Sometimes encounters with people we only meet once leave a lasting impression. The reasons for this may include seemingly small gestures of kindness as well as unexpected almost comic outbursts of anger from strangers. Either way, such memories stay with people for years to come and these people are sharing exactly these kinds of stories, answering one Redditor’s question: “Who is a stranger you still remember and why?”
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When I first started working at best buy in the TV department a probably 50 something year old women came in about 15 minutes before close. She said she wanted the best TV we had and being the excited new guy I happily brought her back to the LG OLED which at the time was our best quality TV.
I rattled off all the specs to her and yadda yadda, eventually she said she'll take one. I was ecstatic, at this point in time OLED technology was very new and the store had only sold a couple of them before. I start ringing her out, ask for her number so I can look up her rewards account. I notice her address is in Florida and trying to make conversation I ask "what brings you to (Rochester MN)" she replies "Oh I'm here for the Mayo Clinic, I have stage 4 cancer". Needless to say that killed my happy mood right there.
I said I was sorry about that but that she was in the best possible hands at mayo. She agreed but told me she already knew she was going to die in a couple months and that's why she was buying such a nice TV, to view pictures and videos and experience the world as close to real life as her ailing body would let her.
Eventually we got to the point where the register prompted me to offer her an extended warranty plan. Out of instinct I did and immediately regretted it. What would someone who only has a couple months left want an extended warranty for? Luckily she took it well and just laughed saying that was a pretty good deal for a "lifetime warranty". What she asked me next is what really stuck with me though.
She said "I obviously don't need a warranty but if I buy it does it help you at all?" I told her technically yes because the company does track that stuff and it comes up during annual reviews, but she didn't need to buy one just for me it doesn't matter that much. But she insisted and said what ever little thing she could do to help me out she would do. After going back and forth for a bit I finally relented and added it to the transaction.
This is a good point to mention the TV was not her only purchase, she bought tons of other things aswell (soundbar, bluetooth speakers, small appliances, router, etc) her grand total ended up being over $8,000. Needless to say this was my biggest sale up until that point.
On top of that she wanted to give me a $100 bill as a Tip! I refused saying she had already given enough and should spend it on herself, besides bestbuy policy doesn't allow us to collect tips. With my manager standing right there she said Ok and we headed out to her car to load all the product up.
After I had helped her load her stuff up we went to shake hands and I thanked her for being so generous and wished her luck on her chemo treatment. As she pulled away I look down and saw the sneaky woman had dropped the $100 bill on the ground right in front of me. I yelled out multipal times as she was getting in the car. I tried to run up to her window bill in hand when she saw me in the mirror smiled and just told her caregiver to floor it.
So there I was. $100 richer and 1000 times more humble. As a 17 year old she had such a profound impact on my outlook on life in such a short time frame its hard to put in words what that feels like.
RIP Mary I'll never forget you.
Angels still walk the earth after all. Angel Mary may have returned Home but there might just be hope for humanity yet...
When I was about 13 or 14 my phone ran out when I was waiting for a bus, but I realised my bus wasn’t arriving for two hours as it was a Sunday night and I don’t live in a big city, so bus times are varied.
I knew I had to call my parents but I was very shy and too nervous to ask anybody. But a really lovely mother noticed I was looking very anxious and came and asked if i was okay. She let me use her phone, but then she also stayed with me until my bus came because it was late at night and she didn’t want me there alone.
I think about her a lot. She was so caring and loving.
When i was a little shrimp of an 11/12 ish year old, i had to take the school bus home a few times a month if nobody could drive to come get me. The bus went past the place where i usually got off, and stopped instead a few miles away from where i was supposed to be. I totally panicked, as you would expect at that age, crying, the whole lot. A lovely Year 11 girl (15/16) stopped to help me and comforted me until i was calm enough to ring my mum and make arrangements to get back. The vast majority of people are genuinely good. The bad ones are just noisy, and we end up thinking there are more of them than there actually are.
20 years ago I'm in high school and my truck broke down on the side of the road. Busy offramp from a busy highway and a guy stopped behind me, drove me to the nearest store to buy more oil, and took me back to my truck and didn't ask for or expect a thing. I'm iffy on the memory but he might have even bought the oil for me.
I was a shaved head angry looking ginger kid, and he was a black adult man, probably in his 30s. I wouldn't have stopped for me, but he did.
I was taking the bus home when I was a teenager and I had been planning for several days to take a whole bunch of pills. I had two [self-harm] attempts under my belt, both which resulted in ICU stays and stomach pumpings and weeks in the hospital. THIS time I had been quietly stashing my brother's heavy duty meds for epilepsy, angioedema, sedatives etc and had managed to get a few of my mum's oxycontin pills as well. I sat down on the bench to wait for the bus and I was planning out how to take them and when so that no one would find me and be able to revive me this time when a man sat down next to me. I don't remember his face and he could have been anywhere from late 20s to early 40s, First Nations with the lovely northern accent that I miss, long black hair, denim jacket under a parka, and he just talked to me, out of nowhere, about how people cared about me and how things might be s**t sometimes but there's a better life out there if you just wait and hang on. I can't even remember what he said anymore, it's been 16, 17 years? But he knew some how, and he rode on the bus with me, quiet like, until I got off at my stop. I didn't take those pills.
Thank you random Yukon man. I don't know how you knew, but you were right and you made a difference. It makes me feel very cold, thinking what that cocktail would have done to me. I never did try to [end] myself again after that.
I've told this story before, but it's definitely a stranger I will never forget, so here is a copy/paste:
When I was a kid we didn't have a lot of money, so we often shopped at thrift stores. What I loved about that was that you could get 10 books for a dollar, so I would plant myself in front of the book section and make piles of which one I wanted to get and then decided after I'd gone through them all.
One day an older lady saw me sitting with my piles and asked if I liked to read. I told her I did and showed her a few of the books I found that I liked. She smiled and then pulled a dollar out of her purse, handed it to me and said, "Promise me that you'll keep reading." I was so happy and immediately stood up and said that I would. She smiled and walked away and I went back to my piles able to pick out an extra 10 books to take home.
It was just a small act of kindness for her, but for me having a random stranger encourage my love of reading and making me promise to never stop definitely had a lot to do with my continued love of reading. This was probably about 20 years or so ago, but I still think of her whenever I buy a new book.
It's a sweet story, but makes me wonder, did OP not have a library card? That's where I got all my books as a kid. Everything you could possibly want to read and entirely free.
10 months ago, I got into a horrific motorcycle accident and found myself laying on the street dying. The ground was scorching as I live in arizona where we often have temperatures pushing 120° F. I was being cooked alive by the pavement until a passerby jumped out of his work truck, picked me up and put me on a moving blanket. I dont remember his face but I remember his actions. He called an ambulance and waited with me until they came. Whoever you are, thank you. You deserve more than a comment on reddit. If for some reason you are reading this, PM me please. I still have your moving blanket.
Edit: My wreck happened between Recker and McDowell on the 202 in the 90° curve. Not sure if that might help find this guy.
I crashed my car in an ice storm, and this guy pulls over with his big a*s truck and pulls me out of the ditch, cuts some broken plastic out of my wheelwell so the wheel would spin properly again, and sends me on my way. He told me he was bored so he had been just driving around pulling people out of ditches all morning. Great guy!
A year later I'm in my friend's car and he's driving us home from work. He wasn't paying attention and smashed into a stationary car while going 45 mph or so. I'm sitting in the grass in a daze from the impact from the airbag when who shows up to see if we needed help? Big a*s truck dude. I thanked him again and (jokingly) told him I'd prefer to never see him again if possible.
Years ago I was a waiter at a restaurant and I had this one table, it was about 6 or 7 women who were getting together for some kind of reunion. They were delightful people, but such a pain as customers because it was impossible to get everyone to focus on ordering. They either couldn't agree on what they wanted to do, or they were so focused on catching up with one another it was like talking to a wall. This was in the middle of a lunch rush so it amounted to a really stressful situation.
There was one woman who was a sort of "leader" of the group who really helped rein the group in. After I finished serving them and dropped off their credit cards, I went to the break-room to exhale from the stress. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by this emotion and a voice in my head said "You need to go back and give that woman a hug before she leaves"
I walk back to the dining room, and the woman is standing there alone waiting for me, she points to me and says "You! Come over here, I need to give you a hug" and she gives me the biggest hug.
It was so surreal. I'm not a religious person, but it was the closest thing I've every experienced to believing that there is some kind of power out there that's bigger than all of us.
I am the friend at our large table when eating out who stands up and tells everyone to focus on ordering and being nice because we are a LARGE group. So be READY when the server gets to you! We are not their only table! Every time. I do it in front of the server and everyone always listens and the server feels seen. 10/10 would reccomend.
When I was about 18, I stopped in LA for gas to make it 2 hours north back home and my card was declined — I had no way of putting anything in my tank. This was before Venmo and all that. So I sat in my car and cried for 15 minutes until a guy tapped in my window and told me to pull up to the pump. He put gas in my car and gave me an extra $20 for the road. I still think of him and hope it’s come around back to him.
I was walking into the Dunkin’ Donuts while my clothes were in the dryer at the laundromat. I saw a group of “thuggish” looking guys walking right behind me, so I held the door for them and patted the last one on the back and said “after you my man” as they walked in. When we got in, I was about five people behind the last guy I held the door for. I saw him turn around and start gesturing my way. He asked “how do you like your coffee.” I told him black and he proceeded to order me a medium black coffee. His “thuggish” looking friends looked at him funny, and I couldn’t stop thanking him. I definitely got a little teary-eyed.
Really changed my views on how I outwardly perceive people. Didn’t expect at all for this “thuggish” looking guy to buy me coffee in front of his friends. I’ll never forget that guy.
I was once on a seven hour night time train trip, pretty much on the verge of fainting from sleeplessness.
I attended a catholic school from age 5 to 12, and this might have played a role on what happened next.
Sitting next to me was this 80 something year old nun, or sister, as we call them in Portugal, given that for some reason the word for nun is almost insultingly formal, and I just straight up asked her if I could rest my head on her lap.
She said "of course, my son" to my 17 year old self, and caressed my hair as I fell asleep. I drooled all over her habit and she found it hilarious and mocked me relentlessly as I woke up at about 5 am.
“Let's stop this train and ask for water! ", she laughed.
Her eyes screamed peace and freedom. She was the coolest woman I've ever met.
A woman that came to talk to me and my sister once when my mother threw a public fit in the lobby of a theater and my father dragged her aside to yell at her. She just came over and made small talk with us about the city. I knew why she was doing it, but she did it in a way that was not patronizing at all. And it was so unexpectedly kind to take the time to do that when most people would have just stared or awkwardly averted their gaze.
I would have walked up to the parents with a tub of popcorn and ate it slowly like Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy until they became uncomfortable and looked at me. Then I would say "Sorry, maybe I should offer your kids some popcorn while they watch this horror show"
When I was probably 3 or 4 I went to the bank with my mom and she passed out flat on the floor while talking to the teller. An ambulance came to take her away and I remember well a woman who held me and comforted me as I watched firemen put my mom on a stretcher and in the ambulance. My mom was ok, just had low blood sugar. I still remember her voice and her face.
I was 19 or 20, working at a car dealership going nowhere and in a really s****y relationship - this LOVELY man with a full head of white hair looks at me and in the most non-passive, non-patronizing , completely fatherly way says "you are surrounded by this beautiful glowing light but have this cloud over you. I hope you are loved and treated well because you deserve nothing less." - this guy had NO clue who i was, and i never saw him again but will NEVER forget that. I had never felt more worthy of love.
When I was a young boy at Disney, my family went to Typhoon Lagoon, and the biggest slide there was Summit Plummet. It was rainy that day, so all the local Floridians fled, and we ruled the roost.
I decided to take advantage of the reduced line-up to go check out what Summit Plummet looked like from the top, knowing there was no way I'd actually go down it.
It only took a few minutes of waiting to get to the front of the line. Normally, I've heard it can be as bad as 40 minutes. I looked down and saw it was just as terrifying as I imagined. I nodded sagely to myself for correctly guessing it was scary, and turned to leave.
A hand from above came down and stopped me. A European-accented man asked me where I was going.
I looked up. He was on his 20s. I told him I was never going to go down it, I just wanted to see what it looked like.
He told me that the slide was guaranteed safe, no way Disney would have it open if it wasn't, etc etc.
I wasn't having it.
He got down on one knee and told me that if I didn't do this, I'd regret it forever, and I'd always live my life afraid and never do anything exciting. He told me I had to take life by the horns and live.
No thanks.
Finally, he asked me for my name. I told him. He stood up and shouted to everyone in the line-up, "let's cheer for !name! He can do this!"
And sure enough, the whole (kinda short) line-up began chanting my name.
I knew that I had to do it then.
I sat down at the slide, and emptied my mind of all thoughts. I reached a zen state of awareness and commanded my hands to push without thinking about anything, and zoomed off.
It was awesome. I did it 10 more times after that. I got his name later, it was Loué or something like that.
I've never forgotten him, and I still think of his speech whenever I'm afraid to do something. It always helps.
There was an older man - very thin and frail - in a public park near where I was sitting. I watched him climb over a decorative wrought iron fence to gather coins that had been tossed into the park's multi-tiered fountain.
He got soaking wet under the cascading water, but managed to fill his pockets and a coffee can with as many coins as possible.
After he climbed back out, the guy looked at me and said, "I'm hungry. It's been a long time since I've had any food."
I just smiled with an understanding look, and pulled out a $10 bill to go with the coins (it was all I had on me at the time). I'll never forget the look of surprise and gratitude in his face.
Whenever I *think* that I have problems, I envision that old, frail man and realize my troubles are few and inconsequential.
I was tubing with my family in a very popular river spot. The river split into two sections briefly before connecting once again; one being rapid, the other calm.
I fell off my tube BACKWARDS into the rapids. Tons of people were going down as well, so I was pretty much trapped under the water with other people’s bodies and tubes on top of me while my knees were being scraped.
I stuck my hand above the surface because I couldn’t stand and someone grabbed it. He lifted me out and began to ask if I was okay and if I needed medical assistance because my knees were bleeding badly.
Me, being only 8, was shy and crying and didn’t know how to respond. He cleaned my knee and his wife bandages them all while staying with me until my father came down the other side of the river to get me.
I wonder where he is now. I hope he and his family are doing alright.
When I was in college, I had to ride Greyhound buses home for vacation. One trip, I sat next to a guy my age who was really cute and very into books (as am I). I have never had such instant chemistry with anyone as I had with him. We talked and held hands the whole trip, and when we got close to my stop, he asked me to come with him to his summer job in Montana.
I said I couldn't and he gave me the necklace he was wearing to remember him by. Sometimes I wonder if I had gone with him, would I be happily married on a horse ranch out west right now or just dead in a ditch somewhere?
Awww!! (except for that last option jn the last sentence)
I studied abroad in Tokyo my junior year of college when I was 20. I had never been out of the country before, was flying alone, and didn't speak the language, so I was pretty nervous. I was seated next to a woman named Ona, who must have seen I was anxious, so she talked to me over the course of the flight and gave me tips and pointers for my time in Japan. At the end of the flight, she had finished the book she was reading, and she wrote a kind note in it, signed it, and gave it to me. It's been 11 years and I still have that book. What must have seemed like such a small gesture to her meant the world to me.
Sounds like a Temiyage. A gift given as thanks and respect. You gave her respect when she started talking to you and then thanks as you provided her with company on the journey
One time I was walking on the beach in California while wearing a shirt that said “Salty” on it (clever ik). This one middle eastern man in his late 40’s walks up to me and says, “SALTY HAHA, LIKE THE BEACH AND THE WATER HAHAHA” and proceeded to give me a high five.
Thank you sir. You both confused and frightened me but somehow I love you and will never forget you.
When I was about 19-20 I had long hair (I'm a guy). Hair literally down most of my back. I got on a train and it was really crowded but I was able to find an empty spot near the door in between carriages. Nobody else was coming that way so I sat on the floor.
The train isn't departing for another 10 minutes so this old man heads out the door to have a cigarette. He looks at me and says that I should sit with him and his friends - that we'll have a great time. I said "uh... I'm fine here. But thanks...". But he insisted: "I'm serious, you'll have a great time!". Again, I tell him "No I'm really okay here".
He finishes his cigarette, gets back on the train, walks over to me and grabs me by the arm and stops - notices my five o' clock shadow and immediately let's go saying "Oh, you're a man..." and walks away in disgust.
Left me thinking what an absolute f*****g creep.
It's a good thing he you were a man who knows what would've happened if you were a woman!
During a school trip at Noose Heads Beach in East Queensland, Australia.
A man busted out of a bar playing guitar, completely naked, while singing "Run boy, run, this world is not meant for you," while two police officers chased him. He looked at us with a fat smile. Would definitely visit again 10/10.
Got stabbed during a mugging and legged it away from the scene. (Edit: To clarify, I was the one being mugged). Was full of adrenalin but then got to a bus stop and started to go into (mild) shock. A woman probably no older than 21 came and called an ambulance and sat with me and was very reassuring. It turned out I wasn't too badly hurt but tbh in the circumstance and confusion, you just tend to think 'F**K! I'm dying here!' Her sitting with me was so appreciated, she was so tender and supportive but also relatively calm and collected given the scenario (I didn't look too clever at the time and was covered in blood)
That was c. 15 years ago and I still think of her.
1. Helped an old lady find the right bus stop to get her home. I sat with her until the bus came so I could check with the driver that it was the right one. She told me I'm a good singer (she hadn't heard me sing but said she could tell by my voice - I don't sing) and that she was going to tell her cat about me when she got home.
2. I had had a typical parent-teenager argument with my parents and went for a walk to get out of the house. I went and sat in the middle of some fields where 4 tracks met. Did some crying, the usual. A truck drove up behind me, a guy got out, I thought my life was over. He sat down next to me but with quite a bit of distance so I wasn't too worried. He offered me a cigarette and some advice before going on his way.
A truck driver who was unloading a semi full of ice cream at a grocery store. He noticed us watching in the sweltering heat and gave us a case of pints. I was about ten.
Was driving to work on in peak hour traffic on a freeway around 5am. I’d been at the office until around 9 the night before and was working 6-7 day weeks. I had never experienced a microsleep while driving until that morning.
Young guy in a car next to me beeped while we were almost stationary in the traffic. He just smiled and motioned for me to stay awake and looking forward. Totally woke me up when I hadn’t even realised my eyes were closed and I never drove that tired again. If he hadn’t beeped I can’t imagine what might have happened, I think of it often.
Dude probably saved your life. It's crazy to think the impact our brief actions can have on others.
I was in college and 34 weeks pregnant. My baby hadn’t moved for about 6 hours. I was on my way to the emergency room after my class had ended because I was terrified. A faculty member stopped me and asked if I was okay. I responded honestly and said “no, my baby isn’t moving”. He held my hand and said what I assume was a prayer in another language. He squeezed my hand when he was done and made some pretty powerful eye contact with me. I thanked him and hurried off. I think about him every now and then. Not many people care enough to stop upset strangers, but he did.
I’ve been a waitress at a downtown restaurant for some time. There was a festival in downtown and as we are a small family-owned restaurant, our staff is rather small. I was holding the floor on my own while my coworker was working the bar. A lady sat at one of my tables and was quickly becoming impatient and proceeded to scream at me in front of the whole restaurant about having to wait. Another customer I was serving stopped me as I was rushing by to tell me, “You’re doing amazing. We see how busy you are. Take a second to breathe.”
She has come in once since and remembered my face and proceeded to hug me and tell her friends what happened to me. I love her dearly.
It was raining real hard and I didnt have an umbrella but it was fine cause I was still in the bus. My stop was coming close though. Now, my country's kinda poor so this stop didnt even have a shed to take shelter from the rain. The closest place I could go to was a bit far up. I'd have to make a run for it and that sucked. There were two girls in the same bus who got out at the same exact stop. We were wearing the same uniforms but they were younger so I didn't really know them. Turns out their aunt was waiting right there at the stop with another umbrella enough for the two of them. I got out of the bus right after them and was going to make a run for it when she called for me and shared her umbrella. God she was so sweet risking her side getting drenched to cover my side (yea the umbrella was pretty small)). She's probably forgotten me by now but I'm still grateful she helped me.
When I was about 8, I was sitting at a barbershop with my mom while waiting to get my haircut when an old man—he was probably in his late 60’s, early 70’s if I had to guess—walked in and sat down near us. ^^this ^^isn’t ^^a ^^creepy ^^story, ^^bear ^^with ^^me ^^here
For whatever reason, he struck up a conversation with my mom about how much he loved taking his kids out for things like this, and about how much he missed those days. I don’t remember much else of the conversation that they had, but I think they probably talked for at least a good ten minutes—basically the entire time we were waiting.
Here’s the part of this whole thing that’s been ingrained in my memory: when my chair was ready and I had to go up, this complete stranger—a random old guy who had known us for all of ten minutes—gave my mom 25 bucks and said it was “from one parent to another.” He was paying for my haircut.
My mom tried to refuse but he wouldn’t budge—even when we told him that my haircut wouldn’t cost $25, he just said that my mom could grab McDonald’s for me or something. Not only was this guy paying for my haircut, he decided that he was gonna buy me food as well. My mom eventually gave in and accepted his cash.
I get this kinda sounds like b******t—I can already see people going, “and that man’s name? **ALBERT EINSTEIN**” after reading this, trust me I get it—but I think of this guy pretty often. I have literally no idea who this guy was or how he’s doing or any of that, but he’s the kind of person that I aspire to be like.
When I was a little kid, small enough to be in a shopping cart still, I remember being at Walmart with my mom and two sisters. This random black lady comes up to mom and says "God told me to give this to you." She smiled at her and clasped some money into my mother's hand. My mom was thanking her, and me being a kid I kinda realized what was going on but kinda didn't. At the time, my father had just left, and my mother was on her own raising three little kids. A few years later, my mom would bring up the lady a couple times, I remember she told my grandma about it, but after that, she hasn't said anything at all about her. That was probably like 15 years ago. I'm 21 now. Looking back, I wonder if that's one of my mom's reasons for helping me out with money at times ... But I don't know. It does make me look back and think wow, how kind people can be. And how weird that situation was too in a way. A woman saying she heard God talk to her and helped another person in need.... My mother is super successful now, and she did most of it on her own, but she is super humble. I have many more weird and heartfelt stories about strangers, but this one came to my head first.
God has angels walking amongst our planet that he has to carry out kindness whether it be from a direct message or someone who has a sense that someone needs a little help now and again.
Several years ago, I was hobbling down the street in an air boot, having screwed up my ankle in some way or other. I walked past an electrician's van; the owner was sitting there in the open rear door also sporting an air boot. We chuckled at the coincidence, and then he said in a thick, Eastern European accent, "Life is like a baby's s**t: short and s****y."
Never gonna forget that guy.
Jayden *****: I hope you are ok and I pray for you often.
This young man slept under a bush in my yard one cold winter night. I came out to go to work at 5:30am and he came out from under a bush to ask me for help. Being dark I was terrified at first - as it appeared to be a grown man but it was a young teen. About the age of my son who was sleeping upstairs. He asked me eventually to call the police for him and I brought him in the garage where there is a great heater, covered him in a blanket, got him something to drink and waited with him. the snail trails in his hair, lack of appropriate clothing, lack of shoes... hearing his story. Then the cops arrive and one of them walks in and says... Jayden is that you? The cop proceeds to be stern with him, calling him on weak answers he was giving. Turned out this cop has more than once heard a call, thought it might be Jayden and shown up to keep him out of trouble. The cop drove him to his mother's house. He was scolding the boy about he shouldn't keep doing this - how worried do you think your mom is right now.... all those sorts of things. I realized this kid was a kid that had a real good chance of ruining his life by foolish teenage choices. The cop clearly saw something in the boy and was trying to help. I think of him often and say a little prayer. Even in a strung out [substance] hang over the boy was so polite, and such a kind face. My heart just breaks thinking about him and that night.
Close to a decade ago I was drinking alone in Nottinghamshire, half a world away from home. I was having kind of a c***py night, and I got talking to a fellow (older, gaunt, wearing a flat-cap and very personable) about all manner of things: Churchill and the second World War, different beers, nostalgic childhood feelings, more that I was almost too drunk to remember at the time but which I've since forgotten. He asked me how I felt about Newcastle Brown, and I admitted I'd never tried it. With great excitement, he declared that it'd been years since he had, and bought us each a round; we drank, and it was good, but not as good as the cask stuff we'd been having.
When the pub finally closed we walked out together in the cool autumn night, continuing to talk about this and that as we strolled, swaying drunkenly from side to side. We stopped by a graveyard, because he lived somewhere beyond it and I was staying a few blocks to the right. He invited me to a music festival the next day, shook my hand, and said it'd been a pleasure speaking with me. And then he walked through the gate in the stone wall, and melted into the darkness between the gravestones.
The next morning I was absolutely ruined, and too hung over to go anywhere, let alone to a music festival. I often wonder what happened to my friend, and if he made it to the festival. Sometimes I wonder if he was a ghost. But I'll always remember that night fondly, and hope that stranger is doing alright.
I was waiting for the part where someone recognizes the old guy from the story and says that he died 10 years ago that very night. :)
When I was a little kid my mom and I went on a walk on the morning of my birthday (I was maybe just starting school to give a little context). We met an old man walking in the park and started talking to him about how nice the morning was, and eventually got around to my birthday. Turns out it was his birthday too, and that was the first time I had met someone with the same birthday as me.
First and so far only time I've met a fellow birthdater (2 years older than me) was playing trivia with a guy in a bar. After 24 years together, I just lost him last year. Sometimes it does feel like Kismet or Karma is flying around out there in this wild and wacky world. If you get the chance, don't miss it, whether it lasts a minute or 24 years.
I had just bought some new sneakers the day prior. I was leaving work and waiting for the crosstown bus. While I was waiting, this “executive” looking guy was walking down the street. Nice suit, nice shoes, overall really well put together.
So he’s on the phone, and he’s arguing with someone. Sounds like someone he works with, and I hear him coming from half a block away.
So he’s walking toward my direction as I’m on the sidewalk waiting. There he is, arguing with this person, he gets close to me, doesn’t even miss a beat, points at me and says, “those are really cool sneakers.” And then just continues on his way in his argument. This was eight years ago.
Edit: After digging I found the shoes online. Third from the bottom, the green/tan/red ones.
There was a guy in my highschool English class named Martin.
I haven't had a single conversation with him throughout the entirety of my life. I just noticed from a distance that he kept his head down, despite the gang and poverty oriented culture that we grew up in, he tried his best to do well academically. He seemed to always have mediocre scores and did not seem very eloquent when I overheard conversations from afar, but there was a charming earnestness in his attempt to make a better life for himself despite clearly struggling every step of the way.
I became friends with him on facebook through mutual friends and will occasionally see his posts on my feed, and I recognize I may be writing a story of his life through my perspective, but everything he posts seems to line-up with my perception of him so far. I'm a straight male, and there is no explicit romanticism about these memories. I suppose it's difficult to describe and I recognize that I'm invested in a stranger because it helps me hold onto hope for myself and care for others better.
I recognize that there are probably differing political beliefs, and/or values, but I feel my perception of him embodies the idea of caring for our fellow man. Through that perception the tone of "everyone is going through their own s**t at their own pace" really comes through. I just wanted to add that high school was over 10 years ago for me and I still think of this from time to time.
In that way, everyone is a Martin to somebody. Whether or not you feel valued, someone out there respects your grind and is rooting for you, just hang in there. We're all in this rat race together.
Edit: Reddit gold, thanks kind strangers. I am glad I was able to share this, as it doesn't exactly come up in conversation.
I was filling up my car at a gas station along one of the main roads through town. Was idly looking around while the pump was going and looked over into the slow moving traffic going by. Made eye contact with a guy in a red pickup truck, and we both held it and I smiled.
Then he rear ended the car in front of him.
A homeless lady who said she'd pray for me after a gave her 2 euro (afterward I only had enough for a bus home).
I know she won't read this but wherever she is, she deserves a home.
The lady on my plane (I’m a flight attendant) who got really mad I gave her too much coffee and then poured it into the seat back pocket.
I realized that day that some people will get mad at whatever they can. And there’s nothing I can do about that.
I'm sorry that you had to deal with that specific breed of a*****e.
When I was around 7 or 8 I was at my cousins house with my siblings. My family is abusive and at one point one of my aunts came to this house to tell us she wanted us to be at her house instead. She liked to lock us outside and not let us use the bathroom so obviously we said no. She called my dad and told him and he got on the phone and told us he was going to come over there and beat the s**t out of us and kill us. My other aunt had a friend over at her house along with his wife. His wife held me as I sobbed and promised she wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Obviously the second she was gone something did happen to me but for that time being it was the safest I felt in a long time. I never saw her again after that but her kindness always stuck with me.
I swear to god. If everyone capable of violence towards children and animals literally dropped dead where they were standing right now, the world would be an immediately better place. I believe there are some things that are irredeemable. That they are driven by an evil that can never be rehabilitated.
This sweet old lady at my Grandmother’s store where she works asked me to help her load some drinks into her cart, and after I did she gave me a dollar for my work. It wasn’t much, but it was really touching for me. (About 10 at the time, as well.)
When I was a little kid, this guy named Mr. Chambers would magically appear whenever my mom had a problem. This was in the 1980's before most people had cell phones or other ways to contact help when in a rural area.
I guess most problems were vehicle-related. Mom got a flat tire? Mr. Chambers would show up. Ran out of gas? Here comes Mr. Chambers with a gas can. One time a hurricane knocked down a tree that blocked access to the dirt road leading to our house, and who showed up with a chainsaw? Mr. Chambers did.
He was very tall and had dark, curly hair and a VERY deep voice which frightened me. I was the kind of child who LOVED strangers, but something about Mr. Chambers made me nervous every time even though I should've had a positive association with him for always rescuing us.
I'm not sure what it was about him, but as an adult I've started to doubt that he was even a real guy. When I asked my mom she said she's not sure who I'm talking about.
**TLDR; Creepy man always showed up to help my mom when she was randomly in trouble, and now I'm not even sure if he was real.**
When i was little i tugged on a random guy's shirt in a store thinking he was my dad. He was not.
I then proceded to walk away without saying anything after he turned around...
im just as awkward today as i was then.
I was watching the TVs in walmart when a lady and her son passed by and I grabbed her cart and started walking with her when I hear my mom call out my nickname frantically and I turn around and see her then look at the woman and her son who are both staring at me so I run off. I haven't forgotten their faces, I was probably 6 or 7.
When I was 12 years old I walked into the bathroom of a fast food restaurant. An older guy (mid 30's) was using the bathroom at the urinal. I walked up to the only open space next to him. Just as I started to pee he rips the loudest fart I've ever heard. He looks over at me (my eyes are open wide in shock) and says,"You Poot?" I just finished and walked out.
When I graduated H.S. in 1989, I flew out to L.A. with the hopes of making it in the big city (didn't work out). After arriving at the airport I had a cab driver named Maria. I remember her name because she told me I would never forget it...and I haven't.
When I was 4 on a family vacation, I wondered off onto this bridge of ongoing pedestrians and found myself walking next to this teenage girl. She offered me her peach rings and I declined, turned around and wondered back to my family, none of them noticing I was missing for 5-8 minutes.
Looking back, if it wasn’t such a nice young girl, there could’ve been many differing outcomes
Guy singing opera on the Red Line in Chicago who tried to sit in my lap
Was early morning after New Years. I was driving my wife's Miata. Car pulls next to me at a light. I can tell they are about to say something thinking they might laugh at the ride. Girl asks am I married? I say Yes. Then she says happily, wouldn't you like to come party with us? I Said yes happily, she said are you sure, then light changed. I felt flattered for a while.
Someone on Reddit said this was probably an invite to a swingers party and I think I agree.
Outstanding article! Very uplifting and really kinda renews your faith in humanity. As I read through all of these, so many experiences from my own life tumbled through my mind: the random stranger whose life I saved just by talking to him; the man in India whose life could not be saved; the highschool teacher who gifted me a 'worry stone' out of the blue; Shelley who took me in for a month in Montana; the enlightened masters who have shared their wisdom and compassion with me; the student who sent me a postcard from Mongolia. I realize that I have been touched and changed by many strangers in this life so far.
Some regulars have heard this, but it's still making me laugh nearly a year later, so here goes. For funsies, I have a chicken purse. A large and fluffy purse, not the rubber jobbies, with two hanging feet that sway when I walk. Kids love it. One day last February, I was experiencing one of THE worst days of my life as I'd spent most of the day by my dying husband's hospital bedside. I was mentally and emotional exhausted, taking a break on the bench outside before heading for the bus home. A man walked by me on his way out of the hospital and, without breaking his stride, pointed at me and said, "That's a mighty big c**k you've got there!" and the dam burst as I exploded in life-affirming laughter. It didn't stop the inevitable, but it gave me the strength to keep going. I firmly believe my guy's spirit jumped into that man's body for a minute, his way of saying goodbye.
I was in college, in a long distance relationship. I was in the middle of the 3 hour drive to go see my boyfriend and I get a flat tire. The instant I realize what was happening was also the instant I needed to hit the brakes to make it into the parking lot of a rural church. Extremely poor cell phone service. I popped the hood & and trunk (to kinda flag that I was having car issues.) I tried calling bf to have him guide me through changing the tire (never done a tire change before) but the call would drop after like 8 seconds. Then a semi truck pulls into the parking lot, driver gets out and changes the tire for me in like 1 minute. I thank him profusely and go about my trip. But a college girl by herself in the middle of nowhere with no way to get away... that could have ended very differently. Still thankful for mystery trucker.
My brother got two flat tyres when he was driving from Melbourne to Perth (multi day trip). He had also never changed one before. The first one, someone stopped and changed it for him, someone taught him how to do it himself, which was lucky for me, because I got a flat a few weeks later. I had been camping with my brother and my tyre blew as I was driving out of the national park. My brother was able to change it for me, and showed me how to do it if I need to in the future (not sure I'm strong enough to though) so I am grateful for the people who helped him too.
Load More Replies... Outstanding article! Very uplifting and really kinda renews your faith in humanity. As I read through all of these, so many experiences from my own life tumbled through my mind: the random stranger whose life I saved just by talking to him; the man in India whose life could not be saved; the highschool teacher who gifted me a 'worry stone' out of the blue; Shelley who took me in for a month in Montana; the enlightened masters who have shared their wisdom and compassion with me; the student who sent me a postcard from Mongolia. I realize that I have been touched and changed by many strangers in this life so far.
Some regulars have heard this, but it's still making me laugh nearly a year later, so here goes. For funsies, I have a chicken purse. A large and fluffy purse, not the rubber jobbies, with two hanging feet that sway when I walk. Kids love it. One day last February, I was experiencing one of THE worst days of my life as I'd spent most of the day by my dying husband's hospital bedside. I was mentally and emotional exhausted, taking a break on the bench outside before heading for the bus home. A man walked by me on his way out of the hospital and, without breaking his stride, pointed at me and said, "That's a mighty big c**k you've got there!" and the dam burst as I exploded in life-affirming laughter. It didn't stop the inevitable, but it gave me the strength to keep going. I firmly believe my guy's spirit jumped into that man's body for a minute, his way of saying goodbye.
I was in college, in a long distance relationship. I was in the middle of the 3 hour drive to go see my boyfriend and I get a flat tire. The instant I realize what was happening was also the instant I needed to hit the brakes to make it into the parking lot of a rural church. Extremely poor cell phone service. I popped the hood & and trunk (to kinda flag that I was having car issues.) I tried calling bf to have him guide me through changing the tire (never done a tire change before) but the call would drop after like 8 seconds. Then a semi truck pulls into the parking lot, driver gets out and changes the tire for me in like 1 minute. I thank him profusely and go about my trip. But a college girl by herself in the middle of nowhere with no way to get away... that could have ended very differently. Still thankful for mystery trucker.
My brother got two flat tyres when he was driving from Melbourne to Perth (multi day trip). He had also never changed one before. The first one, someone stopped and changed it for him, someone taught him how to do it himself, which was lucky for me, because I got a flat a few weeks later. I had been camping with my brother and my tyre blew as I was driving out of the national park. My brother was able to change it for me, and showed me how to do it if I need to in the future (not sure I'm strong enough to though) so I am grateful for the people who helped him too.
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