One time in Boston a stranger literally pulled me back to the curb as I was about to walk out in front of a turning UPS truck. (This was long before smartphones; I was just being an oblivious idiot without any technological assistance.)
What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
231–240 of 353 posts
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
My grandfather was a farmer and scarcely went a day without hours of exercise in his life. He passed away after a heart attack while shoveling his paraplegic neighbor's driveway. You don't have to be unfit to get done in by shoveling snow.
It doesn't snow much where I live. Why is shovelling snow so deadly? Don't people stop for a rest when they get tired?
Physically it is very taxing. Snow is heavy, and the movements aren’t typical of daily activity. Even for a modestly sized property it can take awhile.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
My grandfather was a farmer and scarcely went a day without hours of exercise in his life. He passed away after a heart attack while shoveling his paraplegic neighbor's driveway. You don't have to be unfit to get done in by shoveling snow.
It doesn't snow much where I live. Why is shovelling snow so deadly? Don't people stop for a rest when they get tired?
I think it’s a combination of incredible weight, lots of aerobic activity, and the cold which masks some of the fatigue that might tell you to take a break. I am over 40, and over an inch or two just pay someone to deal with the snow.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#234I've got a weird one from a bank. I was driving from South Carolina to Virginia, I was completely broke, and had exactly $20 in cash, and only a couple dollars in my checking account. I did my math wrong, and didn't have enough money for enough gas to make it home. I was trying to draft behind semi trucks and drive slow to conserve fuel, but it wasn't enough. I called my bank at the gas station with my needle on empt…
About 10 years ago I was regularly withdrawing small sums of money every month, looking a bit poor, with old clothes, sometimes a bit torn or dirty. The bank teller just offered to give me a pair of winter shoes. I felt uncomfortable so I didn't take them, but thanked him anyway. I could've used them, but I think he probably offered them to someone else later on who needed them more than I did.
I didn't have any prior relationship with him, except going to him to give him my ID so I can get the money a few times.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#235This is not to me but a friend of mine was climbing Mt Fuji in _winter_ (this is a serious thing you need to be prepared for, alpine climbing with lots of snow and ice) when he slipped and started sliding down the mountain out of control.
When he was about to fall to his death a father and son that happened to be there in a struck of luck managed to grab him and save his life. My friend had banged a few rocks in the way down so his leg was fractured and they had to help him down for hours.
They saved his life and risk theirs to ensure he had the best chance. They visited my friend in the hospital where he was grateful and teary eyed. And then the father and son asked him for money, straight up. My friend of course agreed on an amount to them, all in all, he didn't know how to repay them anyway and this was oddly simple. I found everything heroic and strange at the same time but a good story.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
I honestly would be scared shitless lending a stranger my car.
I'd do it in a heartbeat in a situation like this, except that I have no idea what the insurance implications are. Actually, maybe someone here knows: How much would I expose myself lending my ~$20k car with full coverage to a random idiot? For the sake of argument, say I'm reasonably assured they are legal to drive.
YMMV, depends on state and your coverage.
When I looked into it for my situation, a one-off thing was fine. You'd get into trouble if you lent your car for an extended period of time or if it was something like you didn't tell the insurance company you had a spouse and they drove the car regularly.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's really striking the number times people have downvoted my story, considering it is 1) a true fact about my life, and 2) eminently relevant to the topic of the article. Even a thread about kindness can't stop the haters :)
Honestly, I suspect HN is starting to fuzz votes the way Reddit does. Some of the voting I've seen on my own comments lately makes zero sense, including weeks-old comments of perfectly neutral tone. It isn't worth worrying about.
Don't discount better and better "I can't believe it's not human" aping behaviour of personal bot armies of HN accounts - there's clear and obvious spam green accounts, and a steady drip of bland comment, weird voting behaviour, biege textual tone accounts that evolve through green and into background noise.
The admins potter about classifying coarse behaviour and looking to reject spam, voting blocs, overly weird AI comments, etc. The creators make their bot accounts less obvious with random votes, etc.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find that cyclists often help cyclists. ‘Help the next guy’ being a phrase I’ve heard a few times. A $5 tube is so small a cost. Not having one can make a minor inconvenience into an utter shambles if you have to call home go a lift from 50km away at 6am.
You know what else is a nice thing to carry? A wad of paper towels to get the grease off. Even if someone can repair their own bike, they often don't have a plan for the grease. I've handed out paper towels to 4-5 people this year and they were all delighted.
That’s a good idea.
Less practical: the group I ride with did a 200km ride, with one member having a nice shiny case attached to his bike where the pump might go.
When they finished he smoked his cigar.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find that cyclists often help cyclists. ‘Help the next guy’ being a phrase I’ve heard a few times. A $5 tube is so small a cost. Not having one can make a minor inconvenience into an utter shambles if you have to call home go a lift from 50km away at 6am.
You know what else is a nice thing to carry? A wad of paper towels to get the grease off. Even if someone can repair their own bike, they often don't have a plan for the grease. I've handed out paper towels to 4-5 people this year and they were all delighted.
And alcohol wipes. Just the other day someone stopped to give me alcohol wipes after I put my chain back on. The alcohol cleans off the grease completely, unlike paper towels. I'm carrying a pack in my car now.
Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
#240Saved my life
At 15 years old, I stupidly rode my bike across the street in front of my high school on a red light. It looked safe, but a car was speeding in the opposite lane, and I had to turn back to avoid being killed. So now I was in the lane I had just crossed and another speeding car hit me, throwing me (and my bike) about 40'. I was dead on the street, and a stranger stopped to give me CPR. After a month in the hospital with a broken back, and the doctors scratching their heads because I wasn't a paraplegic, I was eventually okay.
I never got to thank him. All I ever learned about him is that his name is Mark.