Hey Pandas, What's The Most Useful You've Ever Felt To A Stranger? (Closed)

Years ago I was driving up to see my parents for a weekend, and an older man in a minivan rolled his car right in front of me on some pretty gnarly curves.

I stopped to help, but by the time I had gotten out of my car, and to his (the van was on its top) there was visible smoke and flames dancing around the engine.

Dude was passed out, so I had to crawl in, unbuckle him, and pull him out, and then away from the now (VERY!) on-fire van!

I'm just glad the old fella made it

Pretty drunk woman on a train got off at my stop in the middle of a city at night to meet a friend...not much but asked if she was alright, what her friend's name was and made sure she spotted him and they recognised each other before leaving her. They were some guys staring at her so I just wanted to make sure she had someone with her.

I was at a bowling alley/arcade place and watched a mom catch her young child's vomit, and then sit there contemplating what to do. I grabbed a trash can and ran over to her so she could at least empty her hands. Then I got her wet wipes. No on in the group with her even noticed.

I was in my city and saw a wheelchair using lady having difficulties with her machine. It appeared that the tyre was coming off one of the wheels. I asked if she was ok and would she like me to mend it for her. I fixed it and she was very grateful and we parted ways with a smile.

I like to cross the street with someone using a cane. I don’t say anything, I just walk a little behind the person so that they’re more visible to traffic.

During lockdown, while queueing for the supermarket, I spoke to an elderly lady for 30 mins while we waited to go inside. Just about the weather and food. She told me she hadn’t spoken to anyone for several days and thanked me for having a genuine conversation with her.
During the same time period, I let elderly people jump the queue in front of me to get their shopping first. The people in front of me all did the same too. Watching an elderly person get ushered to the front like a celebrity by a line of people was such a moving moment.

I'm a transgendered man and transitioned at work. I never hid it (nor have I run around screaming, "I"M TRANS!!"). I blogged about my transition and my work success (I'm actually top in my company for my role as a customer-facing trainer).

I was at one of our conferences and another trainer came up to me and wanted to thank me. When I asked why he said that because my blog was open a friend of theirs had read it and decided that they didn't need to be scared to transition (this is usually due to fear of losing family, friends, work, etc.). That, in fact, you can find success even after transitioning and so they took that leap rather than leaping in another direction (which many do who cannot transition).

Working as a voluntary worker in a Maternity Hospital in Lisbon for several years I have my fair share of stories..some sad,some funny,most very happy,but one stands out as quite hilarious.I was in a cubicle helping at a birth when from the cubicle next to mine there were loud screaming,yelling and the sound of things crashing to the floor.I stick my head around the corner and see absolute pandemonium.A young woman from Guine having her first baby was in an absolute panic and didn´t let any-one near her,kicking every-body and everything within reach.A first time in a hospital ever,glaring lights,men (doctors) and nurses she didn´t know and everybody yelling at her and trying to get their hands on her.I left my patient with a collegue and went up to her and WHISPERED in her ear that I was a white spirit sent by her Gods to help her, and that I had a magic song that would put everything right.She calmed down when I whispered to her and I sang a Danish childrens song to her.The minute I started singing she went into a trance....baby was born safely and I went back to my former patient.About 20 minutes later the doctor sent for me again.She needed stitches and was getting worked up again....and for the second time I sang »Oles nye autobil« it is a bit staccato so must have eccoed in her mind....must confess it never had that effect on my own kids way back...

A woman in the locker room at the gym was on her phone and suddenly let out a wail and collapsed to the floor sobbing. She'd just got the news that her beloved nephew had died of an overdose. I brought her a bunch of tissue and a damp paper towel and sat with her to listen and express sympathy as she mourned over the young man and his troubles.

When I worked at the local humane society we had a gorgeous husky/some sight hound mix. Her name was Shasta. Shasta was adopted three times and brought back each time due to her flightiness and quirks (she loved to run and would come when called unless the tone of voice was wrong, then she would flee...I am thinking it was a past situation causing her behavioural issues) I had developed a bond with her but could not adopt her myself. When another family was interested in her and eventually adopted her I gave them my home number so if they had any problems with her they could contact me and I would see what I could do to help. I'm happy to say that that home ended up her forever home, though it did take a few calls and tips to gain her trust to get everything worked out.

This is a twofer. While shopping with my children I had to find a semi quiet place to let my daughter unwind and calm down. A lady was sitting on a bench not far from me. Apparently me calming down my daughter was helping this woman, whom eventually told me that she was having a panic attack.

An elderly lady collapsed in a street. I positioned my car to prevent any other cars from accidently hitting her. I got out and made sure she was alright, upright and stable. That's always stuck in my mind.

I picked up a hitchiker in California. It had taken him a month to get 400 miles from Mexico, but I dropped him off only 100 miles from his job in Washington.

So I was just in a situation where I ran across a stranger who seemed to struggle with psychiatric illness, who was lost and going through a stress attack. I didn't want to abandon him, but getting a clear idea of what was happening and the best step to take was difficult. I managed to help him get on the correct bus to get him home. As worried as I still am for him, it also felt really good to be able to help. I am so glad I didn't abandon the poor guy. It got me wondering, who else has that kind of memory they can look back on and know they were able to make a difference?

I've pulled over several times to give people a ride to where they needed to be. I have been without a car in my life before for various reasons and if I'm heading in the same direction why shouldn't I help. Yes I have to be safe about it and I won't do it with my kids in the car. The first time I saw a young woman walking in the rain with a very young child, this was on a industrial park. There wasn't even a sidewalk. I pulled over and asked if she would accept a ride. We got her young companion strapped into my spare car seat and I dropped her off. I just cant stand to see people struggle. I've not always had the privileges' I have now and I remember how hard it is to be without.

The medical building has a really tight parking lot, and many people who go there have really large autos/SUVs. I was about to back my small car out when I noticed a woman in a large car unable to maneuver her big honkin' car out of her space. She tried several times and was looking panicky. I asked if I could help, she accepted, and I got in the driver's seat and got her car out pretty easily. Sometimes life is just frustrating, and it feels good to be able to help.

I worked at a store that sold Christmas tree ornaments among other things. A high-school guy came in looking for a gift for his girlfriend, and picked out a volleyball ornament. He asked if we had any special boxes for gift giving, which we didn't have for that style of ornament. However, we had just gotten a shipment of more expensive ornaments that came in their own box, and one of those ornaments had broken in transit. I was able to grab the empty box and give it to him for free. The guy was so happy he gave me the change from his purchase as a tip.

In my first year of college, I lived in a pretty rural area and commuted about 45 minutes to classes and my job. Late one night, we had just closed the restaurant and I was driving home in a very isolated national park. A young family had become stranded with a flat tire. I stopped but didn’t have the right tire iron for their rim. I drove all the way back to the restaurant where luckily a coworker was still there and had the right one in their trunk. I drove back and we were able to get the tire off and I gave them my spare.

Another time, my apartment manager was finally ready to leave her abusive husband. She was afraid he might hurt her or not let her take the kids. I’m a pretty small woman, and this was a big dude, but righteous indignation can make you feel pretty invincible. Another woman and I stood in between them while she packed her kids into the car and went to live with her dad. It’s been close to 20 years but I still think about her and hope she’s doing well.

I'm old and live in senior housing. How it all started I'll never know. But it started out with one person asking me to help them fill out papers for various things, especially papers concerning living in sectioin 8, food stamps and medicaid, etc. Word got around and now I help several people that come to me to help them. The apartment manager even calls on me to help him with computer problems. And how that happened I have no idea but it's fun to be needed again.

When a pizza place messed up our order multiple times by putting real cheese on my moms pizza even though shes lactose intolerant, we had a few extra pizzas and we drive around and found safe looking homeless people to give them to. It was winter and the pizzas were still warm so I’m sure they appreciated it even more for that reason :)

Not sure if this counts as "useful" but here's mine. I was walking around with a couple of my friends we were in a sort of like shopping district and we passed this group of people around my age. All of them seemed pretty high energy and bubbly. (exactly my type of people) I noticed one of the people in the group tho that seemed overwhelmed?? I'm not really sure what word I'd use to describe it but they were definitely not handling the high energy conversation very well. The people in their group were so sweet trying to involve this person in the conversation as much as possible. I think they just didn't realize that the person was uncomfortable. I sorta watched for a moment and decided they needed an extrovert shield. So I went over and introduced myself, making sure to stand next to this person. Since they all seemed pretty accepting they struck up conversation right away. I stayed for a minute and basically any time it got really high energy I would take any efforts of these people to try and hype up their friend and sort of redirect it. That way this person could still be with their friends but not look so panicked. After a little bit I went back to my friends. As I was leaving the person (I never got their name) basically stopped me and said, "hey thanks for coming to talk to us, you made it super fun." I just said yeah it was fun and left. To this day I'm not really sure if they needed help or if I made a difference at all but it felt right so i did it.