Random Acts of Kindness

islandhoppa

I will never forget a random act of kindness / honesty from a complete stranger. It was several years ago when I was not very well off at all and was on my own with a small child working part time and basically living hand to mouth. On my weekly payday I went to the supermarket, withdrew all my money (£110) and went in to do my shopping. The money was earmarked to pay for the weekly shop, put petrol in the car so I could get to work, and pay my gas and electric for the week. After going round the supermarket, I arrived at the checkout and opened my purse to find it empty! I realised that I had stupidly left the cash in the machine, having lots on my mind and not thinking straight.

I ran to the cashpoint but obviously there was no money in it. I was in floods of tears panicking about how I would manage, then a lady from customer services came over to ask what the matter was. When I explained, she handed me an envelope with all my money in, a lady had found it and handed it in. I couldn't believe how lucky I had been, the lady had left her phone number and I rang her to explain what it meant to me and how grateful I had been for her honesty, but she really didn't feel she had done anything special.

In a changing room lately I found a pair of very expensive looking sunglasses, of course I handed them straight in to the staff at the till.

FizzWhizz

I won't waffle too much but the week we were getting married, we were all staying in Edinburgh and my sister (who lives there) had offered to look after 4 of our 5 kids on top of her own two. They'd boarded the bus to join us in town when she realised that my step daughter's suitcase had been left at the bus stop.

Brother in law got off the bus, boarded another bus to go back but by the time he arrived it was gone.

Two days later, a notice appeared at the bus stop. A lady had been driving to work, saw the suitcase unattended and stopped to pick it up. She delivered it back to my sister's front door the following day.

Really restored my faith in people!

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi great thread. This is something I really believe in. Some days people nearly knock the good spirit out of me but I refuse to let my good soul get driven out by mean rude people. I give compliments (obviously I mean them) you can really lift someone by saying something nice and it costs nothing! My husband owned up to scratching someone's car and it cost us £200. "Why" some people asked, because we would want the same honesty! I also handed £20 in I found in Tesco car park then after a month claimed it and gave it to charity why because it wasn't mine to keep

trolleyrun

A while ago, I was in the supermarket - in my own little world. A lady I've never seen before complimented me on my skirt. Made me smile, and I still think about it every so often

When the winter gets harsh and with snow, I check on my elderly neighbours, just in case they need shopping done and that they're keeping warm enough.

kboss2010

I always stick parking tickets with time left on them on the pay and display machines. I did that the other day when I popped into the drs and as I was starting my car, I watched a guy in a 4x4 go to pay for a ticket and he saw mine. He checked it for a good 30 seconds, looked confused, looked around to see if anyone was watching and then snatched it and disappeared back to his car! Lol. Apparently he seemed to not believe someone had left it as a freebie!

I also never ask people for petrol money when giving lifts. At uni I was given so many free lifts by people when I didn't have a car that I feel wrong to ever ask for or take money now. The ladies at my dance class always ask every week when I drop them off no matter how many times I say that I just assume I'm taking them all home anyway. I would never make them walk but they seem surprised that I offer at all!

One thing I don't do is give money to the "homeless" sitting on the street. I've seen my mother do it too many times only to be given a sob story then months later the same person returns to the same spot (usually around Xmas) telling someone else a different story. Food, yes, cash, no. Although I've also seen the homeless just ask people for the cash when offered a choice of food when it's cold outside on more than one occasion. Most homeless charities discourage giving anything but food/blankets anyway.

zaxdog

I work in a sandwich shop in a small coastal town. Last week a very polite chap came in looking for work. He was lovely and as neat as he could be considering he is homeless. Didn't have any work for him so I gave him a few sandwiches and six brownies (told him they wouldn't last until the next day to save his pride). Glad I did when the temperature dropped and a neighbour told me he is living in a cave in the country estate near our house poor soul.

Whenever we get a new neighbour I always cut a bag of firewood and leave it for them.

Just always thought of stuff like that as what you do and not a big deal

Pink.

I've added this to our existing thread on the same subject.

Pink

Westywoodpecker

This week we dropped off DS for his final yr at Uni & did a shop for him at the local Sainsbob.

I saw a large tub of fresh berries in the reduced section but without a reduced price on. After asking an assistant, they were reduced from £3.50 to £2.50 but I left them.

Ten minutes later a felt a tap on my shoulder & it was the same assistant with three boxes of berries saying they had now been reduced to 56p did I want them! He had picked them up & the looked around the store to find me, bless him!

karren

thanks everyone for the replies, its the daft on the spot kindness thats makes my world what it is,
Its not all doom and gloom, and these stories have made me smile xxx

sophie131

Not long after I had started driving I got a flat tyre on the motorway at about 6am one Monday morning.
I managed to get off at an exit and pulled over at an old people's home - I had no idea where I was or how to change my tyre!! I saw someone walking into the home and just asked them where I was so I could call someone to come to me.

She immediately offered to call her husband to help me and let me sit in the reception in the warm until he arrived. I was of course very grateful as it would have taken a long time for somebody to get to me.

I wrote down her name and the name of the home and arranged for a bunch of flowers to be sent to her the next day. What goes around comes around and I always look for opportunities to help out other people.