didn’t have to do that. But it was the kindest thing that I’ll never forget. It remains to date one of my saddest memories, but even in that, she stands out like a silver lining.

Stranger Savior!

I used the drive-up ATM at my bank, got my cash and drive off. The car behind me pulled up to the machine, paused, but didn’t stay there and followed me.

He followed for a few minutes. At a stoplight, he walked up to my car and handed my bank card back.

Bro could have cleaned out my account since the card was still in the machine waiting for the next instruction.

No clue who he was. I barely understood what happened then he was gone.

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.