Random act of kindness fail

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Today we went out to a diner for a breakfast. Bill dropped me by the door and went to park. There was a lady sitting next to the door, holding an English Bulldog. I love those dogs, so I asked if her handsome guy liked strangers and wasn’t afraid of canes and if I could pet him.

The lady told me that she didn’t know, the dog wasn’t her’s. She had seen him running into the highway and grabbed him. The dog was acting like a typical bulldog (big drooly grin, loving everyone), so I scratched his ears while the lady told me that she was from out of state and the dog’s rabies tag was from out of state as well. She didn’t know what to do, so she had called Animal Control.

As most of you are probably tired of hearing, I do animal rescue in my home state. I told her that I thought she had done the right thing because they would know how contact the appropriate people to get that sweet and expensive dog back to his people. I also told her that I’d contact the local rescues and let them know that a bulldog had been turned in. She seemed reassured, Bill got to me and we went in.

After a while, the lady came in, went to the restroom and then sat across the room and started eating her probably cold food and talking to an older woman who appeared to be a relative.

I thought to myself “self, she needs to have her good deed rewarded”, so when the waitress came back to check on us, I told the waitress that I wanted their check. There was lots of whispering and don’t look! during the conversation. I told the waitress to not say who had picked up the check, to only tell the lady that it was because she had saved the dog from running into traffic.

I was carefully not looking in their direction when the waitress picked up their plates, but I could hear the surprise and happiness in the voices. Hurray, my job was done. :cool:

Suddenly, the lady was standing next to me, offering me a hug and saying thank you and you didn’t need to do that. I’m so good at the intrigue stuff that I hugged her back, thanked her for saving the dog and asked how she knew it was me. She said that I was the only one who had spoken to her about the dog. :smack:

The ladies left looking happy, so it was a win. I always get caught when I do this stuff, though.

Anyone else get caught doing anonymous good deeds?

2

A great story! Thanks for sharing it.

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That was very sweet of you to do!!! :slight_smile:

4

That was not a fail. You did a good thing. Being thanked for it isn’t a bad thing. It doesn’t diminish the deed.
This is a fail:
My husband went to the store for me this morning because I have a cold.
As he got out of the truck, a woman stopped him, saying she was homeless and hungry and would he get her something to eat.
He went inside and bought a few pieces of chicken and took them out to her. Did she say thank you? No. Did she smile and, at least, look grateful? No. She said “You didn’t get me any hot sauce!”
Well, He did a good deed anyway, he got the groceries I needed.

5

Starbucks drive-thru is a prime location for ninja niceties. By the time the recipients’ opinion of you has changed from being the car in the way of their access to their mocha to being the purchaser of their mocha, you’re at least a couple of blocks away.

Of course you never know when the car behind you might be driven by an asshole, but perhaps they will be slightly less assholic for the rest of the day as a result.

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We need a mod to change the thread title – no fail in your story at all, Flatlined. Thanks for sharing. I hope the pup gets home quickly.

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Did you really think she wouldn’t figure it out?

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You are such a sweetie!

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the stealthiest of stealth brags

10

Not afraid of the housekeeper throwing you dirty looks for spending Bill’s hard earned cash then?

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It obviously wasn’t a fail. “Random” does not necessarily equal “anonymous.”

But this was a fail:
I had rolled up a lot of nickles, and was taking them to the bank. I happened to pass a homeless guy, sitting on the sidewalk with a dog and a hat with some coins in it. As I passed I placed one of the rolls of nickles (2 dollars) into the hat. Within seconds I heard “What is this shit?!?!” and something hit me in the back of my head. Soon there were loose nickles all over the sidewalk and into the street, being picked up by everyone except the homeless man.

12

Similarly here’s one reported on the radio in Ireland:

A few years ago Oprah had talked on her show about random acts of kindness, and mentioned as an example paying for the person behind you at the tollbooth.

Someone in Dublin was at the Eastlink tollbooth and remembered Oprah’s gesture, so paid for the person behind them. Cue them being followed in traffic by an irate driver. When they eventually stopped the guy got out of his car, threw coins through the window of the benefactor, and shouted “I don’t need your fucking charity!”

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I want to comment on this, but I am just speechless.

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Flock. I really tried to not make this look like a steath brag. Its not. I do good works because it makes me happy to make critters and people happy.

Thank you to everyone who thought I did good.

I wanted to do a stealth act of kindness and I failed. I always do, but this time it was just Bill and I. Not like the time myMarine friends tried to do a stealth act of kindness.

I really hope that works. I don’t know how to just quote one post.

Freudian Slit, I’m really confused atout your question. Why would a paid employee care where her boss spent his money? As long as her paycheck is good and she is happy with her job is it really any business of her boss spends his money?

I will now tell about the random act of kindness I got. I was rushing to work and went to the drive through. The person ahead of me was taking so much time that if I could have gotten out of the line, I would have drove away. I was trapped, no choice but to wait for her to go the heck away. When she got her bags of food, I was fuming. The drive through is for fast orders, go inside for big orders! She left, I pulled up and learned that she had paid for my food. Boy, did I feel guilty,

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I was subbing for a teacher during the night school shift. I met a kid who told me he’d been dancing since 5th grade. He’s your typical urban teenager, lots of friends in gangs, expelled kid, whatever.

I asked if he’d seen a ballet before. Nutcracker was in town.

He said no, but he watches YouTube vids of ballets so he can look at footwork. He said he’d never been to a theatre.

So I told him if he’d get permission from his mom, I’d pay for him to go see it. He got permission. I spent $135 from my “Dentist Fund”. There was just something in me that said, “This kid NEEDS to see a ballet.” The way his face changes when he talks about dance - well, anyway.

He sends me an email two days later saying his mother had changed her mind and didn’t feel like driving. He was frantically trying to find someone to go with him (had to have a car, of course). He finally said he found someone last minute, but I didn’t hear from him today.

Hope he made it to the show all right. When I handed him his tix on Tuesday, he damn near cried. I’d known him for about two hours.

<shrug> I’m going to be mighty f’n pissed if he didn’t get to see the show. I had already decided not to see The Nutcracker b/c I was saving for the dentist and it’s my son’s bday in a few weeks, but I spent money on him to go because I felt like it was too much of a shame. But really? His mom nearly cheated him out of a seriously awesome experience because apparently she’s a real flake. It’s not just the money (okay, it really stung when I thought he wasn’t going), but REALLY?! It’s THE BALLET. AND YOUR KID HAS BEEN DANCING FOR YEARS.

How many ‘tough’ African American 16 year olds do you know actively want to see the ballet?
eta: Can you tell Miss CP really, really loves to see the ballet? <3

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It doesn’t seem to have stopped her from acting unprofessionally in the past based on your other posts…

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This ad shows “fail” (The tagline says “help where help is actually needed”, the title is “Well intentioned” or “meant well” instead of “doing good”.)

The OP, however, did not fail.

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A couple years ago, I had an act of kindness fail.

I was really sick with a sinus infection and had ran to the drugstore to pick up medicine. When I came out, I drove around the back of the building to get back on the street, and there was an obviously homeless man going thru the dumpster. He flagged me down and said he was really hungry, could I buy him something to eay.

There was a Subway right next to the drug store (across the lot) and NO other food places, so I told him to meet me at the Subway and I would buy him a foot long, chips, drink and a couple cookies. He said no, I’d rather have a burger somewhere, Subway’s all bread. I said sorry, but I was sick and I wasn’t going anywhere else, it was going to be Subway or nothing. He waved his hand at me in a very irritated manner, said “Bah!” (I had never really heard anyone say ‘bah!’ before!) and walked away.

I guess he wasn’t all that hungry, huh?

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When I worked in a video store, new movies were $3.50 for a 24 hour rental, and old movies were $2.50 for a 48 hour rental. I think that movies stayed “new” for 90 days, then went on old status.

A customer was in one night and had desperately wanted to see a new movie for 89 days, and finally it was available. I told her that I was happy to rent it to her, but if she could wait one more day I could rent it to her for cheaper and for longer.

Her expression turned to one of disgust. She told me that she’d never do business there again and flounced out, slamming the door behind her.

More than 20 years later, I still have no idea what she was on about.

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The only thing you failed at was being a selfish asshole. :wink: