Hey Pandas, What’s The Nicest Thing A Stranger Has Ever Done For You? (Closed)

The woman who found me after my car crash was amazing. I was trapped in the car and all the windows were broken. After she called an ambulance, she put her own coat over me because it was cold, and then she sat with me until the ambulance arrived. She held my hand and kept telling me that everything would be all right soon, that help was on the way, that nothing could happen to me, that she would stay with me, that I didn't need to worry, etc. I was badly injured and in a lot of pain, but her words got through to me and made me feel better and a lot less scared. I will never forget her kindness.

In 2007 my wife got a call about 6:00 am that her father had passed away. After going to the rehab facility to take care of things we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast. She was of course on the phone notifying people while we were there, and apparently someone overheard, because when I asked the server for our check she said it had been taken care of by someone who realized we were having a bad day. He or she didn't want recognition, so we couldn't express our appreciation.

I don't know if this counts, because she wasn't a complete stranger - she had been my doctor before - but I had lost my insurance, so now we were just acquaintances. We happened to run into each other on the street once & realized we lived in the same neighborhood. At that time, I had undiagnosed bipolar disorder, was in denial, & in an incredible amount of pain. Tbh, I was pretty nutty. But she invited me for coffee, & we started meeting once a week - on her own time - early before she went to work. Eventually, she gently convinced me to try medication. She literally saved my life.

I never met my biological mother. I never will, not in this lifetime anyway, because she passed many years ago. The best thing she ever did was give me up for adoption. It breaks my heart that it was such a wrenching decision she had to make on her own. Her brother told me it was a decision made out of love, and I would have been raised in poverty if she'd kept me. This is truly the most selfless thing you can do for another person.

It was the late 1980s. I had been fired and had to use a pay phone. I left my wallet at the phone by accident. Back then, we had landlines, and the person who found my wallet went through it and contacted me. He was so kind to do that.

On the flip side, years later, I went out to get into my car one day and saw the contents of a brief case scattered on the ground. So I gathered them up and took them home hoping to find the owner.

The way that I tracked her down was via a cashiers check. I called the person that it was made out to and that person contacted the owner of the contents. Turns out, the check was for a catering event for a significant family occasion and she was distraught about the loss of the check. But, having recovered it, they were able to continue on.

Always look for those opportunities to make a difference.

Once I was having lunch with my sister and I ordered an iced coffee( a regular coffee with some ice cubes). The waitress showed up with a regular cappuccino. I kindly corrected her and said that I ordered an iced coffee. She said there was an error on the menu, so she can't make me one. I was like: "It's fine, thank you." 15 minutes later she showed up with an iced coffee. I know it is not the nicest thing for some, but she made my day. Gave her a tip.
(Italian chain restaurant in Hungary)

Maybe not the nicest thing, but it was a simple, kind gesture that I will always remember. I was a female engineering student in the early 1980's working as a waitress at a local cafe. One young man came in fairly regularly by himself and would read a book while he ate his lunch. He was a man of few words, and I respected his privacy. One day, I noticed he was reading "1984," a science fiction novel by George Orwell. I commented that I had that book on my list to read. He came into the cafe the next week, walked straight up to me, and handed me the book without saying a word. I thanked him, and he turned and left. It's these simple, everyday acts of kindness that keep my faith in humanity.

A specialist paediatric surgeon cancelled spending his Christmas holiday in Greece with his family so he could treat me (in the UK). He literally saved my life and showed such kindness and understanding while I was recovering.

One of my first cars I got after getting a DL didn't run and had to be trailered back. It was out of town and shortly after getting the car loaded one of the trailer's tires blew. We didn't have a spare so we unhooked it from the truck and went into town to find a replacement. Met someone at this gas station where we had stopped to ask about tire shops (way before smartphone era). This person we met was getting arrested at the time but pleaded with the cops to uncuff them and let them get us a spare wheel/tire combination he had from one of his trailers before proceeding into police custody. The cops allowed it and it was a perfect fit for our trailer. It got us and the old car home. Thank you unknown stranger in police custody, hehe.

I was fumbling around trying to use a credit card to pay my bill at the Dollar Tree, holding up a line of people when a man stepped up and used his own card and paid my bill. So nice.

I was playing (now revamped because of copyright strikes) a game in Roblox called Kaiju Universe where you get to play all your favorite kaijus from the Godzilla franchise. So one day I was just talking with some players when one of them private messaged me asking if I believe in miracles and the likes. I said yes and the next thing I knew he gifted me 2 game pass kaijus (I think the price for both was 1499 to 2000 robux). I nearly cried because they were exactly the two I wanted for a long time but couldn't buy them as I had no money. Before I could thank him he left the server.

I was 10 y.o. and struggling with suicidal thoughts for more than a year (because of domestic violence, beatings, child abuse etc.). I was with my family on vacation in a nice cabin in the mountains. When no one was paying attention, I gathered some dane weed fruits - they look like blueberries but are very poisonous - and hid them under the stairs at the cabin's entrance. I was planning to gather some more the next day, just to be sure of the result.

Only that the following morning, the landlady came to do the cleaning, which included sweeping everywhere in the yard. She must have noticed; dane weed berries don't just show up under your stairs. She threw them away and didn't say anything. I noticed she carefully swept the yard the following mornings too.

I didn't have the courage to pick others. Had I found those picked initially, I would have probably been dead.

This may sound weird, but a physical therapy nurse telling me I had great eyebrows ranks really high for me. For context, I was in the hospital after having a stroke and was not doing great mentally. I was on my second day of recurring loss of function in my left side. For some reason, when the nurse told me I had great eyebrows, it made me feel better in spite of all I was going through.
And I realize that every nurse and doctor who helped me would fit into this list, that little thing is what stood out to me amongst the countless pokes, prods, and tests.

In my first or second year of uni, I was living at home and attending school in a different city. At the time I didn't have a license so I would bus 2hrs each way with 1 transfer. One evening, I had to stay late on campus so finally arrived at the mall at like 11:01pm. Unfortunately, by that time the second bus only came once an hour and had just left. It was late fall and raining so I huddled into the only bus shelter on that side of the terminal. Inside there was a nurse and a middle-aged dude. The middle aged guy was very into Jack Sparrow-- not Johnny Depp, Jack Sparrow-- he had the same tattoos, wrote his eyeliner the same way and had grown out his hair to be able the same length. He naturally started to hit on me (I was only 18)-- to the point that the nurse told him to lay off a little bit didn't want to get too involved so put in earbuds. He kept trying to talk to me, touch the edges of my clothes, touch my hair-- keep in mind the dude was about my dad's age. I tried to be polite but firm and tell him that while flattered, please stop because I had a fiancé and was taken (not true but I hoped the bluff would be enough). Buddy didn't get the hint and instead started to get much creepier. I kept looking at the nurse pleading for help, like one woman to another... now her expression was 'not my circus, not my monkeys' I told him firmly to stop, I'm not interested, I'm just trying to get home (no longer polite). He asked me if I had ever f**k*d a pirate before before following it up by saying he's never f**k*d a "mocha" girl before. I put on headphones hoping that would make him stop, but he continued, taking out an earbud, started asking really lewd questions (like if I would take off my coat so he could see what he's working with or if I like to call men daddy)... yeah, that was enough for me, I left the only shelter and decided to walk out in the rain (I was pretty reluctant because I had just gotten my hair done that morning and I didn't want to ruin it)... but he followed behind me. I went to a lit area and he grabbed my arm, pointing out that I don't have a ring, I'm not engaged, so i shouldn't pay so hard to get-- i yelled at him to leave me alone, that I want interested, to back off and that I wouldn't go home with him, or f**k him or anything, just... stop, I'm just trying to get home like everyone else. But he just kept persisting,e asked where my fiancé was, why he would let a "sl*t like [me]" out of his sight. He started trying to actually hold me, pushing me against the side of the building and I was just trying to get him to let go of me. Out of nowhere the dude got yanked back by his collar by some random dude. I recognized the guy as someone I'd seen at my busstop a few times, but any attempt to talk to him, was always met with silence. The dude was like that 'too cool' for the world vibe-- like black leather jacket, black biker boots, some indie-band tee. He never spoke, never smiled, just looked like he tolerated your prescence-- so I was super surprised by him intervening. So was Capt. Jack, who let go of me immediately and started trying to awkwardly fight back against the stranger. I'll never forget what the stranger said, he was like "she said no, or can you not hear that word" He started complaining that the guy should f**k off and that things didn't concern him-- to which the guy responded "it does when you're putting your hands on my fiancée" capt jack hesitated but decided it wasn't worth the trouble I guess. The stranger wrapped his arm around me and kept it up like "sorry it took me so long to get an umbrella, sweetie, but here, let's wait for our bus at the stop (before leading us to a different stop just in case the guy was going to watch what bus we were waiting for). After we saw Jack leave, we snuck back into the shelter, and introduced ourselves. I thanked him for rescuing me and he kind of just shrugged, said he had a sister and we never spoke again.

nothing society is doomed :l