Forums » Smalltalk » Random Acts of Kindness

I'm not usually one to pat myself on the back. Actually, I'm pretty much my worst critic. I do, however, want to share this story with you because I think it merits some sort of knowledge for someone out there. I'm not a person that carries cash. In fact, I loathe it. I feel like sometimes it serves its purpose most of the time. I learned a long time ago, when I stopped carrying cash, that if I had it, it was for a reason. Most of the time when I have it, I'll see a homeless vet that's 'selling' US flag stickers for donation. I usually end up giving the guy a good $5-10 bucks if I have it. It always has meant something to me to have cash on me. It was one of the coldest nights of 2013 here where I live. We're a warm climate and December was well come and gone. Still, it was a wet and rainy winter and there was talk of snow actually happening. I don't remember WHY I had cash on me, it may have been from a coworker, but I did. As I was rounding the corner home, on a the first of what would be a series of cold wet nights, I saw a man out on the median holding a sign. It had been raining on and off for hours, and yet there he still stood. Immediately I was compelled to make a U-Turn and return back to at least give him the money I had. When I stopped at the light the rain had started up again and I lowered my window to offer the money. I said "Get somewhere warm tonight, or at least try" and was about to leave it at that. He returns with, "Not much warmer than this ma'am. Your an angel." Immediately I reached into the backseat of my car and grabbed my very large, very thick warm hoodie that I'd had for years. It was worn a little here and there, it wasn't in the best shape and it smelled like girl.. but I handed it out the window to him and smiled, "Here's hoping it's a little warm." The man almost immediately started to tear up and says "God sent you to assure I don't freeze tonight. Thank you" It was my favorite hoody. It still smelled like pumpkin.. And i didn't like the thin backup I had, but at least I had a backup. I hope he survived the snow that came later that week. I didn't see him after that, and I haven't seen him since.

I made people smile and reminded them I - and many others - loved them.

It's not anything big, but I try whenever I'm interacting with other people to smile a lot and to build them up.

In today's society, every person gets picked on or made fun of in some way, and a little bit of politeness can go a long way.

This is especially true for employees. Whenever I'm around someone who bags groceries at wal-mart, or is my waitress at a restaurant, or whatever, I make sure to be kind to them. (Just go to notalwaysright.com . For real, these guys have to deal with a TON of crap.)

So yeah.

I try to do good things always. It's how I was raised and it's just something that's important to me. In Japan, I'm kind of uniquely situated to be helpful. Especially to new students that come in. Now the majority of our students are older, but we do get quite a few younger ones. Unfortunately, if they haven't been here before for high school or some equivalent, they come with high expectations and ideas of what it'll be like.

Unfortunately, the idea of a place and the reality can sometimes be very different. These younger kids get disillusioned pretty fast, then the overwhelmed feeling and the homesickness sets in and they get pretty depressed. There's a section of our Uni just for these problems, but actually going to an official office can be really intimidating, especially when you're already upset.

So, the first half of the semester (which always seems to be the most difficult) I always keep an eye out for these kids. If one seems especially despondent, I'll pull them aside and speak with them privately. Buy them a soda and a snack, just generally be kind to them. They usually brighten up quite fast, then thankfully, since they are comfortable with me they will come back if they have more problems.

Oh!

Sanne and Loki also each bought me an Epic membership at least once, and Sanne bought me extra character slots just out of the blue. I was absolutely blown away when I got the gifts. I thought there was a mistake or something at first.

(This is why I love RPR. The amount of positivity and generosity here is astounding.)

I'm still very grateful to those guys. Every time I log into RPR I remember and smile. Hopefully in a few months or so I'll be able to start working and buy some memberships for them too! Until then, profuse thanks will have to suffice.

I wish I could 'like' posts here

And people like you are the reasons why I have a good day at work! Thank you for your smiles and understanding! These little things are very big things to the people who recieve them.

So I just stared a new job at a restaurant and my boss is a pretty cool lady. Over the past week I've been learning the ropes and one of those ropes is particular customer, he comes in daily and my boss gives him a free meal, and on fridays because we're closed on the weekends she gives him enough food to get him threw the weekend. I won't get into all the details but its very heart warming to see.