My husband went to pick up our car from the shop (needed new brakes). In line behind him on this hot August day was a “very pregnant” woman with a small toddler. Being the gentleman, my husband offered the woman his place in line so her wait would be a bit shorter. She gladly accepted.
The guy behind the counter saw this, told George he “appreciates a patient man” and knocked $50 off of our bill!
Patty
P.S. I’d like to see some more posts! Someone else must’ve been or a witness to a “hero for a day!”
Does rescuing a dog count? It was running around loose at the park where I went to have my lunch on a lovely sunny day last week, and it became apparent pretty soon that it didn’t belong to any of the people there. I checked out its nametag and it lived just a few houses up the road, but when I went there noone was home, and the gate was locked. It was a lovely dog (golden labrador, very affectionate), and I couldn’t just leave it at the park (it’s right near a busy road) so I took it back to my place and called its owner, who sent her son round to pick it up. Of course, my own dog (golden retriever, only 20mths so still kind of hyperactive) went absolutely wild to have another dog in the house, and pandemonium reigned at my place for half an hour or so, but it all ended happily.
I also get that warm fuzzy feeling quite regularly at work. I’m lucky enough to work (on weekends) at a science discovery centre, where I do science shows - 20 minute demonstrations and explanations of cool experiments. Every now and then I get a kid who comes up and asks lots of questions afterwards, and gets really involved - I love it when this happens, because it makes me think that my work is making an impression and the kids will go away with positive ideas of what science is all about. I also get to play with lots of cool toys (hydrogen balloons, liquid nitrogen, a huuuuge big van de Graaf generator) all day, and for this they pay me good money
Yesterday we had a severely injured sparrow flapping around in the yard and at one point it was even in the pond. I captured it and put it in a box and drove all the way to the local conservation centre so they could take care of it. A 40 minute drive each way for a SPARROW! Spouse said “It’s only a sparrow” and my response was “Does that mean it’s life is unimportant?” (although I do see the point). Last I saw of it, it was still alive.
Missbunny, did you ever get that mother cat?
Ahem, don’t tell Grizzrich but I put out food every night for the skunk and raccoons. The skunk will come within 6 feet of us to drink out of our pond, it doesn’t seem to mind us. Don’t tell my neighbours either.
A few days ago, I was waiting in line at the grocery store. Ahead of me was one guy (who was almost done checking out). I only had 4 or 5 items, myself. A kid comes up to me carrying a bag of flour and asks me if he could go ahead of me, since he only had one item. I was in no big hurry, so I let him. Then he hollers to his mom to come over. She is pushing a full shopping cart. I was like “WTF? You said you only had one item!” He just said something like “yeah, I have one item, but she has more.” I went to a different line and they were still there bagging groceries when I left. I’m never letting anyone cut ahead of me in line ever again.
About a month ago I was on a bus that dropped me at the subway station. Blocking its path in front of the entrance of the subway station was a cab with an old lady exiting. I got off the bus and walked past the subway entrance, ignoring it and intending simply to cross the street at the lights. The cabbie asked me whether I was going into the sbway and I said, ‘No’.
About ten metres later I put it all together. After a little hesitation and embarassment turned around and saw that, yes, the old lady had an enormous suitcase and was entering the subway station. There is no ‘down’ escalator at that particular entrance, so I carried her suitcase as she made her way down the stairs.
Also, last week I gave a dollar to someone who didn’t have enough bus fare.
In these situations the person helped will usually offer to pay me back, but I’ve taken to asking them to ‘pass on the favour’ and do something nice for someone else when the oppurtunity appears. It’s much freer and no sense of obligation that way, and it’s nice to think of the expanding ripple of good deeds as it heads out across the city…
I have had people let me in front of them in line many, many times in my life. I must look particularly pathetic when I’m pregnant or people in the Ozarks believe in letting pregnant womens go in front of them. I’ve also had people let me go first when my children are whining. I do the same thing, but really I’m not being nice. I just want them to get done so they can take their whiny children home and away from me.
I smile at babies while their moms are too busy shopping to pay attention to them. Again, I’m being totally selfish. Nothing gives me more warm fuzzies than a baby’s smile. I’m just trying to a smile out of them for my own selfish reasons.
Last week a kid at the convenience store was a couple of cents short for his purchase. The clerk took care of it. I used to work at a convenience store and so I know 2 things about how nice that was of him. First of all that clerk doesn’t make that much money at all. Secondly kids are always coming in and trying to buy things with not quite enough money and so it adds up.
I insist that my 8 yr old hold the doors at stores for everyone coming in at out at the same time we are. She is always thanked very kindly. Sometimes (not often) a gentleman will hold the doors for us instead.
Last month we went sailing off Antelope Island (in the Great Salt). The wind turned out to be too much and tore the mainsail and nearly lost control of the boat. After an exciting hour (that seemed more like a whole day) we motored back into the harbor. The combination of adreneline and stress plus the fact that I’m going to have to fix the main before sailing plus the fact that I’ve now wasted a day of leave because I can’t sail has left me feeling a wee bit cranky.
Another sailor saw us coming and waited at our slip to catch the bow. Nice enough guy, as I’m tying off, he asks if there’s a bus stop anywhere nearby.
A bus stop? Antelope island is seven miles from shore and as far as I know, the buses don’t run out the causeway. So I ask him “Why?”
Turns out he had sailed up from the South Marina (the one near Salt Lake City) with his wife and three kids for the weekend. The wind was too strong for them to sail back south. They are effectively up the lake without an SUV.
Geez, I felt like a perfect git for being cranky. I’ve lost a day sailing–this guy is facing a day on the public transportation system wrangling three small kids.
So, I offer to give him a lift back. With the nine of us (his family, my wife and sons) in the minivan it was a tad crowded down the causeway, but I dropped off my family and took my new friends back to their marnia and car.
It turned out to be a blast as we swapped sailing stories all the way down. If you can’t sail, swapping stories is the next best thing.
A couple of weeks later, when I took the newly repaired main back to the boat, I found a gift certificate for a local pizza joint laying in the cabin of my boat. A nice gesture, but the real reward was that my bad mood vanished when I helped 'em out.
A couple of weeks ago I was at the corner market buying a Lotto ticket. There was an older, rather confused, Mexican man trying to buy a packet of cigarettes. He didn’t seem to grasp the concept of money and was trying to buy the cigs with something like three quarters and a token. I don’t know if he was “confused” in the head – Alzheimers or something – or if he just didn’t know our monetary system. In any case, he didn’t speak English.
I asked the clerk how much the man needed and I was told three bucks, so I forked it over.
No, I didn’t generate enough good Karma to win the Lotto drawing.
No major good deeds lately, at least none that really stand out–just the usual smattering of holding the door for people carrying stuff (I was raised to consider this common courtesy) or helping the old lady who lives a couple of apartments over carry her groceries up the stairs (I had to climb the stairs anyway–we both live on the second floor).
The last fairly major thing I did was on a canoe trip last fall. A church group was also running the river, which was rougher than they should have been on with a bunch of inexperienced canoers. (In their defense, the river classification was wrong for that day.) A couple of teenagers got flipped in the middle of a logjam and pinned–the canoe was stuck under a tree and their legs were caught under the canoe. Their heads were clear of the water, but they didn’t have the leverage to get loose and were starting to panic. My brother and father anchored a safety line for me, and I waded out to bring them ashore. (It wasn’t particularly rough, but the line helped me keep my footing.) Once they calmed down, we retrieved the canoe and portaged around the rapids. We followed the group the rest of the day to keep an eye on them. I wish I had pictures–at one point, all five groups had their canoes spinning around. I also found it amusing to be praised for my “Christian” actions.
To be fair, my brother, father, and I have been offered similar rescues a time or two. One memorable occasion found us in ten feet of cold, fast-moving water, pinned between the canoe and a boulder. A couple of passing canoers offered to help, but we figured they would only get dumped themselves, so we waved them off with a “No, we’re fine.” We caught up with them later and thanked them for the offer.
Last week as I was going into a KFC restaurant for my lunch, I passed an old man sitting at one of the restaurant’s outside tables. He looked like a homeless person. He asked me if I could spare him some changes to buy food, so I offered to take him inside to get it, whatever it was he wanted. He replied that he didn’t want to. By the look on his face, I was thinking maybe the restaurant’s managers or employees had harrassed him before. Being someone who’s always rooting for the underdogs and the unfortunates all my life, I was really sadden by it; I know the restaurant must reserve its safe reputation and clealiness and all, but there are always ways to do it gently to someone like him. Anyway, he added that he couldn’t read the menu anyhow. So I asked him what he liked, he replied any thing “spicy.”
I went in and order a meal for him and another for myself. I gave him his meal, shook his hand, told him about the “Second Start” program - a program to teach adults to read and write which I am a volunteer - at the local library, and left. The look on his face, and his thanks, gave me such a good fuzzy feeling the whole day.
And not until when I got back to the office that I realized I forgot my meal at the restaurant’s counter!
No good deed goes unpunished, indeed.
Two days later, I received a letter from the city of Oakland’s Parking Citation Bureau. I sent in a $250 check for a parking ticket (long story) 3 weeks before that, so I figured that I sent it in late, and here was the letter demanding the additional fine. What do you know, inside were my original check + ticket, and an official note saying that my ticket was, somehow, mysteriously, canceled!
Here’s my little contribution, for what it’s worth. I own an architectural firm, and we do all our work on computers. of course. Graphics being demanding on the poor things, we have to keep upgrading 'em, eventually letting the old ones do time as word processors, etc.
But eventually, we had an old unit that we just didn’t need. The cash value was still about $800, arranging the sale and shipping is time consuming, and just kind of a pain. So I called up one of the local Public Schools, and asked if they could use the unit. packaged it up with an old printer, some old software and manuals, and shipped it off. I was thinking they could have an extra office station, or maybe another library station.
But what they did was even better! Being an urban school, they don’t have nearly enough money, and most of the students come from low income families. So they raffled off the computer, made a little quick cash, and last I heard, a Hispanic family who couldn’t afford any kind of computer now has a whole setup, and the parents are using it to learn english.
As an avid hiker, I sometimes find myself many miles from the start of a hike and my car - with the prospect of a long, painful march. No tourist wants to pick up a grizzled, smelly hiker after two weeks in the backcountry. So, I make a point of picking up hikers and taking them wherever they want to go, even if it’s far out of my way. usually, it’s just down the road. Out-of-state hikers are often incredulous and offer up all their spare cash (as though I were robbing them).
A few weeks ago, I picked up two teenagers with heavy packs on an obscure logging road and brought them about 10 miles to their car. I saved them about 3 or 4 hours of walking. After I got home, I cleaned out the car and discovered that I had accidently left my wallet, full of cash on the back seat. It hadn’t been touched!
On another occasion, I ended a hike early when an intense storm hit the region. For several miles I hiked within eyesight of another hiker who was wet, bedraggled, and coughing. I caught up with him and found out that he was on vacation and had ended his hike after being drafted into a search and rescue that ended when the searchers found a corpse. He was sick, emotionally drained, and 30 miles from his intended destination. I gladly took him back to his rented car, even though it took an extra two hours. Although i repeatedly refused, he wouldn’t leave until I accepted payment.
This might not count, but this weekend I bought my roommate a little gift (a beautiful black-beaded bracelet) as a sort of “happy” (what my mom calls fun, sweet gifts) for being such a cool person already.
In Wisconsin it’s de rigeur to help anyone out with their vehicle, especially in winter. I’ve helped push cars out of ditches and driveways, and done plenty of battery jumps. You just do it because you know it won’t be long that you’ll be in a similar situation. And when you are, you know you’ll have, not just one stranger, but usually a whole bunch of them, stop and help you.
It’s almost funny sometimes the incredulousness you get from some out-of-state people when you stop to help. The more incredulous they are, the more they try to push some kind of payment on you, and the more they regard the “Don’t pay me-just pass it on” as some strange idea they’ve never considered before.
OK, here’s one someone did for us recently. Not having taken a vacation in god knows how long, we packed up the old Toyota with the two kids and headed down to Virginia. We hadn’t even gotten out of New York when some idiot stopped short on the highway. Behind him, a cop stopped short. Behind the cop, a guy in a big old Chevy stopped short. Behind him, we tried to stop the Toyota in time but slammed into the Chevy.
Thank god, no one was hurt, but our right headlight was smashed (no damage to the Chevy, of course). As usual we were traveling with very little cash. We couldn’t very well drive to Virginia, stay a week, and drive back with one headlight. Our whole vacation was about to be shot.
The guy in the Chevy then says “OK, I’m on my way to work at the auto body shop–follow me.” We do, and when we get there, he calls the local junkyard, gets us a new headlight for about $75.00, drives to the junkyard, picks it up, drives back, pounds out the dent in our car, and puts the new headlight in. Of course, he wouldn’t take a dime from us.
When we got back, we started shopping for a new car. We found one and bought it, but there was no trade in for the Toyota. We could have sold it for a few hundred bucks (which we certainly could have used), but as a tribute to the kindness paid to us, we gave it, instead to a woman who was getting out of a battered women’s shelter and needed a car. It certainly felt better than whatever the few hundred bucks would have bought…
Last week, I was driving home along a fairly busy two-lane road when traffic started slowing down. There was a dog standing in the middle of the road. All the other drivers went around it. I happened to have my own dog in the back seat, and so I had a leash.
I pulled over, got out, and the dog ran right up to me. I hooked the leash on him and walked around the neighborhood until I found someone who knew where the dog lived. No one was home, and so I had to settle for leaving the dog in the fenced-in backyard.
I too have pulled dogs out of traffic. Last April, I found the cutest little schnauzer running through the busiest street in Roy. She came right to me and put her in my car even tho I was at work that night. She had tags on but I couldn’t call the shelter because it was Sunday. I called the following day and got her home address and returned her. Her “mom” was very glad to get her back.
My vet is kool also. He rarely charges when Mom or I bring in strays. Usually we just pay a pittance for medication.
Ok there’s more. I wasn’t going to mention it because this was just a personal thing but these posts are inspiring to me. Maybe someone else can see how easy it is to do something nice.
I have a friend who was in a traffic accident last winter. He’s spent all summer having surgery (2 procedures) and recovering. His insurance company kept losing his forms for his disability pay so he’s had no income. We’re nearly broke ourselves but not entirely. Since I know he loves cookies, I’ve baked him some cookies. One day one of hubby’s employee’s whose husband and son farm let everyone at the office know that they had all they needed out of the cornfield and anyone could come get what they wanted. We took 3 laundry baskets and spent all evening filling them up. When I got done shucking and getting rid of the worm-eaten ends, there was only enough left to fill our freezer and fridge. So we went back the next night to get more for our friends (the field was more than an hour’s drive from here). I figured the friend who wasn’t getting his checks could eat some and trade with his brothers for other food and give some to his parents. He got the bulk of that night’s harvest. Some we gave to a friend who is always willing to jump in and help us out when we need it. She was too busy to get it ready for storing herself so I got it all ready for freezing before dropping it off. And then we gave some to our babysitter’s family because we just love her. But really I just hated to think of that corn going to waste in the field like that. It’s really good corn! It was worth the aching muscles.
