There’s a diner I’m fond of with a crew of guys from somewhere else - Israel, I think - one of whom is really hot and sexy, IMO. Mr. Sexy has always seemed so hard-to-read and distracted, so I play it cool, and avoid making eyes, basically minding my own business.
I stopped in there one night recently for a takeout sandwich. As Mr. Sexy finished preparing it, he handed it to me, looked me dead in the eyes, and said out of the blue, “I want to tell you that you are the most polite customer I have - everyone else is always in a hurry, just being sort of rude, but you are always very nice with me, and I appreciate it!” and he smiled. :o So we chatted a minute or so as I seized the opportunity to ingratiate myself with him, trying to offer him a sympathetic ear about his hard job, etc. I paid, thanked him and then left for home.
Well, that made my night! That he would be so bold to say something so personal to me, at his work, in public… :o I mean, he must see hundreds of people every day, and he’d never taken special notice of me before.
I thought it was so charming and sweet, I just wanted to kiss him.
Yes, it is sweet – who knows what may or may not come of it, but even if nothing, it does make one’s day.
At the risk of being all glurge-y, we should all keep that in mind even when the other party is not Mr. (or Ms) sexy. I often make a point of telling someone what a good job they’re doing. Just the other day I was in a diner I hadn’t been in before and as the cashier (definitely NOT Mr. Sexy) was getting my change, he asked rather routinely “How was everything?” I’m sure he was expecting the routine reply, but I told him, “Fine! Great coffee, nice fresh fruit, good service.” I got a big genuine smile in return.
One day in another diner, a grandfatherly gent passing by told me I had pretty hair. Wow! He must have been about 75 or 80, but it still made my day.
Why? Besides we, myself included, are so geared-up for a fight every time we have an interaction with someone that, when someone is just plain pleasant, it’s the surprise of the day.
I wouldn’t say I’m surprised when people are sweet, it just makes me incredibly happy. I try very hard to be that way to people, and I find I get a lot of it back.
I work for a large video rental chain- it is among the most evil of evil corporations. Us employees are regulated to the point that we are little more than robots, and really it’s always surprising when people treat us like humans.
But every once in a while, there is a customer that for whatever reason love us. We have quite a few that come in almost every day and talk to us for hours. We have one woman that occasionally brings us cookies. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes how much even little gestures that make me feel like more than a machine can mean.
Sometimes my patients move me to tears—scared and in pain, a teenaged mom says “You look tired, Cyn. Take a break, I’ll be okay.” Or a GYN surgical patient, an elderly woman says “You work so hard eaking care of me. I appreciate that.” It more than makes up for a 12 hour day.
I used to work in a hardware store. One day, a woman came in with a baby in a carriage. I took a little peek at the sleeping baby, and saw that he looked really young - still all pink and wrinkly. I was surprised to see such a small baby out and about, so I asked the lady how old he was.
“Ten days” she said.
“You just gave birth ten days ago?!” (This isn’t the kind of thing I would normally say, I was just so flabbergasted.)
“Yeah”
“My God, you look fantastic!”
It was totally not lip service, I was truly amazed that she looked so good - I would never have guessed she just gave birth. Anyways, she told me I had made her day, and even though I was pretty embarassed, it was pretty cool.
A few days ago I was walking down the street when I came across my friend Nick and another person. Nick smiled at me, turned to his friend, and said, “Y’know, there’s this girl named Jessica, and I think she’s just gorgeous. I want to tell her how pretty she is. Do you think I should?”
I felt like I was on cloud 9, just glowing. I said, “Don’t worry, next time I see her, I’ll be sure to tell her what you said.” Then I gave him a hug.
In case you haven’t figured it out, my name is Jessica.
I was once, to a large degree, responsible for bailing a fraternity brother out of jail. He said that I was the last person he expected to see do that. Does that count?
A lady on the Scottish island of Iona once - I and friend with very bad tent, trapped on island due to bad weather and cancelled ferry, begged her to let us pitch the tent in the lee of a barn or similar on her land, just so as to maximise chance of it standing up. Instead, she offered us a cottage to spend the night in. N.B. I and my friend were total strangers to her. OK,we were young, innocent girls and very cold and wet, but we could still have been baddies.
Much more recently, i?ve had occasion to adore the niceness of some people in my locality. BTW - it is a very low grade, badly-thought?of area, which in a way might make it even more impressive for people to volunteer interaction with complete strangers. Anyway - I am sort of given to a hell of a lot of , well, mostly anxiety, but sometimes real nasty panic attacks*, and though I TRY…Well, sometimes, utter strangers have very kindly asked whether I am ok, and when I realise that, although I hate to put anyne out, the wisest thing is to admit a need, and gratefully accept help, helpful stranger has walked home with me. The bit that really impresses me, is that once this was not so much a local as an overseas student for whom it might be highly understanable jhsut to want to get home himself without any detour or complication. A detour of a couple of minutres might nt sound much, but it meant a lot to me. (Ohl, and do think I would have done the same for somene else, had situation been reversed, or helpe somene with bus faire etc - this is a city with quite a lot of sweet people, really.
And, of course, similar to what others have siad, when one is doing a really horrible job, it is just SO lovely when custmers are nice! And it takes SO liittle, to make a difference to the day.
yes - have seen medic and got meds for it, but…no magic bullet, I think.
In 1995 I received a taumatic brain injury in an automobile accident. After 2 years my doctor referred me to vocational rehabilitation. They had never had a brain injury survivor before and sent me to the state capitol to the evaluation center to see at what level I was capable of working. My Wife took me to the evaluation center that was about 150 miles away. It was the first time I had been away from my wife in 2 years. After the first week of evaluation they put me on a bus for home. They left me at the bus station alone for 3 hours, I was very scared. When I got on the bus, I had trouble finding a seat. I finally sat by this little, old lady. She was eating one of those awful sandwiches out of a vending machine. She looked at me and smiled and said, “Would you like half?” I thought that that was one of the most touching moments of my life!!!
There have been a few occasions that I can think off when people have suprised me by being sweet.
About a year ago I had a complete stranger run up to me and say -
“I just had to tell you. I love your hair colour! Is it natural?”
Me - “Thanks, and nope it’s comes from a bottle.”
Stranger - “What do you use? I know I probably sound like a complete idiot but I’d kick my self later if I missed the opportunity to find out what you use!”
So I told her the company that made it and the number. It totally made my day!
The strange thing is, a few months later another stranger asked me too!
When my brother was in the intensive care unit, because only 2 people could be with him at once, there was a lot of waiting around it the family rooms. We got to know some of the other familes who were always there and everyone was always willing to help each other out. It was really nice.
My cousin knows I am on the pill. And the other day she had sex-ed at school. Well I got a really worried text message of her. She was worried as she’d just heard about some of the side effects of the pill. (I shouldn’t really be on the pill due to a premature heart attack in the family. My cousins mother is 42 and had a heart attack last year. But my doctor agreed to keep perscribing it as long as I know the risks.)
I thought it was really sweet of her to be worried for me.
Years ago I was riding a Suzuki 185cc dirt bike from Charleston to Connecticut. I ran out of oil in Richmond so I pulled into a gas station and asked where I could get some 2 cycle motor oil. This kid - maybe 18 took me to his house gave me a bunch of cans of oil (he had it for a chain saw) and sent me on my way without charging me a cent. Got to love that southern hospitality.
One morning a while back a guy started to cut me off in traffic. I gave him the horn and he pulled back into his lane. I figured it was going to be the start of a lousy day. When we got to the next light I herd a quick horn beep. I looked over and it was the guy who cut me off. He had an embarassed look on his face and gave me an “I’m sorry” wave. The anger just evaporated. I smiled, waved back and went off looking foreward to a great day.
My parents raised me to be nice to others. I try my very best, and sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised when it’s returned to me.
Dave and I bought a car two weeks ago, that turned out to not pass state inspection (we bought it in VA, and we live in MD). The seller bought it back from us with no problem whatsoever.
I misplaced my cell phone, and the person who found it called to return it. I offered cash as a reward, and she and her husband were shocked. They just told me to be nice to someone instead. That really made my day, because that is exactly what I would have said were the situation reversed.
Quite often, I will tell people that their hair looks nice, or that their outfit is nice, or that they’ve got beautiful eyes, etc. I tell friends how much I appreciate them, and what they do for me.
I think this world would be just a tiny bit nicer, if we were all just a tiny bit nicer.
Now I feel like, you people must all think I’m such a whore, referring to Mr. Sexy, instead of leaving the sex part out.
Well, I guess what I didn’t explain was that - in my experience, attractive people can be so self-centered and childish, because their looks make life easier for them. And so, for this attractive guy to say something to me like that, made me recognize (not for the first time, but for the first time in a long time) that even people who you think “have it all” or who you think you’ve got figured out, well - you really DON’T have figured out, and they can be just like anyone else.
Just today a fellow Doper emailed me and provided a link to a thread I’d mentioned some time ago in another thread but had trouble finding. I thought that was a very nice thing to do.
nisosbar, isn’t the Israeli accent the sexiest thing? I love hearing it.
When my cat died last spring, a co-worker bought me a duck in a bunny outfit. It was so sweet and soft and I really needed something to cuddle. I still sleep with it sometimes.
Over New Years this year, some friends and I made a trip to Iceland.
On New Year’s Eve, we were at a local restaurant, for a party until 1am thing.
Apparently, as we were entereing the restaurant, my wallet slipped out of a pocket, and ended up on the ground outside the door. Since this was a prepay, all-inclusive dinner, I didn’t check on my wallet and didn’t know it was gone.
The next morning, the phone in my room rings, and I answer it to here someone telling me not to worry, he had found my wallet and would bring it over to me.
I had slipped a card for the hotel into my wallet (there was no chance I was going to be able to pronounce the name of the hotel for a cabbie) and this gentleman, on finding my wallet, checked in side, saw the card, and called.
Turns out he is an American stationed at a naval base in Iceland, and he showed up later that day with 2 boys. They had taken the bus over from the base to drop off my wallet.
This sweet person helped save the last couple of days of my vacation.
