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What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

louplummer.lol

281–290 of 353 posts

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#281
When I was 12 years old I got run off the road while riding my BMX bicycle when a car pulled into my lane to park on my side of the street. I was going about 12-20 mph and could not stop since I only had rear brakes. I just locked the rear tire and the bike continued sliding on the dust covered road side.

I went over a platform and into a small garage pit used for burning trash. After I stopped rolling, I dusted myself off and thought, "well, that could have been worse". Then came a man running towards me, grabs my elbow and pulls the head of a broken bottle out of it. Blood started spraying everywhere of course.

After one of my friends that was riding with me used his shirt as a tourniquet, the man flagged down a (private) mini bus(that provides public transportation), to me to the hospital, stayed with me then, paid my bus fare and then took me back home to my neighbourhood.

I never saw the man again even though he probably lived in the neighbourhood next to mine.

Recently in NYC, I was offloading my car when a girl with a box of croissants and cookies came up to me as asked if I wanted a croissant. She that she mistakenly bought more than she could eat. I looked at her as if she fell from space for a second and she noticed. She then said she bought the from a nearby bakery and they were perfectly fine as she continued eating one herself. I hesitantly took one, which was still warm and bite into it. It was great and I told her girl so and thanked her.

I went inside with my croissant in hand and told my wife what had happened. I got the scolding of my life for eating food from a stranger. I had to throw the rest of the crossiant away of course. That sucked because that one bite was so good.

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#282
Was in SF a day early for a conference, place I was crashing at was right next to golden gate park so I went to hippie hill to go hang out. Cute couple invites me to smoke with them, so I offered them beers. We spoke for a very long time, I don't remember much of it. He mentioned he went to art school, was having his first solo exhibition that week and showed me some of his stuff, which I genuinely thought was great.

When he heard that I had just moved cross country for work, he insisted on giving me one of his originals and some signed prints he just had made, as a housewarming gift. I joked about how badass it was that he had signed prints, he shrugged and played it off like they were only using school supplies to make a little fun money. It was just an A4 sized watercolor, it hung on my fridge for years with the prints

A decade later I had a friend over and they were asking about them, I couldn't remember anything so they reverse image searched on their phone. His exhibition was at fucking MoMA. His career took off after that and it is worth a decent chunk of change. I went and got it properly framed the very next day

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#283

When I was 12 years old I got run off the road while riding my BMX bicycle when a car pulled into my lane to park on my side of the street. I was going about 12-20 mph and could not stop since I only had rear brakes. I just locked the rear tire and the bike continued sliding on the dust covered road side. I went over a platform and into a small garage pit used for burning trash. After I stopped rolling, I dusted myse…

> eating food from a stranger

I think this rule expires when you become an adult and can judge the situation...

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#284
Not as meaningful as some of these but one that stuck with me.

I had a door to door selling summer job in America at 21 after leaving university (I'm a brit) .

The job was primarily on the Eastern Shore in Delaware. Everywhere I went a kept hearing about the famous crabs they cook. One chap whose door I knocked on asked if I'd had any yet. I told him I hadn't.

He sat me down there and then with his whole family to eat some at a meal with them.

I wish I could find them again and thank them properly.

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#285
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. The railway now is mean, willing to prosecute, unhelpful and expensive I've read various accounts of people trying to reclaim lost baggage and it's a Kafkaesque process designed to be totally useless But the railway operators are 50% nationalised now. Northern, TransPennine, South West Railway, LNER, Greater Anglia, c2c, ScotRail, Southeastern, TfW are all government owned. And the forerunner in increasing f…

Brings back memories of a recent 16 year old stood in tears whilst they took her details to prosecute her because she was travelling on a child ticket "but my mum always bought me a ticket". No mercy. Fuck those guys. Same guy that stung me for not having a ticket when every other day they'd come round and let me buy a ticket on the train.. I even went to the window at the destination for a ticket, and then got refer…

Yeah for many years the railway would let a lot of things slide even though they've had the legal right to prosecute.

Many people find out the hard way just how many legal powers the railway has (they have even more they could enforce, such as dropping litter, or playing music, or being inebriated - criminal offencs with no excuse)

The social contract of buying a ticket and behaving in return for good customer service has broken down, it's gone. It's really the entire of the UK at this point.

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#286
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, thanks!

You might want to have tubes with both Presta and Schrader valves (to match the existing tube on the other tire). Theoretically you could use either, but some rims might have a hole that's only small enough for a Presta valve (so I guess that makes Presta slightly more compatible in an emergency!). I agree that there's flexibility in the sizes. When I wanted to stock up my work's garage with spare bike tires, I got f…

Lately, many Presta tubes come with valve nuts that fit Schrader valve holes. The nuts look similar to this: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/612j5EAmLXL._AC_UF1000,1...

So there's not necessarily a need to carry tubes with both valve types.

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#287
I think the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for me was holding a door open or something similarly mundane. I don't have any other really nice or profound memories. Then again I have not gotten into any similarly bad accident as the OP (knock on wood)

I was in a car accident once, many years ago... nothing terrible but I was in shock (it was my first car accident) and in mild pain (bruises from the airbag and a headacke mostly). The other party came over and asked me if I had a phone. I was still in my car, trying to realize what happened. When I said that yes, I have a phone he said "then better call the police. the accident was your fault" (which for all I know was probably true), then he left to sit on the roadside and smoke a cigarette and scroll on his smartphone until the police and ambulance arrived, 15 minutes later. Because of him, they came with 4 or 5 extra vehicles, simply because I couldn't really answer their questions well ("how many people are in the other car? is anyone injuered besides you? are the cars still driveable or do they need to be towed?" all quesions I couldn't answer)

I overheard that he got a lecture from one of the cops later on, but still it was an experience that I don't want to make again anytime soon

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#288

In the UK we used to have a nationalized rail system. People were always rude about the late trains, stale sandwiches etc. But I once managed to leave a bag Xmas present on a train. I only realized when I got another train. They were so helpful, they managed to find the bag and have it sent on to me. I think we lost a lot of that good will when the UK rail system was privatised. And the privatised trains were still l…

I agree. The railway now is mean, willing to prosecute, unhelpful and expensive I've read various accounts of people trying to reclaim lost baggage and it's a Kafkaesque process designed to be totally useless But the railway operators are 50% nationalised now. Northern, TransPennine, South West Railway, LNER, Greater Anglia, c2c, ScotRail, Southeastern, TfW are all government owned. And the forerunner in increasing f…

I left my bag on a train recently. I’m not sure I can describe “describe the bag using an online questionnaire that took about two minutes to complete” as Kafkaesque… bag returned in a little under one week.

Re: What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

#289
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. The railway now is mean, willing to prosecute, unhelpful and expensive I've read various accounts of people trying to reclaim lost baggage and it's a Kafkaesque process designed to be totally useless But the railway operators are 50% nationalised now. Northern, TransPennine, South West Railway, LNER, Greater Anglia, c2c, ScotRail, Southeastern, TfW are all government owned. And the forerunner in increasing f…

I left my bag on a train recently. I’m not sure I can describe “describe the bag using an online questionnaire that took about two minutes to complete” as Kafkaesque… bag returned in a little under one week.

Did you try contacting someone to get back sooner? That's what the people did in the cases I referenced - just people not answering the phones, dead lines, "computer says no”, passed around, refusal to help etc

I guess you being somewhat fine with waiting a week meant nothing important was in the bag.

The trouble with the UK is we continue to put up with the bar getting lower and lower each year. Honestly someone would defend it taking a month to get a bag back as being fine

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