# 500 Good Deeds **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683 "2009-02-20T05:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/1 "2009-02-20T05:31:44Z")
Inspired in part by the recent “kindness of strangers” thread. Do a good deed. Anything, for anyone… strangers, family, even animals. It could be something as simple as holding a door or giving a quarter to a stranger on the bus or something bigger like buying toys for a children’s hospital or giving a stranded person a ride. And then come here and list it and we’ll see we can get to 500 between all of us. The only limit is that it has to be something you did since yesterday or so… so you can’t count something you did 20 years ago no matter how fantastic it was. 1. I met a girl at the bus stop who hadn’t taken the bus before and explained to her step-by-step exactly how the bus works (how you pay by sticking money into the machine instead of giving it to the driver, how you pull the cord to get off, etc) and then told her where to get off and where to go from there. 2. I proofread my friend’s paper before she turned it in okay, numbers 3-500 are up to the rest of you! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/2 "2009-02-20T05:38:11Z")
That’s a good idea - I’m feeling sorry for myself for having had a very shitty day after a couple of months of shitty days, and I think doing something nice for someone else would help me climb out of that. Will report back when mission accomplished. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/3 "2009-02-20T05:48:50Z")
Doing a Random Act of Kindness but then bragging about it on a message board seems like a Karmic push to me. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/4 "2009-02-20T06:04:50Z")
A good deed is its own reward. There’s no cosmic double-entry accounting required. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/5 "2009-02-20T06:08:28Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/6 "2009-02-20T07:14:34Z")
What a great idea! 1. I just took two stray female kitties to be spayed and when they’re well they’ll go live on my Dad’s (kinda) farm. 2. I gave a BUNCH of clothes and some handbags to the teenage daughter of a co-worker. My co-worker is a single mom who is really struggling. I easily gave her daughter a brand new wardrobe. It felt so good. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/7 "2009-02-20T07:23:52Z")
Who said anything about rewards or bragging? It’s not about that… it’s just sort of a game to make people feel better and have the tiniest extra encouragement to do good. It’s not like a petition to Santa Claus or something. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/8 "2009-02-20T07:38:56Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > Who said anything about rewards or bragging? It’s not about that… it’s just sort of a game to make people feel better and have the tiniest extra encouragement to do good. It’s not like a petition to Santa Claus or something. I didn’t mean to shit on or hijack your thread. I probably should not have posted in it. I just prefer to do good things privately. Carry on, and spread Light where you can. We live in a very Dark world. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/9 "2009-02-20T07:45:34Z")
I refrained from punching my co-worker in the cock for putting my name on a document I didn’t write and that turned out to be full of mistakes. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/10 "2009-02-20T08:53:09Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I refrained from punching my co-worker in the cock for putting my name on a document I didn’t write and that turned out to be full of mistakes. Does that count? No - you just didn’t commit a bad deed. I do that every day by not strangling to death one of the directors where I work. I’m game for this, sounds like a nice idea. I already do those random acts of kindness thing but actually posting it could be quite good - we’ll see I guess. ---
**Author:** ![AllWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AllWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllWalker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/11 "2009-02-20T09:53:49Z")
According to what I’ve heard, the single greatest factor in how charitable someone is is how charitable those around them are. In that spirit, I think this thread is a great idea. But I’ve got nothing to add. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/12 "2009-02-20T13:01:58Z")
I am babysitting tonight, for free, because my coworker needs to work to make up for missing a night (her son was sick). She can’t afford to take an unpaid day off and she really needs to keep her personal days. Our boss said she could work Saturday (our Sat is Friday night) but she still needed a babysitter. Oh, and I’m going to work for about an hour (stashing her son in the break room) because she is running a new machine (new to her) and I’ll make sure she is comfortable before I leave. I don’t think this counts as a good deed though because I’ll get an hour of overtime for helping her. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/13 "2009-02-20T15:51:02Z")
> [@AllWalker](#): > > But I’ve got nothing to add. Yet. Go do something! 😉 This is great. I don’t keep a running tab of the ones that I do, but I’ll try and remember them and count them here. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/14 "2009-02-20T15:56:21Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > 1. I met a girl at the bus stop who hadn’t taken the bus before and explained to her step-by-step exactly how the bus works (how you pay by sticking money into the machine instead of giving it to the driver, how you pull the cord to get off, etc) and then **told her where to get off** and where to go from there. 😉 Hehe, if that counts as a good deed, I’m way ahead ---
**Author:** ![lilflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@lilflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilflower)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/15 "2009-02-20T15:56:27Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I refrained from punching my co-worker in the cock for putting my name on a document I didn’t write and that turned out to be full of mistakes. Does that count? Does it count as a good deed if you made me laugh? This is hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/16 "2009-02-20T18:10:07Z")
I was at the library behind a girl who had amassed so many fines that her card couldn’t be used to check out materials. I didn’t have enough to pay her whole fine, but I had enough to get her below the limit again so she could use her card. After she left, I told the librarian that I couldn’t stand to see someone without the use of their library card. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/17 "2009-02-20T18:26:56Z")
Since I read the OP, I’ve found a way to give a compliment to each of the visitors we’ve had today. It felt great! I subdued my stabby inclination in the elevator with my office arch-nemesis. I don’t want a good deed credit for that. I need to reinforce this to myself: _“Don’t stab Nancy in the left eye today with the very long and sharp key in the right pocket of your jacket while pressing the elevator ‘stop’ button to allow addition suffering time while you finally tell her to kiss your ass and give her each and every reason why she should kiss said ass as she writhes on the floor in pain.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/18 "2009-02-20T19:07:15Z")
What little good I do never lingers in my mind like passing up an opportunity to do so does. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/19 "2009-02-20T20:00:18Z")
I saved a baby squirrel that fell out of a tree in our neighbor’s yard this weekend. First we stuck it in a box with a pajama shirt to keep it warm and wedged the box up in the tree it had fallen from. We’ve had luck before getting Mama Squirrel to take them back, but not this time. Hours later, a storm was coming on and it was almost dusk, so we put the squirrel baby in the garage for a while with a hot water bottle and a light bulb keeping him cozy. I called around and found a wildlife rescue place, and they sent a nice lady to come get him, for which I am very grateful. Beyond keeping them warm, I don’t really know what to do with baby squirrels! ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-good-deeds/486683/20 "2009-02-21T02:35:06Z")
so that’s… 8? if I counted right. Today I was in a grouchy mood and the girl who sits next to me in one of my classes drew a little mustachioed face on the side of her hand and made him eat her pen to make me laugh. Not something I did, but I’m counting it anyway because it made my life a little brighter today. up to 9.