Sometimes life just sucks. Story after story and headline after headline, it’s easy to assume that the world is a terrible place. However, there are still kind people out there. Whether someone lent a listening ear during a dark time or paid for the struggling mom who needed groceries, these true stories are guaranteed to make you smile.
1. I Tawt I Taw Real Kindness
When I was six, my parents and I were at the local bar and grill. I was looking at a very specific doll in a claw machine. It was Tweety Bird in a spacesuit and I was OBSESSED. I was so zoned out; I didn't even know someone walked up until the claw came down, picked it up, and dropped it in the chute in one fell swoop. I turned and saw a man.
He looked transient and was taking the Tweety Bird out of the chute and immediately bending down then handing it to me. Neither of us said anything. We just smiled at each other, and then he turned and walked out of the restaurant.
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2. Worth The Drive
I had worked a shift at the hospital on Christmas Eve and was trying my best to get to my family’s house about two hours away before dinner. My brakes on my car just were not working right. It was snowing like crazy, and I was losing hope. I saw the mechanic was still open, so I drove in and told him what was going on.
Half hour or so later, he came out and told me what was wrong. And that wasn't all: He had already gone ahead and fixed it. I asked him what I owed him for the work. He told me to just get home to my family safe and have a merry Christmas. I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie. It is now the only place I will take my car.
3. Norway To Wait
I was on a trip in Norway, and it was my last night in the city and the country. I lost the midnight train, but no problem, I could still take the first train in the morning. In the meantime, I went to the dock because that's where all the nightlife was. The bar closed at 2 AM, and the train was at 5 AM. I’d met a guy.
He said, "There's no way you're gonna spend three hours walking around," and took me to his house. He gave me the worst coffee ever, and we talked. Then he took me to the station and bought my ticket. Before he left, he said, "I haven't slept, so tomorrow I might not remember you, but it's been a pleasure helping you."
4. A Big Help Catching Up
When I was nine or ten, I missed the school bus. I thought I was doomed and would get in big trouble with my parents, but then this big guy picked me up and ran towards the bus screaming to try to get the bus to stop for me. It eventually did, and he put me inside of it and then just dipped. I couldn't even say thanks, and I was a chubby one too.
5. It Was Tow Problem
My wife and I saved up to buy a nice grill, but we had never thought of how to get it home. We were trying to get it in the trunk of our little car and were just about to resort to opening the box it came in to put it in piece by piece when a guy who'd been sitting in his truck eating dinner in the parking lot came up to us.
He asked if he could help us transport it to our place. We thanked him, but didn't want to say yes. After all, we lived about twenty miles away, so the round trip would take a fair bit of his time. We told him about the distance, and to our surprise, he was still more than happy to drive it to our house. He even refused any kind of payment for helping us.
6. Woman To Woman
I was an American in China and at this time, I was very pregnant. I was at the train terminal, and the hormones kicked in. I started crying for no reason, which made me only cry more. A very tiny old Chinese woman there said something (I couldn't understand her, since we spoke different languages). She then gave me a great big hug and a big smile. It was exactly what I needed.
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7. Eat Something
I came a minute late to catch a critical flight. People were still going through security, but they wouldn't let me line up. I had a breakdown right then. Some old guy gave me a twenty and said, "I know this doesn't help, but at least have a hot breakfast on me. Take care," and he shuffled along his way. I was floored.
8. Here’s A Tip
I’m a Seahawks fan living in Arizona. In 2011, a regular at the Starbucks where I worked gave me four tickets to a Seahawks and Cardinals game. It was the last game of the year, so he also gave us his stadium food card that had about $200 left on it. The seats were club level, and my three friends and I ate like kings.
9. Only So Much Time
I was on a summer road trip with some friends from Dallas to Austin. On the way down, the battery meter on my dashboard started acting funny – jumping up then dropping down and all sorts of weird stuff. We made it to Austin, and we're supposed to watch my one friend's show, but I had to go to an Autozone for a battery.
It was 7 PM, and I assumed all the mechanics were closed. This was pre-cell phone times, so I couldn’t check. I bought a new battery and installed it in the parking lot. When I turned the car on, I realized the truth: The battery was not the issue. Something in the car was seriously busted and I needed to get it fixed, stat. I met my friends and said we should leave that night instead of the next morning.
My rationale was that if we drove at night, we wouldn't need the AC and therefore would use less battery. We piled in my car and got about twenty miles outside the city when my car stopped. While we didn't need AC, we did need headlights. We pulled over on the side of the road. My friend with the cell phone called AAA.
They told us that it’d be an hour or so before anyone would be able to make it out. While we were standing there on the side of the road, in the near pitch black, a truck pulled over in front of my car. A man got out and was walking to us. All of my friends took a step back nominating me to do all of the talking first.
The man asked us what the problem was. I explained that the car stopped working. He had a tow chain in the back of his truck and could bring us to Dallas, which was about 200 miles away. It seemed like a bad idea since I would have to ride in my car steering and braking, and it was only going to be attached by a chain.
But I was 19 years old and stupid, so after my friends and I talked it over, we agreed. He told us that he had a small trailer at his place about fifty miles away that we could use to tow my car, but until then, I was steering a bum car about three feet away from the guy's bumper. My ex-girlfriend and I were in my car.
My other two friends were in his truck. They said that the driver told them about himself on the way. A year or so earlier, he'd been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Instead of treatment, he chose to accept his fate and spend whatever time he had left driving around helping stranded people on the side of the road.
10. Reporting For Doody
I was shopping at Target when my baby had a blow-out diaper situation. I also had my two-year-old with me and had to use the changing station in the ladies’ room. My toddler was out of control and was just itching to do gross stuff like lick the floors or something else horrifying to everyone except for a mischievous 2-year-old.
A woman, maybe in her 40s, saw as I tried to deal with my baby on the changing table and keep my 2-year-old from eating something disgusting. This woman immediately helped me out by interacting with my toddler, so I could fix the poosplosion my tiny infant son had produced. She got my toddler to count sinks, jumped from tile to tile with him, and made him laugh with silly faces.
It probably only lasted 2-3 minutes, but it was the most helpful thing someone could have done for me in that overwhelming moment.
11. From The Heavens
I had an incredibly painful ovarian cyst and had no idea what to do about it. I managed to go to the pharmacy, where I was hunched over and even lying on the floor at certain times waiting in line. After I paid, a lady in line asked me if I needed a ride anywhere. She brought me to the urgent care clinic and even stayed with me to bring me home. What an angel.
12. A Mother Knows
When I had no money as a student, I went to do a shop with the little money I had left. But my phone bill was due, and I was flat broke and had to leave all the stuff at the cashier while I went outside to work out if I could borrow money. This absolutely amazing, amazing woman came out and said she saw the whole thing.
She told me she had a son who was a student and found himself in similar situations. So, she gave me a hug and forced some money in my pocket. I was too flabbergasted to say anything then, but lady, if you read this, you really changed my opinion about people in general and made sure I ate for the first time in a week.
13. Bitter Together
I had been going through a breakup and went to have some dairy-free frozen yogurt. Inside, the workers were talking while helping me, and apparently, the girl who was helping me was going through something then too. She looked at me and said, "I'm sad. Are you sad too?" I said, "Yes," and she gave me my froyo for free.
14. Food For Bought
I was flying back on leave and had a stopover in Vegas. I was really hungry but pay wasn’t great, so I figured I’d just have Burger King. Standing in line, a guy who wasn’t even in line came up and just went, “Here man, you look tired. Thank you for your service to the country. Let me get your meal.” He handed me a $20 and went away.
I thought that $20 was way too much just for Burger King. I got to the front of the line and ordered. It ended up being $18. That surprised me, and I was glad he’d given me a $20. There have been other times when people have randomly paid for meals when I was broke. So now, I’ll randomly buy the person’s meal behind me.
15. On The Table
In my first year at university, my boyfriend and I went through some pretty rough times financially. He was older than me and had a steady job, but the income still was not enough for both of us, so when I went through a period of unemployment it became hard to make ends meet. A couple weeks went without grocery money.
My boyfriend’s first bi-weekly check went to pay for rent, so when his second one came, we were excited to finally have something other than Mr. Noodles to eat. Unfortunately, his bank only had two locations and weren't in our city, so when he deposited his cheque online it would take a week before we could access any.
We tried to deposit the cheque at my bank. He signed the back, "pay to the order of (my name)" hoping that would make me eligible to deposit it. I explained the situation to the bank teller, and she told me her hands were tied and I couldn’t deposit it because it wasn't in my name. By then, there were tears in my eyes.
I thanked her and was about to walk away. She paused and then took the cheque from me and then asked me to wait for a moment to see if there was anything one of her superiors would be able to do. I stood there trying to compose my 17-year-old self, and the teller came back and said there was still nothing she could do.
She handed me back the cheque, and I went to put it in my wallet. She then slid a $50 bill across the counter and told me to go buy some groceries on her. I bawled the entire way to the grocery store.
16. Ticket To Happiness
I was in a very dark time of my life, and my doctor told me I needed a distraction away from home. I went to the arcade, bought $10 of tokens, and started to play skeeball. I'm pretty good at skeeball; I consistently hit 40s and 50s with the occasional 100. After playing through all the tokens, I had over 1,500 tickets.
I was ready to leave and saw a young kid. I went over and offered him my tickets. He looked at the person with him and asked if it was ok, and she said yes. The look on his face made my day! He thanked me, and so did she. He got whatever he wanted from the counter, and I got a smile, which I hadn't had for a long time.
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17. Using Signals
I was running and dropped my MP3 player without realizing it on a busy city street A nice older man literally stopped in traffic and flagged me down. When I didn’t respond because I was spacing out, he honked and waved his hands at me. A lot of people were honking at him to keep going, but he was being very persistent.
When he had my attention, he told me that he'd seen another guy pick it up, pocket it, and try to walk away really quickly. Then as this nice older man drove off, he kept pointing and yelling, “He has it! He has it! Hurry!” I turned around, ran two blocks, and caught up with the guy who had definitely tried to steal my MP3 and got it back. Thanks, old man!
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18. Uphill Babble
My motorcycle stopped working at an intersection. This was when I was 16. It stopped while I was rolling, and I just rolled through the intersection. I pulled the bike onto the sidewalk. It was nighttime, and I was riding home to my parent’s house. The intersection was at a Meijer known locally as the "ghetto Meijer."
On the stoop of the apartments was a group of fellas just drinking, talking, and for some reason, wearing generally the same color. I was sketched out. It was dark, and I was a skinny, weak-looking kid. I was scared. I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my $700 ninja and was looking over my shoulder the whole time.
Then, out of nowhere, this man walked up, and I thought to myself, "Here we go, gotta empty my pockets, I guess." The man stopped next to me and flashed me a smile. "Are you okay? Do you need any help? Do you know what's wrong? I have a flashlight." I told him I had no idea, and I just was going to push it up the hill.
He offered to help and handed me the flashlight. He helped me push my bike up the sidewalk to a carwash since it was closer and well-lit enough. I think he could tell I was sketched about the area because he talked to me the whole walk. I called my dad, and he went to the wrong place, so I waited twice as long for him.
The man was just talking about his life and growing up. I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying; I just knew that it was calming me down. My dad showed up finally. The man helped us put the bike in his van, and then he said to have a good night and just walked away. I will never forget that moment in my life.
19. Got You Covered
I was waiting at the traffic lights to cross the road. It was raining a bit, and I didn't have an umbrella with me that day. I don't really mind the rain, so it didn't bother me that much. However, a man came up to me and held his umbrella over me while we were waiting to cross. It wasn't much, but it made me so happy.
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20. Really Slimming Down
While I was in a bad relationship and basically being starved, I had to go away on business. When I was away, I decided to meet up with a friend who lived nearby. While I was waiting for him, a homeless charity gave me a cup of tea because they thought I was a junkie given how thin I was. I protested, but they said that I looked like I needed it. I burst into tears.
Their kindness was a wake-up call. I left my ex and vowed to be with someone who treats me well.
21. Trying To Help
I went on a school trip to Parc Astérix in France when I was in grade 6 and was having trouble ordering myself a no-relish cheese burger. This random old biddie wandered over to me and asked, in English, what I was trying to order and proceeded to order it in French on my behalf. Even though she forgot to ask for no relish, I appreciated her help.
22. Comfort Station
I was going through a rough patch and was in the subway and just started crying. An older gentleman took the time to talk with me and just be nice until I calmed down a little. He reminded me so much of my dad that it made me cry more. He was just so incredibly kind and patient even though I was in a really dark place.
23. I Know What To Do
When my cousin's little girl was about six, she saw a young woman trying to cover herself with a blanket so she could feed her baby on a park bench. Having a baby brother, she often held the blanket for her mom. She went over, hopped onto the bench, and just asked if she could hold the blanket because she, “Always did it for her mommy!"
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24. What Little I Have
When I was 16, I was upset with my parents and decided to leave my house in Los Angeles and secretly drive my car to San Diego with two friends. We, uh, didn't plan our escape really well, so immediately once we were in San Diego, the authorities picked us up. Our parents back in LA reported one of my friends and I missing, so they held my friend and told me I could go, but only if I went straight back home.
The department bought me a Greyhound ticket back to LA and dropped me off at the bus station in downtown San Diego. There was just one problem: Greyhound drivers were on strike so the buses were delayed. After a few hours, I decided to leave the bus station and go look for my car. At this point, it was the middle of the night.
So there I was, not knowing how to get anywhere, when this homeless man approached me asking for change. I told him that I didn’t have anything to give him. I guess I was stressed, because I went on to say that I needed to find my car to get back to LA and even if I did, I still might not even have enough gas to make it there.
The homeless man then gave me couple dollars in change and gave me directions to where my car was. I tried to decline, and he said, “You need it more than I do right now,” and insisted that I take it. Eventually, I found my car and made it back home. But only because of that homeless man. I ran out of gas and the only way I could afford enough was because of the change I found in my car, plus the change that he had given me.
25. Magical Moment
I was backpacking across Europe and on the train to Disneyland Paris. A guy saw me getting off the train at the Disneyland Station and got me admission for free. The guy worked there and randomly decided to sign me in as his guest.
26. Sharing Stories
I made a post on my Facebook page asking friends if they could donate some gently used stuffed animals for kids at my school to take home over winter break as "Reading Buddies." I thought it would be great to get fifty toys for our neediest first graders. Well, my friends were incredible and shared and spread the post.
I ended up getting over 400 mostly brand-new stuffed animals, which was enough for every single kid in my small school, plus some left over. It was unbelievable. People were dropping garbage bags of toys off at my house daily for two weeks.
27. Friender Bender
One day when I was around 19, I took my father's car without permission to go to the 7/11. It was only a block away from my house and I could have walked, but I'd just got my licence and felt like going for a ride. Big. Mistake. When I got to the store, I started panicking, thinking my dad could get home and not see the car. Just as quickly as I decided to go to the store, I decided to leave.
But as I pulled out of the driveway, I hit another car! I considered running, but I decided I had to own up since I saw that everyone in the store turned their heads. The owner of the other car came out really chill to look at it. It was on the back of his car, and I kept apologizing over and over and explained that I had no licence, insurance, or permission to use the car.
But I told him that I would still take the responsibility for it. Before I could even give him my information, he calmly said to me, "well, run before your dad gets home!" I was shocked. He even helped me get out of the parking spot properly. Sir, wherever you are, I hope life has repaid that act of kindness x10 times!
28. Elevator Pitch
I started my route to an interview really early to make sure I’d be on time, but the train was late anyway. So, when I got off the train, I basically had to jog my way to the company. It was a really hot day, and my face was all sweaty. When I got in the elevator, a guy who worked there asked me if I was heading to HR.
I replied yes, and then he told me where the bathroom was so I could wash up a little bit before going in for my interview. I didn't thank him then and there, but I thank you now, kind stranger!
29. Driver To Driver
When I was 17, a bus driver saw me get on with my shiny new license plate. Instead of taking a few bucks, he didn't charge me fare. He said something like, "looks like you won't be needing me for a while. This one's on the house."
30. Riding It Out
This is the story of how some kind strangers literally saved my life. A few years ago, I crashed my motorcycle on a back-country road. A group of bikers found me and called one of their friends to bring a truck, drove me back to my apartment, brought my bike to one of their guys’ place who lived by me, and stayed with me to monitor how I was doing.
They later had to bring me to the ER because I started repeating myself. It turned out that I had a concussion. They stored my bike for me for about a month until I could get my insurance payout and offload the wreckage.
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31. Much Needed Replenishment
I was 19 and had just moved out of my parent’s house. I was in college, working in retail, living in a shoebox apartment, and broke. I had $50 a week for food. I was hungry, tired, and living on coffee and spite, and finals were that next week. My shirt had three stains and five holes. My dirty hair was in a messy bun.
I hadn't taken time to wash it. My sweatpants looked like I’d slept under a bridge in them, and my eye bags would be checked in luggage if I was flying. I was at the local budget grocery store, standing in front of the chicken, agonizing over getting some for me to add to the 15-bean soup that I splurged for that week.
I wanted it but knew I couldn't get it. A voice behind me said, "get the chicken." I turned around and saw a woman in her 50s, tall, with dark hair that had gone pretty gray, and lots of laugh lines. She was smiling at me. I said, "pardon me?" She repeated herself, "you should get the chicken." "Oh, well, you see, I-"
"I'll buy it for you." I was shocked. I thought that I must have heard her wrong or maybe I was hallucinating the whole thing. "Ma'am, I-" She cut me off; I guess she could tell by my face that I was confused. And she said to me, "I've been where you are. This isn't charity. This is me just doing what I wish someone had done for me.”
“I was broke and hungry and too proud to ask for help once. Please, let me buy the chicken for you." She was still smiling, but she looked sad too. She was so sincere. I was hungry and broke. But I wasn't proud enough to say no. I caved in ten seconds. We started to chat. I picked out the chicken cut that I wanted.
And then she dragged me back over to the produce section when she saw that I didn't have any fresh produce in my cart. She asked me, "when was the last time you ate a nice fresh tomato at home?" The answer was when I was still living with my parents. She walked around the store with me for an hour asking about my life.
I also asked her, and her answer was heartbreaking. She had a daughter named Amy who would have been my age if she hadn't been in a drinking and driving accident three years before. She had a son named Colin who was off at college and going to be an electrical engineer soon. She was very proud. She bought me $467.58 worth of food that day, and I cried.
I felt so guilty! She didn't even know me, and she was helping me! She would put things in the cart, and when I would protest, she would ask me if I needed it. I had no argument that would sway her. It wasn’t just food either. She bought me almost three months’ worth of toilet paper and four months’ of period supplies.
She helped me load up my car. She gave me a huge hug, told me I was going to do great, and walked away. I've never seen her again, but that was the best thing anyone's ever done for me.
32. Froyo Own Good
When I was 16, I worked at a frozen yogurt store and had to close late a lot by myself with no manager, supervisor, or co-worker. One night, five minutes before close, a woman who worked next door at the veterinary clinic walked in for her froyo. As she was paying, another man walked in but was being really suspicious.
He just sat down and looked at the machines but didn’t make an effort to buy anything. The woman asked me quietly if I was alone, and I said yes, so she nodded and just stood in front of the cash register with me. Eventually, after realizing that she was not leaving, the man left. I thanked her and locked up the store. I don't know what would have happened if she left, but to this day, I'm so grateful that she stayed.
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33. Getting Stuck
My period started in a public bathroom. It took me completely by surprise. My mom was there, fortunately, but she didn't have any supplies. As she started searching her purse for quarters for the dispenser, a woman offered her a tampon from her purse. She was so sweet. When we thanked her, she told us that the dispenser ones were terrible and just to pay it forward.
34. At A Loss
When my house burnt down, a close friend started a GoFundMe for me and my roommates. People ended up donating about $1300 to us, which made me feel bad because the Red Cross had swooped in immediately and set us up in hotel rooms and a stipend for meals and clothes until insurance kicked in, which would cover the rest.
That's when we came up with the perfect plan: We ended up taking the $1300 that was donated via GoFundMe and donated it directly back to the Red Cross.
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35. Barking Point
My wife and I were taking the three dogs to the vet when our car suddenly stalled and stopped right in the middle of an intersection. We were freaking out, but thankfully, an SUV pulled up behind us and offered to help push the car off the road. In talking, my wife mentioned that we were heading to the vet. To our surprise, the driver and his wife offered to bring our dogs to the vet for us, so that we wouldn't miss their appointment.
I waited for the tow truck. I also managed to get a hold of the in-laws to come get us, and they said yes. They brought my wife and dogs back just around when the in-laws had gotten there. To the kind strangers, thank you! We were going through a lot at the time, and this act of kindness kept us from "the final straw."
36. Been There
In 2014, I was involved in an incident in a border town. Some armed guys pulled my cousin and I over and forced us in the back. They tried to get information from us, but the car I’d been driving was the company’s, so I kept with the, “I just do my job,” line. My son had just been born a month prior, so I was praying to get out alive.
I prayed that if anything happened to me that they would drop my body somewhere where someone could find it for the insurance. After getting us to a store and emptying our debit cards, they beat us and dropped us at the US border. We managed to cross and ask for a travel permit and walked over to the first gas station.
I was asking people there to let me pay with my credit card and get cash as I didn’t know how to get money from the ATM. We finally got enough to pay a taxi to a hotel and started the process of letting family, friends, and work know what had happened, that we were okay, and we were looking into options to return home.
Then in walked a guy who I hadn’t seen in over a decade. He saw me beaten up and asked what was happening. I told him what happened, and he just pulled out his wallet and immediately gave me $500. The same thing had happened to him some months before, and another guy had given him cash to return home.
37. Paying My Dues
I was in a parking garage with no money to get out. There weren't any attendants. There was only an automated system. I was standing by the machine looking through my purse for any coins I could get but was still a dollar short, and the machine only accepted cash. A guy came over and put a dollar in the machine for me.
I thanked him profusely, and he said, "just pay it forward." I promised I would, and he made it clear that he was serious about it. A week later, I was at a NFL game and found a $10 bill on the ground. I remembered that I had made a promise, so I found a roving drink guy, gave it to him, and said, "consider this a tip."
38. We’re All In This Together
I took some acid at an EDM festival and became dehydrated. My group got up to leave the stage, and as we were walking, I just started slowing down. Step by step, I just felt weaker and weaker. My group was walking away without realizing that I was falling back. The crowd swallowed them, and I couldn’t see them anymore.
I took a few more steps, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t move. I was wobbling, and someone about 30 feet away saw me and yelled out, “are you okay?” I tried to reply, “I…can't…I can’t move…,” and wobbled when I tried to step and started to fall over. He ran over to me and grabbed my arm as I fell into a chain link fence.
Three other people ran over and started fanning me with their hands. I drank water and told them that I was okay, but they stayed for another five minutes and fanned me while I sat on the ground and drank more until I could speak clearly and seemed okay. They’d saved me that day, and I didn’t know a single one of them.
39. Like This Place Already
My wife and I had to move ourselves to a new area. We spent the previous 48 hours loading up a moving truck, driving 14 hours, unloading the moving truck, and unpacking boxes. We had a small window to work with while family watched our kid. We were exhausted, disheveled, and sleep deprived. We had no food in our house.
So, we found a place a few miles from new house to grab some lunch. We ordered our food, ate, and went to pay. That’s when we found out that someone else paid for our lunch with a note that said, "you look like you can use a hot meal." I'm not sure what they thought about us, but it was nice to have that in a new area.
40. Games With Dad
I was watching the World Series in a crowded bar. The old guy next to me chatted throughout the game. At the end of the game, he said that I reminded him of his son who was distant and that he was going to try to reconnect with him after talking with me. We were there for the rest of the series and when the Giants won.
He covered the entire bar’s tab for the winning game and also bought my dinners and drinks unprompted for every game of the series. When he picked up the whole place’s tab, I was shocked. He went, “eh, my bonus alone last year was $300,000. Don’t worry about it.”
41. Safely Delivered
Once when I was delivering pizzas in high school, I got stuck sideways in someone's driveway during the winter. The front and back of the car were wedged between snowbanks, and the driveway was very long, so no one from the house could see me. Worse yet, it was a rural low-traffic area. A guy was driving down the road.
He was towing a trailer with snow shovels as well as a snow blower and happened to stop. We used his shovels to dig me out. When I was unstuck, he simply said to, "pay it forward." That summer, I was randomly driving through the back roads of my town, and I came across a guy having trouble with his old 80's Ford truck.
Both his batteries had stopped working, and he was pretty stranded. I had some chains, so I offered to hook up and slack-chain him back to his driveway that was a few miles away. When we finally got his truck parked safely in his driveway, he asked me, "hey, weren't you that delivery guy I helped out of that driveway?"
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42. Been A Treat
I was visiting friends with my kids, and we went to an ice cream shop. My oldest was quite excited running around being silly while we sat outside. There was also a middle-aged couple sitting out there, so I kept asking her to stay by me and be quiet, so she wouldn't bother them. We got up to leave when they came over.
They asked me if they could buy my daughter a gift card for the shop. I was speechless for a moment but told them of course and that it was so kind of them. "We lost our daughter years ago who looked so much like her," they said. "Make sure she gets more ice cream," and they left. I cried for a little while after that.
43. On The Right Track
I live near an airport and was waiting for a train when a guy came up to me with his wife and five suitcases. He asked in his broken German if I could help him get two train tickets. It’d only take about 10 seconds, so of course I helped him. He told me to keep the change. It was only seven euros, but it paid for my cold brew.
44. Keeping Company
I was having lunch in college with some friends when another bunch of guys arrived from a different class. We all knew each other but were not close. I started eating late, so I was still eating when my friends finished who then went and left. Some of the guys from the other class wanted to leave, but one stopped them.
He said, “[my name] is still eating. we can’t go yet.” So, for the rest of my meal, they hung out with me while my own friends ditched me. Now, that guy who had spoken up is a close friend and a groomsman in my wedding.
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45. Special Date
One time in the dark evening in October, I took my 4-year-old girl out for a walk to the grocery store, so we could have a little treat at the deli. We’d even left her 1 year old brother home with dad, so it was a really big deal to her, and she was so excited while we were standing in line waiting to order our snacks.
We sang together softly the whole time little Christmas songs and telling funny jokes and stuff. She saw a Halloween cookie kit, got super excited, and asked me for it, but I said no baby, maybe next week. We were a super young family. I didn't work, and we had enough for some snacks but not a $10 cookie kit that week.
While we prepared to eat and marvelled at what a treat we had, the man who’d been standing behind us for the ten minutes in line walked by and very casually put the box of cookies on our table and left before I even realized what he’d done. That day happened to be my birthday, and that man gave my baby special cookies.
46. Chip Off The Old Block
My son lost his Pringles at lunch and was crying. Some of the "big kids" comforted him by giving him some of their own food. Then, the next day, they brought him a whole can of Pringles. He was so happy.
47. Merriment To Help
I was at Walmart getting groceries with my wife and kids. It was a particularly tough year. I had lost my job, bills were piling up, and we were close to tears every night because we had no idea if we were even going to be able to afford to give our kids anything for Christmas. Anyway, as all this was running through my mind, I went to another aisle to get something.
While I was there, an elderly couple approached my wife, handed her a $100 bill saying, "Merry Christmas." She tried to give it back, but they refused. Apparently, they didn't have any kids or grandkids, so every year they looked for someone with kids and give them a gift. My wife burst into tears and hugged the woman.
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48. Important To Learn
My parents hadn’t been there for me and my two siblings after divorcing. They kicked two of us out at 18, which left the 13-year-old between fighting parents. I just got custody of him because of the stress three years later when I was finally old enough to get him. He started working part time at a Mexican restaurant.
I went to pick him up from work, and the owner was at the bar. He asked me why I always picked him up and where our parents were. I gave him a quick run-through but not too much. He offered to pay the rest of my college tuition so that I could provide for my brother better and just set up a fund for him for his school.
I'm now going through medical school on him, and my little brother will also be able to attend once he's out of high school. I will never be able to thank him enough. He only knew my little brother as a hard-working dishwasher, and now he's provided a future for us. I can only hope that I can do the same in the future.
49. Just What We Needed
We were waiting in line at our state's renaissance fair. We tried to go every year, but we took in a few more kids to help family out and were short on money. We ended up getting enough for admission but little else, and we were basically going just to keep tradition. We had everyone in cheap costumes we bought online.
Someone came and offered us four tickets that they had extra from winning a radio show call in contest. We gratefully accepted and stayed in line because we still needed two more. Then a different group gave us two more tickets to get us in without having to pay. We spent what we saved at the fair and had a great time.
50. Rewarded For Good Behavior
We were out to eat with our kids, and my son, being the little punk that he was, threw his kids menu sheet under the booth next to us. It belonged to two middle aged ladies who were wearing skirts. My husband asked one of the ladies to please get it because he didn't want to go crawling under. She was kind enough to grab it and we briefly chatted.
Then, the women finished with their meal. As they got up to leave, one of them handed my son a $5 and gave my daughter one too. She said to get them dessert because they're so well behaved. I do have to admit my kids are very well mannered in public except for when my boy is a stinker, but I never expected a stranger to pay them for it.
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51. Running On Empty
I was 21. I had just lost my father, my girlfriend dumped me, and I failed out of college. I was really depressed. My life was turning into a huge heap of garbage. So, I decided to hop in my car and just drive. After a couple of days, I was in a Waffle House somewhere in Atlanta. It was 3 AM, and I was the only patron.
A guy walked in and sat right next to me. I thought it was odd because there were so many open seats. We got to talking, and somehow, I opened up to this guy about life and my struggles. He listened. He cared. He told me to go back home because running away from my problems was not the right answer. We hugged. I cried.
52. Withholding Expenses
I lost my wallet after a night out. On Monday, it was just gone. On Tuesday afternoon, the guy who found it knocked on my door and gave it back. He was my hero. I got the wallet as an 18th birthday present. I'm 38 and had the wallet 20 years without losing it until then. I’ll definitely pay that human kindness forward.
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53. Taking Care Of It
After a motorcycle accident, a homeless guy returning some bottles dropped everything and dragged me off the road. Then he took my wallet out of my pocket to help me find my health card, used my cellphone to call for an ambulance, gave my phone back, talked a passer-by into waiting with me, and then went about his day.
Pikist
54. Relieving Message
Last year, my husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer. That meant he was out of work. But then we got a letter in the mail from our county. When I opened it, I felt my eyes fill up with tears. It turned out that someone had gone in and anonymously paid for our taxes on our house. It was definitely a blessing during a hard time.
55. Player Won
I was about 12 and rode my bike to a local GameStop. I didn’t have enough money to buy this Kingdom Hearts Gameboy game even though I scraped up as much money I could find around the couch and what I did from chores. The GameStop guy didn’t care. I was so sad, until a big guy behind me in a grey suit then threw cash on the counter for me.
56. Hot Second
I was in a car accident that set off both air bags and briefly knocked me out. I came around to a woman opening my car door and reaching in to help me out of the car. She had been driving behind me and saw the airbag powder. Her first instinct was to get me out of danger. She ran towards my car thinking it was on fire.
57. The Wrong Places
When I was about 18, my boyfriend at the time and I took a four-day cruise to the Bahamas. Neither one of us had ever really been away anywhere in our lives, so this was a big trip for us. After we reached the port and took our luggage, the first thing we did was go to our hotel to unpack. So, I went and opened my bag. That's when I made a strange discovery.
I realized I had someone else's things. Of course, I panicked because everything I brought with me was in that one bag, and when I called the port no one was answering. Freaking out and feeling helpless about it, my boyfriend and I went down to the hotel restaurant to have lunch. Our server could see I had been crying.
So, he asked me what happened. After I explained, he told me his girlfriend worked at the port, and he would call her and try to help. The guy, a total stranger, ended up driving us to the port to get my bag and then drove us around the island and gave us a tour of all the cool places most tourists wouldn't get to see.
58. Whatever Stuck
I was walking from school when I fell and hit my knee on the curb. I only had a period pad. So, there I was, my pad on my knee walking by a main road. This old couple came to ask how I doing. I told them what happened. They walked me home and stopped at the shops to buy a plaster. The next day, they even checked on me.
59. Worked Hard For This
I had worked at a school district for 4.5 years on databases. Everyone liked me there except for the one that mattered, the CIO. He had started a year before, and I would openly disagree when working on database designs. Mind you, this was usually when we were discussing in his office and making plans with just us two.
After around a year, he decided that the department needed a "reorganization" and "reorg'd" my position away. I spent those next two weeks doing as much documentation as I could to save whoever they hired to replace me. I floated on unemployment for a month and a half before one of my old team leads decided to hire me.
He worked for another school district. I was getting 25% more, and the office was 10 minutes away from my house over the previous 45 minutes. After working there for half a year, I noticed something strange on my "employee screen" while checking some of my PTO numbers. I was stunned: My amount of PTO had somehow increased by 30 days.
I went to HR and asked around. They checked and said that someone from my previous workplace liked me enough to submit paper work to transfer over my 30 PTO days that I hadn’t used yet. You got to transfer PTO from your previous workplace if you’re jumping from one district to another. I hadn't known about the benefit, but someone did, and they made sure I'd get to enjoy my time off. Whoever it was, thank you.
60. Leaving So Soon
The first year of college, I met this girl who turned out to be from the same area as me. During the summer, I went to a concert and then a party with her and went back to her place to crash on the couch. Now, I was used to sleeping over at people's houses after partying and going right home to not overstay my welcome.
I got up to leave and her dad, who I hadn't actually met or seen, asked why I was leaving so early, if I wanted breakfast, etc. He was being very hospitable, and I decided to take him up. He had me drive him to Whole Foods and did light grocery shopping to make breakfast, and we were talking about whatever while there.
He was a very easy guy to talk to, and we really hit it off on the subject of environmentalism and sustainability. This guy had never met me, and his introduction to me was my wasted self who’d woken up on his couch. He talked to me in a way like, "are you trying to date my daughter? Let me get an idea of who you are."
It was valid because I did like the girl. He also talked to me in a way that was like, "oh, look, someone new, let me show them some hospitality and make them feel comfortable." It felt like he was talking to me as an equal, which stuck out since, again, the only thing he knew me as was some guy who slept on his couch.
We made breakfast, and the four of us ate and chatted for a while, and I left. It really felt like such a wholesome place, and they were all such good people. I wanted to hang out more with the girl, but she disappeared off social media, and I couldn't get a hold of her all summer. Then I learned that sadly, her dad had passed. He was such a good guy.
61. Beyond Expectations
I was a teacher. My job was good, but tough. We were pulled so thin due to lack of employees and funds that I typically ended up doing an hour or two extra each day for no pay, and I never ever took a sick day. I was happy to do it, I considered the good of the school important to me, but still, it was hard. I felt like I could never take a break.
One day, I received the worst news: My wife had a medical emergency. It was scary but since she said she didn't need me to be with her, I planned to finish out the day and see her as soon as I was done. My boss had different ideas. He insisted I go home and be with her. The other teachers would cover everything for me. One supervisor was being difficult about it, but my boss said not to worry about that. He’d take care of it.
That was already so kind of him, but he went even further. By the time I got home, my boss had contacted several influential people in the community including doctors. My wife was supposed to wait four weeks for her next appointment to determine what exactly the problem was, but it had been moved up to the next morning with the top specialist in the country. This is in Canada.
You're not supposed to be able to do that. In the meantime, a lower-level specialist who was off duty returned to work just to see my wife immediately. Throughout the rest of my time I was employed there, I got annoyed every time they said that the principal didn't care about his employees because he couldn't pay more.
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62. A Healthy Amount
My dog was very sick. I had been back and forth to the vet, and it was really beginning to add up. I was freaking out about money when the vet office called to say that someone had donated a bunch of medication to me and my dog. They wouldn't tell me who but it ended up saving me a whole lot. I was so, so, so grateful.
63. Something Old
I accidentally stumbled upon a wedding dress that I loved for $60 with only three weeks left until my wedding. I called around everywhere, and not one local business could fit me in for alterations. I was discussing this with a co-worker on our hospital lunch break in a quiet area, and a nurse popped around the corner.
She said, “I do alterations! I would love to look at it!” Taken aback, I asked what she normally charged for her work. She said, “eh, 50 dollars,” which was extremely cheap for wedding dress alterations. I accepted her offer, got her number, and arranged for me to bring the dress in on our lunch break for the next day.
She had me come for several fittings just to make sure it was perfect. She even purchased additional material for part of it. During the fittings, we talked about our lives, and she revealed the heartbreaking truth: Her mother passed that winter. They used to sew together and working on projects like mine made her feel close to her mom again.
On the day that I picked it up, she handed me the beautiful, perfect dress with a huge smile. I tried to give her some money to show my gratitude, but no matter what I said, she wouldn’t take it. She told me it was on her in honor of her mother. I broke down, and we both cried together. I promised to pass on her good deed one day.
64. Here For You
I was in Whitefish, Montana for work and decided to go to a discrete gay bar. I met this guy who I thought was pretty cool. We went back to his place where his roommates were, and everything seemed cool. They were pounding back pints and asked if I wanted one. I said, “sure, why not.” I had two and wasn’t feeling well.
I decided to lay low when all of sudden one his roommates demanded that I drink another. I said no, and she told me that it wasn’t a question and I had to have another or leave. It escalated so quickly that I didn’t know what to do, so I politely told them to screw off and left. But my hotel was about 15-20 miles away.
I started walking back at 1 AM in the woods with no cell service, and to top it off, it was 20 degrees out in October. An old pick-up truck in the opposite direction did a U-turn and pulled up right next me. He opened his door and asked where I was going. I told him and said I had no cash for the ride if he’s offering.
He told me that he wasn’t even thinking of asking for money. I hopped in, and he told me how he lost his son because someone had been drinking and driving and hit him. He told me how he would drive up and down the road when he couldn’t sleep. He looked out for people hitchhiking after the clubs to get them home safely.
Sources: Reddit,
