On 12 March 2015, Redditor Danface247 asked, “What is the nicest thing a stranger has done for you?” Here are some replies:
1) androgenous_potato wrote, “I ran into Starbucks one morning to grab a coffee and breakfast for myself and my daughter. I had my purse in one hand, my daughter in the other, and she was hungry and wanted a banana (she was 2 at the time so when you agree to something you d[*]mn well better deliver). I couldn’t find my wallet once I got to the cash [part of the transaction] and assumed it was in the car. I ran out and of course [found] no wallet, and now I [have a] crying 2-year-old who thought she wouldn’t get her breakfast. I ran back in to just tell them not to bother making it as I didn’t have my wallet, and sorry for wasting their time.
“The man in line about to pay told the person to just add my order to his and also got my daughter a cookie. Starbucks isn’t cheap, so I would never have expected that and it almost made me cry at how kind someone was to do that for us.”
2) TonyNevada1 wrote, “When I was no older than 7, I was vacationing on a cruise ship with my parents and three siblings.
“We went to sleep one night and somehow I woke up hours later on some random lobby floor in my underwear. No one was around. So, I did what any 7 year-old who didn’t know his room number would do in that situation.
“I ran up and down hallways, screaming and crying.
“Some lady came out and consoled me, took me into her room, and introduced me to her family. She asked me where my room was and what I was doing. I did not know. Thankfully, I had a day-care wristband on that had my room number on it. She walked me to my room, and my parents didn’t even know I was gone.
“After that day I was forever known as the sleep walker in the family.”
3) ebonymessiah wrote, “I was once riding my motorcycle from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale. Round about Mobile [in Alabama], the bike started sputtering and eventually died. Unbeknownst to me, a fuel line had broken and had been leaking out for miles. So, here I am, side of the interstate, no gas, no gas station or exits for 20 mi, and my nearest help was almost 3 hours away. I sat down, lit a cigarette, and thought about my options. About 20 min and 500,000 cars later, an older woman stopped behind me. She got out, walked to the trunk, and pulled out a gas can. She came over and handed it to me and said, ‘I passed by a few minutes ago and came back to help. I hope this is what you need.’ I thanked her profusely and tried to pay, but she wouldn’t accept. As I poured the gas in, I noticed the leak. She rummaged in her trunk again and found me some electrical tape. I ghetto fixed the problem, but she said, ‘Let me show you where the local Harley shop is so you can properly fix that.’ I followed her into town and to the nearest dealership. I went in and started talking to the service guy about the problem. We agreed on what part needed fixed and when I went to pay, another cashier told me that the old lady had already covered the repair costs. I frantically looked around, but didn’t see the woman. I ran outside in time to catch her leaving. I stopped her and thanked her again and she said, ‘It’s no problem, sweetheart. My son used to ride, but he was killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver while broken down on the side of the road 2 years ago. Since then my husband and I have vowed to help any stranded bikers we may come across. Pass on the love for us.’ She gave my arm a squeeze, threw up the horns, and said something that I’ll never forget (and that I wear on the back of my riding vest): ‘Live free, ride fast.’ Apparently that was a motto her son lived by. I’m still in contact with Barbara and try to stop by every time I’m going through Mobile. TL; DR. My motorcycle broke down, old lady stopped and gave me gas, took me to the local mechanic and paid for my repairs.”
4) CRFyou wrote, “I had a problem with identity theft when I was 19.
“Some sneaky b[*]tthole got traffic tickets in my name that I didn’t know about. I tried talking to people at the courthouse about what to do and they gave me a name of a female district attorney. No one in her office would see me.
“So I went ahead in the courtroom to see the judge.
“He told me I had a failure to appear and asked how I pleaded. I said, ‘Not guilty,’ and explained that it wasn’t my ticket and I had no idea about it.
“He cut me off and said the arraignment is not the time for the story, the trial is. Since I was a failure to appear, he said he didn’t trust that I’d return to court and had the bailiff place me in handcuffs. I was going to county jail to await my next court date…
“I was devastated. I was 1 month away from leaving for Marine Corps boot camp and I was in handcuffs for some sh[*]t I didn’t do…
“I told the judge, ‘I want to speak with XXXXX,’ giving the name of the DA I’d never met.
“The court called her up, and she asked what this was all about to the judge.
“He said, ‘CRFyou asked for you…’
“I briefly explained my situation. She was lit on fire with passion for me. Demanded I be let go and said if the judge arrests me, she’s paying my bail right now.
“Just like that, the judge had the cuffs removed and the case was dismissed.
“This lady didn’t know me and saved me from a horrible situation, offering up her own money to help.
“I was touched by the passion she displayed for a young kid she didn’t know.”
5) AfricansInOveralls wrote, “When I was 5 or 6 years old, I went to my first Major League Baseball game with my father (Red Sox). As we waited in line to get into the stadium, I was fixated on the men selling bags of peanuts on the sidewalk who were yelling and waving their arms to make some sales. Needless to say, selling peanuts won’t provide someone with financial stability, so these guys were really earning their living. As I watched them, one man looked at me, smiled, and walked towards me with a big brown bag filled with peanuts. When he reached me, he held out the bag and said, ‘Allergic?’ I just shook my head and he tossed them to me, nodded, and said, ‘On the house.’ That one small gesture stuck in my head for the rest of my life, even though he probably did it everyday.”
6) harvestmoon3k wrote, “Ran out of gas on my way home from work. Not everyone had cell phones back then, and I was stranded. The house my car died in front of had a bunch of kids playing in their front yard. One of the kids ran up and asked me if I needed to use the phone, which I gratefully accepted. She ran inside and told her hearing-impaired mother, who brought me out a cordless phone. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach my husband or anyone else to help. I was about to ask her if she had a gas can that I could borrow to walk up to the nearest gas station with, when she insisted on taking me there herself. She loaded all five kids, the gas can, and me into her car and took us up there. The can’s cap didn’t seal properly so gas was leaking a little when I filled it. I tried to insist on just walking back with it, so it wouldn’t leak in her car… but she refused and told me not to worry about it.
“I had scribbled her address down when I got back to my car and as a thank you to her, I bought a gift certificate to the frozen custard place down her street for enough to get her family each a cone. I sent it to her in the mail, along with a letter thanking her for her help. I didn’t know her name, so I addressed it, ‘To The Good Samaritans.’”
7) synarps wrote, “A couple years ago I studied abroad in Hong Kong. For some reason, being a stupid American college student I brought a sh[*]t ton of luggage with me, and tried to take even more back. Now, taking the sheer amount of items I was trying to carry on my person, you would have thought I would just get a taxi to take me to the airport, which I did — on the trip from the airport to uni. However, fast forward three months and I am now a broke college kid in a city with amazing public transportation. So, dumbass me decides that I can totally lug my three giant bags + backpack + giant purse onto the subway by myself. BIG MISTAKE. The campus is located in the side of a friggen mountain and I have to make three connections to get to the airport line (oh, and did I mention I decided to do this during peak rush hour?). As [you can imagine], things did not go well, I nearly decapitated a small Asian woman with my giant backpack, ran over several toes with my luggage, and overall was walking chaos — I immediately regretted my decision. Then the cosmic travel gods looked down on me, and sent me a savior. At the second connection (over an hour into this ordeal), out of nowhere this young Asian guy comes up and offers to help me with my bags. At first I was sure he was trying to rob me, but at this point I didn’t give a f[*]ck and gladly accepted the offer of help. He helped me get to the next train and I thanked him for his help (thinking he would jump off and go on with his way). Oddly enough, though, he stayed on the train with me and got off at the third connection, grabbed two of my bags, and herded me towards the last train. At this point, I figured that maybe he was heading to the airport as well and had decided to help me (he spoke very little English and I speak zero Mandarin — so communication was minimal). We finally get to the airport, and he again grabs my bag and leads me to the check-in counter. At this point I am so thankful for the help; I wanted to hug this guy. Then he turns to me, says ‘Good luck,’ and u-turns to go back to the train. So here I am in the middle of a densely populated Asian city, and some complete stranger takes an hour out of his day to help some dumb American tourist get her sh[*]t to the airport, and then leaves with no expectation of repayment. I was flabbergasted, but so appreciative of his help.
“Wherever you are — thank you!
“TLDR: I was young and stupid and tried to take way too much luggage on the HK [Hong Kong] subway; stranger sees me struggling and helps me get to airport, going over an hour out of his way. Faith in humanity restored.”
Source: Danface247, “What is the nicest thing a stranger has done for you?” Reddit. 12 March 2015
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