Where Are All The Nice People?

T

twiggers

O.G.
May 7, 2006
33,003
32
#1
Sometimes you hear a story about something nice that someone did for another person and you wonder "Are there really people like this left in this crazy, self-centered, fast-paced world?" Maybe you're skeptical or wonder why you've never encountered people like this. A lot of people talk about karma in the context of nice deeds.

I thought maybe we could share stories of nice/karmic things you've done for others or good deeds that you have been the recipient of. Examples that there are good people out there still!!!

For example, yesterday I was walking my dog and noticed this little dog standing at the corner with a collar and tags. I picked my dog up (not sure if this was a friendly dog or not) and approached the other dog to check out their tags. Fortunately, the tags had phone numbers, which I called. A woman answered and I told her I had her dog and that I would wait for her to come. So, I stood outside with my dog in 90+ degree Miami heat and humidity for her to arrive. They arrived about 10 minutes later...the woman was thanking me profusely (the husband didn't say a word as he got out of the car and picked up the dog).
I didn't really think twice about it....I would hope that someone would do the same thing for me!!!
 
#2
I love the idea of this thread!
Well, I did something nice for somebody this weekend - I live in London and we tend not to make eye contact or speak to strangers here :biggrin:
Anyway, making my way home from the supermarket, there was a lady with her dog, obviously very lost - I asked if I could help, turns out her dog was very sick and she didn't know where the emergency vet was. I took them right there, kissed the doggie for good luck and have been holding good thoughts ever since...wonder if i'll ever find out how her dog got on?
 
#3
That was nice of you to help out that owner with their lost dog. My dh has a dog incident over the weekend as well. Its sad that there are so many rude people out there though.

My dh gets a call Saturday night about 9pm from a co-worker that he isn't friends with, but we both have dogs. The co worker is out of town and his dog sitter had let out his chocolate lab and she had gone missing. So, my dh gets in his car, drives 15 minutes to the co workers house and hunts around for 30 minutes for his dog. Luckily he found her 2 subdivisions over, but she was returned home safe and sound.

I always try to do things that I would want others to do for me, such as small things like holding doors open, letting people go in front of me, etc. We were out shopping this weekend for school and its just amazing to me that people will not even thank you for holding the door, or say excuse me for butting in front of you!
 
#4
Mine isn't a dog story but last year at Christmas time, while at work on my break, I overheard a co-worker upset that she wouldn't be able to buy her daughter anything for Christmas. Her husband was not working and hers was the only income. She was crying and talking about how the 2 older boys would understand but her daughter was younger and had never not had a Christmas.

Well, with Christmas being my favorite holiday, I couldn't let a little girl wake up to no gifts. So I went and bought a Wal Mart gift card and the next day, I gave it to her. She was so happy and grateful, started crying which made me cry and thanked me all day.

It made me feel good. I didn't think of it as a good deed because I didn't expect anything in return and was happy to be able to help.
 
#7
this is a great thread!

hmmm well the other day i carried a chair from one end of the dog park to the other for an elderly woman who (in my opinion) shouldn't have been in the dog park to begin with because if one of those dogs ran by her and took her out, she would've broken a hip or worse! so i brought the chair over for her to sit in and she thanked me profusely.
 
#8
For some reason your story reminds me of all the times I tried to be a good samaritan and was not appreciated for it. I love it when you do something nice for someone, and they genuinely appreciate your help. That makes for a heartwarming story:smile: But I've had my fair share of kind acts go unnoticed or worse, actually regretted doing something nice for someone. When you mentioned that the husband didn't say a word when you returned the dog, that kind of reaction really gets me!

For example, I once was walking my (ex)dog, and we found a dog that was lost. I too looked at its tags, and spent about 15 extra minutes walking the dog back to its home. When I got there, I rang the doorbell, and this teenager came out. He didn't even say thank you and looked at me like I was some weirdo. So I left, and when I turned around, I saw he had gone back inside and just let the dog roam free in the yard. Maybe he was trying to lose the dog, I don't know!

And I also had this discussion with my DH yesterday, as we were approached by a homeless man in the grocery store parking lot looking for change. I was reminded of 3 separate stories where I gave in and gave money to someone, only to see that the person had lied about having no gas in the car (because they got in and drove off), lied about buying salami and bread (because they didn't even go in the store), and lied about being hungry (because all they bought was liquor).

So I'm a little more careful about when I choose to be a good samaritan. I'll still do it, but I've become jaded, sadly:sad: One of my biggest pet peeves is when I walk through a door and hold it open for the person behind me, and they don't even catch it, and I'm stuck with my arm contorted behind me, holding the door for some ungrateful person. I don't expect a medal, I just expect a simple thank you! Or a little honesty! When someone goes out of their way to do something nice for me, I am overly thankful and make sure they know I appreciate it. So I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's stories of worthwhile kindness!:smile:
 
#9
Thank you, it made me feel really good. She had even wanted to pay me back and I told her no, it was my gift to her to give her daughter a Christmas.
 
#10
bellafleur said:
For some reason your story reminds me of all the times I tried to be a good samaritan and was not appreciated for it. I love it when you do something nice for someone, and they genuinely appreciate your help. That makes for a heartwarming story:smile: But I've had my fair share of kind acts go unnoticed or worse, actually regretted doing something nice for someone. When you mentioned that the husband didn't say a word when you returned the dog, that kind of reaction really gets me!

For example, I once was walking my (ex)dog, and we found a dog that was lost. I too looked at its tags, and spent about 15 extra minutes walking the dog back to its home. When I got there, I rang the doorbell, and this teenager came out. He didn't even say thank you and looked at me like I was some weirdo. So I left, and when I turned around, I saw he had gone back inside and just let the dog roam free in the yard. Maybe he was trying to lose the dog, I don't know!

And I also had this discussion with my DH yesterday, as we were approached by a homeless man in the grocery store parking lot looking for change. I was reminded of 3 separate stories where I gave in and gave money to someone, only to see that the person had lied about having no gas in the car (because they got in and drove off), lied about buying salami and bread (because they didn't even go in the store), and lied about being hungry (because all they bought was liquor).

So I'm a little more careful about when I choose to be a good samaritan. I'll still do it, but I've become jaded, sadly:sad: One of my biggest pet peeves is when I walk through a door and hold it open for the person behind me, and they don't even catch it, and I'm stuck with my arm contorted behind me, holding the door for some ungrateful person. I don't expect a medal, I just expect a simple thank you! Or a little honesty! When someone goes out of their way to do something nice for me, I am overly thankful and make sure they know I appreciate it. So I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's stories of worthwhile kindness!:smile:
Click to expand...

i definitely understand where you are coming from with this. one time i was going into a convenience store and there was a homeless man in front who was saying how hungry he was, he hadn't eaten in days, was becoming sick, etc. he kept asking people for money. he really got to me, so i bought him a huge hoagie inside and gave it to him. he was so angry with me. he kept asking me why i did it and i tried explaining i wanted him to have a nice meal, but he didn't seem to get it. as i was walking back to my car, i heard him trying to sell the hoagie for cash to other people going into the store. i don't know what he wanted the money for, but he obviously wasn't hungry....
 
#11
floridasun8 said:
I always try to do things that I would want others to do for me, such as small things like holding doors open, letting people go in front of me, etc. We were out shopping this weekend for school and its just amazing to me that people will not even thank you for holding the door, or say excuse me for butting in front of you!
Click to expand...

Same here! I always hold doors for people because I know how many times I've had them slammed on me (particularly when I'm going into the post office with an armload of packages). I remember recently I was holding the door for some lady who then proceeded to bend down and do something to her shoe while she was in the doorway. All the while, I was still holding the door open (like I'm going to let it slam on her while she's down there)...finally she stands up and just walks out the door, no "thank you," nothing. :faint:


But in general, I always try to be courteous to everyone no matter how annoyed I am. I guess the whole "Treat others the way you want to be treated" thing my mom taught me when I was little stuck with me.
 
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#12
Okay, here's my story:

My fiance and I went shopping last weekend. It was our first supermarket trip to fill up our new apartment! Anyway, we went to the local Shop Rite, but realized when we went for a shopping cart, that they are chained together and you have to put a quarter in the slot to release the chain holding your cart to the rest. You all know what I mean... Well, darn! Neither one of us had an actual quarter coin. So, I stopped a man coming out who didn't seem to have a lot of bags with him (easy to carry to his car without the cart) and I offered him 25 cents in return for an actual quarter.
He paused, looked me right in the eyes and answered my offer with a, "No, you can't!" For a moment, I was stunned...lol Until he said, "You can have the cart WITHOUT giving me your 25 cents!"

Now, I know we are only talking about a small amount of money, but at the time it just seemed like a really sweet thing for him to do. I was raised to pay people back even if I owed them a penny. Plus, nowadays people seem to hold on to every cent they have. In any case, it made me FEEL so good. I smiled all day and I told my fiance that I would 'pay it forward'. Such a small thing can make such wonderful BIG things happen, you know?
 
#14
I try to do nice things for others when I see the opportunity.

I would see a small dog walking around the streets from time to time when I was walking my dog. There were a lot of cars around one night so I got it to follow me all the way to it's house (my parents know the owners) and got the owners to lock their gate so he doesn't get out again.

Last weekend I saw a lady screaming and crying and being hysterical in the parking lot of the shopping centre (I was putting my grocery's into my car). Everyone ignored her, but she looked so freaked out, so I went to ask her if she needed any help. Her baby liked to play with keys and she had handed the keys to the baby as she was putting it into it's car seat. By the time she got around to the drivers side, the baby had pressed the keys and locked itself inside. Her bag and phone were in the car, so I offered her my phone to call her husband. He was not close, so I told her I could drive her to her place to get her spare keys since it was the next suburb. She wasn't sure where the spares would be so I just called road assistance for her and tried to calm her down as much as I could.

Oh and I always give up my seat on the train for older people if there are no spare seats. Other people on the train always look freaked out when I do this.
 
#15
I will write this as a thank you to the people who helped me when I fell last year.

I was running for the cable car last spring and stupidly tripped and fell over my own feet. I fell forward on my wrist, broke it, and then landed on my face. It was just awful. A man with black hair and glasses in an olive business suit helped me up even though I was bleeding, made sure that I was conscious and even was honest enough to call my attention to my new watch (which is my one and only Rolex that I had bought myself as an early birthday present) which had come undone and was falling off my wrist. I put it in my handbag.

He took me into the Tadich Grill restaurant, where a waiter helped me, got me ice, took me into the ladies' room and called my husband to take me to the emergency room. I don't recall the waiter's name.

At any rate, I never did find out who that man was who helped me, but I'll forever be grateful to him and the waiter from Tadich Grill.
 
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