I have a feeling that most people who help out strangers don’t ever tell other people about it. They do those kind acts not for recognition, but so they can help out people who are in need or who are down on their luck.
Try it sometime! It feels great to help another person out, whether you know them or not.
Let’s take a look at a collection of wholesome stories from AskReddit users who helped out complete strangers.
1. That was nice.
“A young girl who was homeless was outside a McDonald’s I didn’t have any change but had my debt card.
So I asked her if she wanted something to eat and she happily asked for a chicken burger.”
2. Flat tire.
“I saw a guy changing his tire on the side of the road, just as dusk was falling.
Figuring he could use a little extra light, I pulled in behind him and left my headlights on. When I got out of the car and starting talking to the man, he was old and a little frail, so I changed his tire for him.”
3. Good Karma.
“It was pouring down rain one afternoon and I was in Arby’s Drive Thru. The Speaker box was broken for taking orders, so they had one employee to stand by it and relay your order to the kitchen via walkie talkie.
The poor guy didn’t even have an umbrella, so when I drove up I gave him mine. And unsuspectingly when I went to the window to pay for my food, they didn’t charge me.
Good Karma begets Good Karma.”
4. Grazie Mille.
“Two summers ago, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy.
Since it was a college program, I had a bunch of friends there as well. The night before we left, we all had to clean out our apartments. While cleaning out our refrigerators and pantries, we realized we had purchased more food than we could possibly eat (typical Americans).
Not wanting to waste all this good food, we all bagged up our leftovers and took them to the homeless crowd that often gathered outside the Santo Spirito church. It felt great to give them probably a weeks worth of food.
A few tears were shed as they kept saying “grazie mille” (thanks a thousand).”
5. Helping out tourists.
“I was in DC buying a metro ticket to get back to my friend’s house and saw a Mother and 2 children trying to figure out the kiosk.
They seemed confused with the calculating the stops and American money and I asked if she needed help. Turns out they were Australian and I helped them get their metro passes and the right change.
Small and took like 2 minutes, but saved her a headache and missing a train. It felt pretty good.”
6. India.
“Every winter, our family gives out blankets to homeless people or people living in slums.
It gets PRETTY cold in Delhi and every year some people die of the cold. Feels nice to help people. The price of a blanket is less than what a family meal in a restaurant would cost. More Indians from the middle/upper class should do this.
The rich-poor disparity in India is jarringly painful at times.”
7. Thank you for your service!
“Whenever I’m traveling and see a soldier in the airport who is eating at the same restaurant as me, I ask the waiter to put their food on my bill.
I always ask the waiter to not tell them who payed for their meal, just to say thank you. I’ve watched dozens of grown men get teary eyed when an anonymous stranger pays for their meal. My small way of saying thanks.
I get ~20 VIP tickets to college baseball games through work, with free food and awesome seats right on the 3rd baseline.
Whenever I end up with extra tickets I wait outside the front gate for a family looking for tickets, I give them as many free tickets as I can.”
8. They love it.
“I love going into mom & pop shops. It’s not a hipster thing either. I enjoy seeing their faces light up when a customer walks in the door. Most of them are going by the wayside now, and I enjoy helping them any way I can.
They are almost always pleasant to talk to and seem overjoyed when you purchase something from them. I know I am helping them and their family make ends meet.”
9. Good timing.
“Was headed home from a fast food run early in the morning, sometime around 6am coming up to a T junction when I see a guy legging it across the intersection.
As I get to the T junction I see that he had been chasing down the bus but the bus had taken off before he got there so I pulled up and asked him if I could drop him off at the next bus stop and get ahead of the bus.
He jumped in, I caught up with the bus and pulled in front of it as it was at the stop and he managed to get on. Probably cost me a minute, probably saved him a half hour.”
10. That’s awesome!
“I’ve randomly given tourists guided tours of my hometown before.
Only spur of the moment thing I can think of at the moment.”
11. A real-life hero!
“Pulled a woman from a car she had rolled onto its side, was at night on a blind sharp corner, she was crying and shouting for help slumped on the bottom (road side).
She was unhurt, just shaken up and scared. Was pretty cool I guess. Could have been much worse.”
12. Here’s a sixer.
“Several years ago I get a cell phone call from an unknown number. The area code was the same as mine, so nothing unusual. Secondly, my phone number is pretty dang close to a local pizza place’s number, so it wasn’t unusual to get calls for them.
Normally I’d answer and tell them they dialed an 0 where they needed an 8. Yes, I’ve taken pizza orders before from these calls.
So back to the story: I get this call from an unknown local number and answer it. Sounds kind of like a guy I know. Phone is static-ey and cutting out, but I hear him say he is out of gas and needs wants to know if I can come and get him some gas.
This guy is kind of a friend-of-a-friend person. I know him, but not that well. I feel bad he has ran out of gas, so I say I’ll come help him. He tell me where he is, and its right down the road a few miles from my house. I know the area well, so I head out with a gas can in the back of my Jeep.
I get there and see a vehicle I’ve never seen before. Two guys get out as I am coming down the road and as I get closer I realize I have no idea who either of them are. I am tempted to just keep going by, but I was slowing down as I approached, so I feel compelled to stop.
At this point I know that I don’t know either of them. We start to small talk about them running out of gas, and finally come to realize the guy called my number because he thought it was his brother in law’s number.
I ended up taking them for gas, and he bought me a sixer for it.”
13. Help each other out.
“Old, homeless guy sitting on a curb in the cold and drizzle. I went into McDonalds next door, bought a nice, warm meal and cup of coffee for him.
When I handed it him he had this perplexed look on his face, then thanked me like a dozen times.”
14. Have a bite to eat.
“I work in an RSA, it’s a club where war veterans and old folk come to hang out, line dance and drink cheap beer.
Every Sunday we had a regular come in just before closing, usually he’d buy something cheap for himself. On the odd occasion he’d buy something more expensive. Me and some other staff members often discussed him, and we presumed that he gambled on the machines before getting a bite to eat.
I was working on mothers day, which happened to be a Sunday, and after a busy lunchtime we were all ready to close, only half an hour or so to go. Then in comes the usual man, except this time he’s with his wife and two kids. They weren’t dressed the smartest, slightly dirty and they all looked at the menu with that sort of “sh*t this is expensive” look on their faces.
We watched them half argue over what they were going to eat before they moved up to the counter and ordered. One kids crumbed fish. That was all, on mothers day, for four of them. To make things worse the man paid in small change and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man as they took a seat at a nearby table.
I walked into the kitchen as the chef was preparing their order and saw some extra roast beef and some chicken extra’s that were half cooked. I dropped them into the deep fryer and told the chef i’d get rid of them for him.
I plated up the two pieces of chicken and the roast, along with their kids fish and took it down to their table. I didn’t want to embarrass them in any way so I just sorta said “here’s some extras and we’re about to close so I don’t know if you guys want them or not?”.
The mother said thank you, and the dad looked at me with the most grateful look on his face.”
15. Some good tips.
“Variety of little things pop into my head:
I always carry jumper cables. No so much for me but other people I find in parking lots.
Guy at a gas station with kids asked for a couple of bucks so he could afford gas to get home. I just filled up his tank.
Bought coats for our daycare. Turns out the kids weren’t going outside because some parents couldn’t afford coats. So now they have a “I forgot” tub. We let the staff know that if a kid needs to go home with a coat we would replace them.
Carried groceries for the elderly lady who lived upstairs above me. She would always bake me nice things.
Stop and give directions. My work always has lost people so I end up walking them to their destination.
The thing I remember is that it doesn’t take much time or effort but can make a lot of difference to the person just to know someone CARES.”
What’s the nicest thing YOU’VE done for a stranger?
Tell us all about it in the comments.
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