How about a thread to share “unexpected” honesty or kindess. (Or even “expected” kindnesses!)
I live in Cheyenne, WY, a city of 60,000 residents.
I went to Sam’s Club a couple of days ago and among other things bought a big ol’ jar of cashew nuts, which I proceeded to leave behind in the cart, which I shoved into the cart corral without noticing. Got home, realized what had happened, and because I’d forgot another errand I drove into town again. (About an 8 mile trip.)
I didn’t really expect someone to have turned in the cashews to the customer service desk, but I thought I’d just ask. (I wouldn’t have thought it dishonest if no one had, because it wasn’t a purse or wallet, but rather just a jar of cashew nuts - so it would’ve been a kindness to turn that in).
Long story short, I asked at customer service, and lo and behold someone had been kind enough to bring the cashews into the store and turn them over.
Only a $13 value, but I was surprised and pleased that someone had done so.
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This was 2-4 years ago, I’d say. Just remembered it.
Was in a neighboring town that has a bad reputation (nobody has bothered me when I’ve been, but it has its homeless by the main library and drug addicts have their haunts. Probably best to limit excursions to those sections to daylight hours).
Anyway I had to be there, & stopped in a doughnut shop for a quick bite. Young guy, on my way out, stops me with “Ma’am, you forgot your phone.”
It was an unexpected kindness, & significant because at the time I had no pass code on the phone. Calls could have been made to any number of places, even outside the U S, before I realized it was gone.
Not everyone will grab an opportunity for freebies charged to someone else. That’s great to know!
The little acts of kindness are often the most significant. Thanks for posting this.
Many years ago circa 1988 I was home on leave and traveling from my home up to Amarillo about a hundred miles away.
It was a brutally hot day in August and about thirty miles from nowhere I came up behind an elderly couple in a car that was smoking so bad I thought it was going to catch fire.
I waved them over to the side of the road, told them what I was seeing and offered to investigate.
Turns out they’d just had an oil change at Walmart in a town about fifty miles away and the tech had installed the new oil filter without removing the old gasket so they were steadily spewing oil onto the hot exhaust.
I offered to run into town and get them some oil after being sure we had things cooled off enough that fire was no longer a worry.
By the time I got back it was cool enough to remove the filter and the extra gasket, reinstalled it and filled them up with oil.
The old couple was so grateful they tried to give me a hundred dollar bill which I of course refused.
I did let them fill up my truck and had a hamburger with them in town which was more than enough.
Sometimes it’s not the kindness of strangers that is such a surprise but how gratefully received the gift that is something truly special.
Helping them was just “the right thing to do” but their reaction made my day and it still puts a smile on my face to think about it 31 years later.
True.
Some weeks ago I was driving downtown on a residential street and saw an old woman - like in her 80s - sitting on the side of her lawn. Not doing anything, just sitting there and not looking happy.
She wasn’t waving or gesturing for help, but I could tell something was wrong. I’ve got an elderly mother who had the same problem. Knelt down to do some gardening but stayed down too long, stiffened up, and couldn’t get to her feet.
So I pulled off on the next side road, walked back and asked if she needed help. As I suspected she couldn’t get up, so I gave her a hand. She said thanks, but she was more upset with herself for her inabliity to get up. She’d been waiting in hopes of getting her strength back. (Wouldn’t have happened, IMHO.)
Anyway, I’m not sure how long she’d been sitting there, and like I say she wasn’t waving or anything, and I had my mother’s example as my ‘trigger’ that something might be wrong.
I’ve often wondered just how long she’d have had to sit there before someone else driving by thought - that’s odd - and went to investigate.
