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Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I drive for a living. OK, I drive a cabulance. OK, OK, I drive a van converted for wheelchair transport and take people with various disabilities to and from various appointments.

Anyway, traffic in the Seattle metro area can be a little trying. I like to think I’m used to it, but every now and then, I contemplate the endless line of brake lights in front of me and groan inwardly until I can get to a less-used route.

Other things can make a day seem lousy, but since this isn’t the Pit, I’m not going to use a lot of bandwidth belaboring things that can make for a crappy day.

I’m gonna waste a lot of bandwidth (well, some anyway) writing about things that turn a crappy, curmudgeonly day around.

One time when I, with thousands of others, was stuck in the morning rush hour. I came to one of many stops, on the freeway no less. I glanced around me and saw the woman in the car next to me giving me a big friendly smile. I suddenly realised my shoulders were hunched (from stress, traffic was exceptionally lousy that morning and I was going to be late for my first pick-up) when I smiled back and felt the tension drain away. She saw it and grinned back. I gave her a peace sign and mouthed, “thank you.” She grinned and waved. Thank you, nice woman in traffic!

Countless times people have thanked me for holding doors for them. I don’t know what the deal is, but I suspect it is a product of my upbringing in West Virginia by Canadian parents. I was taught from a young age that holding a door for someone is simple courtesy, no more or less than that. At the age of 37, I am still unpleasantly surprised when someone “looks at me weird” for this. No acknowledgement is the norm, but a nice “thank you” goes a long way.

Countless “courtesy waves” I’ve gotten from people for giving them the right of way when they have it legally or when I let them go (without impeding other drivers).

Totally friendly smiles from someone because they just feel good and want to share it.

These are the ones that immediately occur to me. If I take some time, I can probably come up with dozens more. The deal is, I want to read yours, fellow Dopers. What simple kindness from strangers makes your day?

-Denis

2

People have called this a cold town. But that’s one lovely bonus of Seattle living I’ve noticed again and again. People in cars frequently communicate with other people in cars in nice ways.

Once I chatted with a girl in a traffic jam (5 S near the VA) and gave her a couple of cigarettes. Another time somebody had been a dick to me in traffic, flipping me off, and another driver smiled and laughed towards me, at him, in a way that made it all completely okay.

3

Every time I see a butthole in traffic, I see someone who erases that negative energy, usually with a " hey , slide in before me’ wave.

Granted, I only deal with the traffic at my kids school parking lot, but every day driving to and fro on the back snow/ice covered dirt roads there is someone in the ditch. Every day.

I always stop. Every time and ask if they need help. No one has yet. Because I was one of those people that was in a ditch ( the soft shoulder gave way while I moved over to let a larger truck go by. Silly me) and the larger truck guy stopped and helped pull me out.

4

masonite, I wouldn’t call Seattle a “cold town” myself. I grew up in a town of less than 20,000 people, and Seattle is still the Big City to me. Most of the drivers I’ve dealt with have been OK. Your experiences aren’t outside what I’ve had, but (sorry for the “but,” but I’m looking for something like the “little epiphanies” described by Kurt Vonnegut in Timequake).

Uh oh. Maybe I should have posted this in Cafe Society. Nah, it’s perfect MPSIMS stuff, IMHO.

Anyhow, in my small town upbringing, the “little epiphanies” happened with about the same frequency as they do in the Big City. They weren’t rare, you just had to notice them.

5

Shirley, you are a traffic saint! You show kindness for the hell of it, or to “pay someone forward” for another kindness received.

I see people like you everywhere when I look for you. Sometimes you make yourselves known when I’m oblivious though, and that reaffirms my faith in humanity.

Thanks!

6

Since moving here (Maryland) I am always surprised when someone does something nice for me. Case in point: I lost my cell phone a few weeks ago. After Dave and I called repeatedly and got no answer, we decided to cancel the service. Later that day, the family who had found the phone called us and told us they had it, and could we please pick it up from them. I offered them some cash as I said thank you. They looked stunned, and said “No! Just do something nice for someone”. Now, this is exactly the sort of thing that I do, and unfortunately I’ve become cynical since moving here. It nearly made me cry.

I grew up where it is just common courtesy to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, to get up if there’s an elderly, disabled, or pregnant person who needs a seat, to hold doors for people and to not leave a mess behind you. I don’t see it here very often, and when I do it makes me feel a little bit like I’m home.

And I am always very polite while driving. In the I-95 corridor, this can save your life.

7

I have to rely on the kindness of random strangers almost every morning and every afternoon due to some really screwed up road configurations. If a nice person didn’t allow me to break into traffic ahead of them every day, I’d be sitting at one of two intersections for a long, long time.

8

Today at work, a twenty-something guy bought a toaster oven with a gift card. Just as the transaction was finishing up, two elderly women came up to the counter with…I forget, a teakettle or something. I had informed the guy that he had $13 and change left on the card, and he gave it to the two women, claiming that he’d never use the remaining balance! So they ended up paying only $4 for their stuff!

9

Thanks, Dopers who have posted to this thread. Your confirming for me that people in general don’t suck, but sometimes my attitude sure does. :wink:

10

The thing that really amazed me about moving to Seattle, after living on the East Coast, is that people are nice on the phone. Like, if you call a business that isn’t 100% dependent on customer serivce, they’re nice anyway.

On the East coast, this was never my experience. If someone was having a bad day or hated their job, you got the benefit of it. In Seattle, that’s very unusual. In my first job here, where I had to deal with people on the phone a great deal, I was constantly surprised that people were so nice. Now, I only notice it after I visit my family elsewhere.