At 6:45 this morning, in total darkness, I was driving to work on a four lane divided highway and noticed a car on the shoulder with its four-ways on. At the last second I saw the (presumably) owner standing beside the car with his thumb out. It was too late to stop safely so I whizzed by and kept going.
Then I thought to myself, no one is going to help that poor guy, so I got off at the next interchange and doubled back to the previous interchange, about a 12 mile journey in all. When I got back to the car he was gone. But then I saw him walking down the shoulder and I pulled over. I ended up giving him a ride home, another 10 miles or so out of my way.
His engine had blown, four days before Christmas. But boy was he thankful I showed up, or else he would have had to hoof it in the dark for 10 miles, most of it on rural back roads with no traffic or chance of help.
He gave me a Toblerone bar! And wished me a Merry Christmas.
Good for you. I’m glad you’re safe and he was helped. I wish I could feel comfortable helping in that sort of a situation, but I’m a small female, so I don’t dare take a chance.
Crime is down overall. I think it’s pretty paranoid to assume the guy is a crook. It’s an awful lot of trouble to go to to con someone, don’t you think? And for what? The vast majority of people on the road at that time aren’t carrying a ton of cash or anything. I guess, in a way, he rolled the die, but it’s like a 1 million sided die, and only one side says “criminal”.
That story makes me happy. Good for you!
Last year just before Christmas, I was on a four-lane and stopped for a light. A pickup pulled up on my passenger side and the driver motioned to me to roll my window down. I did, and he held his hand out and said, “Can you take this?”. I could tell he was holding money in his hand but it was so unexpected and odd that I just automatically said yes and took it–for some reason I thought he wanted me to hand it to the car on my other side. (I know, kind of dumb but it caught me off guard.)
So here I was with $40 in my hand and no idea what was up, and he said, “Your back driver tire is wobbling–take that and go get it checked out. Merry Christmas!” I was still gaping when he drove away. I had a little cry and spent the rest of the season trying to do nice things for strangers.
Your story is a nice reminder to help out where we can. Thank you.
I wasn’t sure for a moment. The use of miles instead of kilometres threw me, but then I figured he was translating for Americans.
(If I was a sports person, I’d be a Leafs fan as well. But in the generations since they won the Cup, new culture has grown up. It’ll be interesting when they win again. Bremner Blvd will be hopping!
Thanks for the comments. There’s probably a perception of me “sneak bragging” here, and I get that.
I think my main reason for posting this though was to spread the news that it’s OK to help other people, even strangers. This guy had no gloves or hat and was really, really happy I helped him out of a precarious situation.
Think of that this Christmas season and remember the immortal words of Bill and Ted: “Be excellent to each other.”
I hope that if my cellphone-less self is stranded on the side of the road, someone like your cellphone-less self happens by. That was quite decent of you, Leaffan.
Anybody else want to make the Toblerone an official expression of gratitude for kind strangers?
Years ago, I was on my way back to my college apartment the day after Thanksgiving - I had to work that night. On a really rural stretch of road, something under the hood of my car made a huge KA-CHUNK, so I pulled to the shoulder and raised the hood… I thought it was a broken belt, but couldn’t find the defect. I was afraid to keep driving, since I didn’t want to ruin my motor, but it was at least ten miles to the next town, and I knew that the nearest house was about half that distance, and possibly didn’t even have a phone…
So good for you, Leaffan: maybe your generosity will serve as an example too!
(That said, I typically don’t offer people rides, now that I usually have my kids in the car with me. But I offer to go fill up a gas can, or help/change a tire, call a wrecker, etc.)
If he did have a cell phone, don’t you think he would have used it? Do you think he just sat there in his broken-down car and thought, “Should I use my cell phone to call the roadside assistance number I have so conveniently programmed into it? Nah, I think I’d rather walk.”
Hey, I have my own addition to the thread now! I found a purse in a shopping cart in the parking lot at Walmart today; after looking around and making sure that there wasn’t someone coming back for it, I took it in to the lost-and-found. As I was waiting in line, the little old lady who had lost the purse came in and took it back and thanked me.