Hey Pandas, What Was One Time A Stranger Was Kind To You Unexpectedly? (Closed)

Once I was working drive thru window at Dominos. The woman had like one or two pizzas, I think is was like $13-ish, she handed me two $20 bills and said keep the change. I was like I think you handed me two by mistake, that's a lot to tip. I gave her her pizzas, and she asked for the $20 back and instead gave me a $50. I started to well up and said I'm gonna buy food and fill up my car. Gently, she said "and you worked and got that car yourself didn't you?" I nodded and she left after a moment. I had to go in the back and cry a bit.

We were at the Starbucks drive-thru the other day, they were supposed to be opened for a few more hours but an employee closed the drive after us. We still got to order but it did take a much longer time then usual. We didn't really think anything of it until we picked up our order. The barista told us their system was down nationwide and she felt bad to turn us around. So she gave us our order for free plus some more goodies that they had to get rid of.

I was talking to a taxi driver in Ireland about the unbelievable drunken behavior I’d seen over the weekend and expressed concern for the well-being of the drinkers. Turned out we were both sober alcoholics. He gave me the ride for free.

I was sat a store and was trying to buy some candy, I didn't have enough so I just apologized to the cashier and walked off. The guy behind me actually bought it and gave it to me saying "merry chrsitmas¨ I hope he is well

Was in an entertainment shop once (music, DVD, blu-ray etc on case anyone wonders what sort of entertainment 😉) and I saw a very pricey DVD/book set about the Battle of Britain that I was interested in. Wife asks me why I put it back on the shelve, and I said because I reached my swipe limit on my bank card for the day.

We continued browsing, and after about 5 minutes, this older lady approaches me with a purchased copy of the DVD/book set, and gives it to me. She says she overheard my wife and me talking, and just wanted to do something nice for a stranger, and then walked off.

Chased after her, thank her, and started talking to her. She explained that she lives in a retirement resort close to the mall, and her children are all grown, and moved out the country, so she cannot buy them gifts. I offered to buy her coffee, but she declined, saying me talking to her is thanks enough. I never saw her again, but I still remember Ester fondly.

The most impactful one I can think of was when my Mom was dying in the hospital. My work only gave me 1 week off but I didn't take it, figuring I'd need it more if she made it through (she had a brain aneurysm) or died, so I kept working.

My schedule was (and still is) all over the map between 8 - 4pm shifts and 4pm - 12am shifts. On the days I worked night shift, I'd drive to and from the hospital before work but on the days I worked day shift, I didn't trust myself to drive home from the hospital so late after a full work shift so I took taxi's those days.

There was an older gentleman, maybe late 50's, that I kept running into at night when I'd step outside to smoke and wait for my taxi to arrive. He said he was a patient in the psych ward and he'd usually wear jeans under his hospital gown but no coat (he had hospital bracelets on too), and this was in late February in northern Ohio, USA.

We'd talk a lot and I'd share my smokes. Whenever I asked him why he was waiting with me (after his smoke was done) and not going back inside where it was warm, he just scoffed and said he wasn't leaving me all by myself to wait in the dark because "anything could happen".

I was often so exhausted I was spacey, so a clown car with 20 people and a 50 member marching band could've come for me and I don't know if I would've noticed, so I appreciated it a lot.

I don't know if it was because of that exhaustion that I never felt cautious with him, or if it was just something about him in particular, but I felt OK with him.

At the end of a long day at work and long night with my Mom, he really was a life saver.

22 year old aussie that drank for approx 12 hours straight on my first night in reeperbahn, hamburg. Got back to the lower-end family run motel around 6am.... they didnt speak any english... and my german is extremely limited (especially when slightly inebriated)..... they bought me water and a small amount of appropriate food... all while good-heartedly (i think) mocking me in German.

Dont think it was the first drunken idiot they had to deal with (and im sure i also wasnt the last)

Two years ago I had went to the store with my family and while I was entering the store a man around the age of 70 or 80 and he told me that I needed to look where I was going then at the checkout I saw the same man (by accident) leave a fifty dollar bill on the counter. I ran over to grab the money to return it just so he could give it back to me for my generosity.

Don't judge a book by it's cover

I had moved to a new town. New job started but waiting on payday to come. I figured I had enough money for $15.00 of gas, my car would usually take $25.00 on full at that time. I went in and my turn to pay came. The cashier gave me my total and an older than me gentleman told the cashier to add my total to his bill. I have never seen him since.

He made a poor single girl happy and have faith in humanity every time I think of it. 🙂

So once I left my wallet all the way in a different state. I was so panicked, but a kind soul actually called my phone number that I put in my wallet. He actually waited at the same spot until I rushed over abt 3 hours later. I didn't even know his name. He didn't even take a single cent out of my wallet! Was very touched :)

A few months ago I attended a concert held at a small venue. The concert had ended near midnight and the area wasn’t the best. Mostly everyone had left and I was still waiting for my Uber . Since there was only a guy and I waiting there I looked for an outside camera and stood within its view. A photographer who had been taking photos during the concert came outside and stood a few feet away from me and was waiting for his ride. He asked if my ride was on its way and I said it was. He asked how far away it was because if it was too far away he could give me his ride instead. I refused and he asked again. Then he said he would be willing to wait until I got picked up if I was too scared to wait by myself. The fact that he was willing to wait until I left caught me off guard. No one had ever asked me that and he didn’t even ask for my name or any other questions about myself.

I work at a Giant Eagle bagging groceries. Years ago, on a hot summer day, I was asked to go out into the parking lot and grab carts because one of the cart people was going on a break. When I finally went back inside, my throat was parched because of how hot it was. When the cashier asked me if I was alright, I explained the situation. The customer that was being waited on immediately went to a cooler and purchased a bottle of water for me to drink.

A few years ago, I was with my mom and younger siblings at the movie theater for a special treat. We were struggling with money at the time, and when my brother asked if we could get popcorn my mom told him we couldn't afford it. The woman in line behind us heard her, and offered to help. My mom declined at first, but the woman insisted. We ended up being able to get the popcorn and she payed for half the price of our movie tickets.

Coming home from work in a snowstorm. Day before payday, so I let the gas get low in the car. Ran out of gas 1/2 mile before my exit. Got out to walk with my walking stick in the snow. Some random driver stopped, backed up, gave me a lift and 20 bucks to get gas.

He dropped me at a restaurant and my wife brought the gas can and my gas money from the house. And of course, I didn't get his name or anything. He said not to worry about it.

I had just moved to Scotland and was checking out the area. I decided to visit a lighthouse about 20 miles from my house. I lived on a single-track road, but was surprised that the road to the lighthouse was little more than a glorified sheep track with sheer drop-offs into the North Sea on one side and a mountain on the other side. One my way back, a sheep jumped in front of me, I swerved, to the mountainside, hit a large rock, then bounced to the right, landing less than a foot from the cliff side. I got out, and the rock I hit bent my driver side rear wheel. It looked like a slice of pie had been cut out of it.

Just as I was trying to get the donut spare, a car came around the curve and stopped when he saw me. Turns out he was an FBI agent from Texas. He changed the tire for me, and went on his way with a huge thanks from me.

I didn't see another car on my way home. When I got back, I finally realized how close I had come to dying and fell apart. Then I had to call to get a new wheel and tire. It had to be sent by bus from Inverness, 90 miles away.

I will never forget that day, or the gentleman who helped me.

When I was 14, I was being admitted to hospital for severe stomach pains, they were going to do surgery, thought it was my appendix that might be rupturing. I was in agony, couldn't even lay flat the pain so intense. They'd drugged me heavily but the pain cut through what they'd given me. In the elevator taking me up, the aides stood either side of the gurney, and a nurse behind me. I remember crying hard, until she reached her hand down and just gently rubbed her hand across my head gently a few times to comfort me. Just that small act felt so kind, was such a relief. I never found out who she was, nobody on staff knew who she was, a nurse from another department. But I won't forget her small gesture of comfort at a time when I was so much in pain.

When I was little, like 10 yro little I became interested in track because a girl told me to join. (Shallow, I know) I will never forget this, but my first ever competitive race was against a 7th grade track team. The coach apparently couldn't set us up with a race within 5th grade because there's no such thing as a 5th grade track team. School just wanted kids to start early, ig. Basically I was running a 400m which is a full lap. I had a very, very small understanding of how to pace myself. And once I saw the pace the other kids were running at, that made me run my fastest. I basically panicked. Around 100m left, I ran out of stamina and stopped running completely. Two older boys (very intimidating, looked and sounded like chads) were laughing at me and very loudly saying things like "is he even in the race?" It absolutely destroyed any shred of perseverance I had left, and I was fully ready to just run off the track. But then I heard the voice of a woman cheering me on, "You can do it baby, just keep running" I will NEVER forget her words, or her voice. It was such a little thing but it truly meant the world to me. She probably completely forgot about me the very next day but I'm never going to forget her. I only ever caught a glimpse of her face. I really wish I'd thanked her back then. Years later, she's the reason I still do track. I would've stopped before I even began otherwise.

A couple of years ago, I was at work (I work at a garden store selling plants) and was talking to a co-worker. It was my last day of work before I would be getting major surgery due to cancer. I was just talking about what time I had to be at the hospital and how I was really nervous about it. A customer apparently overheard us talking . I later went to lunch and when I got back and started working again, I got called up to the register. The cashier told me that someone left something with her to give to me. She handed me a bouquet of roses, a tee shirt and a note. The note said " I heard you talking to your co-worker about your upcoming surgery. I didn't want to intrude, but just wanted to say that you're strong and you'll get through this." It was signed Fellow Cancer Survivor. I never found out who did it. I wish I could thank them.

Traveling with my young son and his mum in a car on a lonely UK road. Son (4) was car sick everywhere so we stopped to comfort him and try and clean him up with a tiny pack of disposable tissue. Older guy appears from the only house in site. I guess not many people stopped there and he was curious. Got a whole roll of tissue and warm water to clean son and car and joked with my quite distressed son (he hated being dirty) that he was "the cleaning man". Made our day.

When I was in college, I badly needed new glasses but didn't have the money for them. As a result, I was having difficulty keeping up with the reading in the English Literature class because I'd get a bad headache when I read. When the professor asked me after class what was going on with me (she could tell I wanted to be there because of my behavior in class) . After I told her, she said she had $100 available to lend me! She'd just been repaid after helping someone else & was ready to reloan it. "Pay it forward" was not a thing in 1978, but that's what she asked me to do if I were ever able.