“Who’s the Nicest Person You’ve Encountered Through Life and Why?”

Here are some replies:

1) owltattoo wrote, “Today [24 December 2015], after working a brutal Christmas Eve retail shift, I missed the bus. I had been waiting for twenty minutes, sitting in front of the store because there isn’t a bench at the stop, and I could see the stop from my vantage point. I had my eye on OneBusAway [an app that gives information about bus locations] the whole time, and when I saw the bus was two minutes away I started walking across the parking lot to the stop. But the bus was already there, so I started running. And then the bus was turning the corner, and the driver saw me running across the lot, a look of desperation in my eye at the thought of having to wait another half hour in the bitter cold for another bus because I have only $1.27 in my bank account and can’t get an Uber.

“She kept going.

“Resigned, I decided to just start walking. It was too cold to stay in one place, and the store had closed, so I couldn’t wait inside. I started crying a bit, because f[**]k, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m cold, and I’m tired, and my last customer was so rude, and my coworkers were useless at helping close [the store], and I’m homesick and alone and f[**]k everything.

“After about five minutes of this, I looked up. There was the bus, 300 or so yards from me, pulled over at the next stop.

“I figured it was just dropping someone off, but as I kept walking, it didn’t leave. And then I realized.

“The bus driver was waiting for me.

“I started running, and I got on the bus, and I thanked the driver, and my day was a little less shi[*]tty. And now I’m thinking about that little bit of kindness and I’m tearing up again, because it’s so rare, and it’s so genuine, and selfless, and needed, and just good.”

2) Scissors_P[**]p wrote, “The guy who worked on my car.

This all happened yesterday [23 December 2015] but long story short my mom offered to buy me new tires for Christmas on the condition I get the work done before I come home for Christmas. She told me this on December 22nd, I was due home on December 24th. Keep in mind she was going to pay for everything over the phone.

“I find a place that gave me a decent deal and made an appointment for December 23rd. Drop my car off before work, but before I sign any paperwork/turn over my keys, I confirm that they are able to take payment over the phone. I was given the green light so off to work I went.

“I get off work and go to claim my car, and as I ask the GM [General Manager] processing me how we go about the over-the-phone payment, he informs me that they don’t accept payments over the phone and haven’t for a few years.

“Holy. Sh[*]t.

“I bring up that I had confirmed with another guy that telephone payments were accepted. No dice.

“At this point I’m in tears. I call my mom, tell her the problem, and she demands to speak with the GM. They talk, and he tells her the same thing he told me.

“Now I’m in panic mode. I had over $450 worth of work done on my car that I possibly can’t pay for. I start pulling out debit/credit cards, all of my cash, just about everything I have on me. At this point the GM and his associate are watching me and finally say, ‘If you give us all of that, you won’t be able to go home.’ I tell them I would be okay but they tell me to hang on for just a few minutes. GM comes back and says, ‘If someone takes care of this, would your mother mail them a check?’ What. The. F[**]k. He speaks with my mother again, but mid-conversation the GM looks at his associate and says, ‘If we both authorize the phone payment, they can’t fire both of us.’

“They authorize the phone payment.

“I’ve never been so stressed and relieved at the same time. I gave both of these men the biggest hugs I could possibly imagine and the GM says to me, ‘I was going to get you home for Christmas no matter what.’

“This guy was willing to shell out over $450 to help someone he didn’t even know.

“I’m a bartender by trade and offered them both never-ending free beers. They don’t drink, so I’m making them enchiladas instead.

“TL;DR: Almost got completely f[**]ked.”

3) truetea55 wrote, “One of my coworkers; I work at a call centre. She is in her late fifties, her husband who is high up in the Navy supports her, but she works for the extra spending money, most of which she spends on other people. Coworker who is a single mom can’t afford presents for her little boy? Done, all the things in his letter to Santa were bought. We had Secret Santa, but she got gifts for everyone. She bakes and cooks at least once a week for no reason [except] just to feed the whole office. She once helped me leave work without even speaking to a supervisor when I had an embarrassing medical emergency. She is so friendly and makes a point to meet everyone in our huge office, compliment them, always ask how they are doing. She and I have hit it off, and honestly, she is like the grandmother I never had. She tells me amazing stories about her life, is genuinely interested in everything I have to say, and is always there for me no matter what. Bobbi, you freakin’ rule and there’s a reason you win so many monthly awards in the office. Genuine kindness so loved and appreciated doesn’t go unnoticed!”

4) Mandrew31 wrote, “A truck driver. I was sitting in my vehicle in a Walmart parking lot. I had been living in my vehicle, sleeping in the back. He had parked his rig for the night right next to me, and we had a small conversation about trucker life and the places he’d been. The next morning I woke up to him knocking on my window and asking me to come out. He asked what led me to being homeless, I told him I was just divorced, working two full-time jobs but couldn’t afford the up-front costs of an apartment without saving for a couple months because of alimony. He hands me $600 and says, ‘Here’s [the] first month’s rent; you need it more than I do.’ A week later I was in my own studio apartment. I never caught his name, or where he was from, and I wish I had. I would love nothing more than to pay him back now that I’m able to.”

5) itsmekathy wrote, “A few years ago, when I was in college, my father fell ill quite suddenly and I needed to get home urgently to see him. I obviously wasn’t prepared to go home that day and was very low on funds. I still expected that I would have enough money for the train ticket, though. As it turned out, when I got to the station, I was informed that the price of a ticket had gone up and I was short by about 10. The emotional upheaval of the whole thing just became too much, and I had to step outside, at which point I just burst into tears while sitting on a step with my bags. This little old lady came up to me and asked me what the matter was and I just said that I needed to go home, but couldn’t afford it. She then went into the station and came back out with a train ticket. I started crying more and more; I could barely thank her properly through my tears. She just hurried me back into the station to catch my train, barely accepting my blubbering thanks. It was the single most memorable random act of kindness I’ve ever encountered in my life, at a time when I really needed it, and I don’t think that lady will ever really know how much it meant to me. I still think about her a lot.”

6) Kolipe wrote, “Mohammad. I don’t know his last name. He was an old Arabic man at a market in Oman who helped translate English to Arabic for the shopkeeper I was trying to buy a scarf from to help shield me from the dust before I went camping for two weeks along the coast.

“He helped me pick out a good quality scarf. He showed me how to properly wrap it. He haggled with the shopkeeper to get a lower price (I was being charged a lot). He then brought me to his favorite restaurant where we ate dates, drank tea, and smoked hookah. We traded stories and he constantly apologized for his English (it was pretty good). He was really interested in why an American is vacationing here and not at a resort. We talked for a couple of hours.

“When I told him I had to go check into my hotel, he told me to forget about it — I can stay at his house and attend his son’s wedding tomorrow. I was kind of suspicious of it, but I haven’t heard of any bad things from Oman so I agreed. He drove me to a beautiful house on the edge of Muscat and showed me to my room.

“I took a nap because I was jet lagged, and when I woke up and came out, he showed me the thobe [Arabic clothing resembling an ankle-length robe with long sleeves] he bought me for the wedding. That night there were like 50 people in that house. Lots of good food and singing. I crushed some Bon Jovi, which they loved. The next day at the wedding I had a blast. I felt like a celebrity. Every one wanted to talk to me and get pictures. It was unreal. Arabic weddings are crazy.

“The day after, I was due to head out. He took my map and marked all of the places I should see. And he wasn’t wrong. I thanked him profusely for all of his hospitality and he was super humble. Just happy that I could experience Omani culture. I left, with tears in my eyes to be honest, to go pick up my friend at the airport to start our trip. He couldn’t believe it. Thought I was stupid to agree to that.”

“I didn’t care. That one experience helped me see that you can’t judge someone by how they dress or their religion. There are so many good people in this world. You just gotta give them the chance. I still own that scarf and thobe. I will probably be buried in them.”

Source: Briawrz, “Who’s the nicest person you’ve encountered through life and why?” Reddit. 24 December 2015 <http://tinyurl.com/pmalrcg>.

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