While the news is often filled with horror stories of strangers doing awful things, we can't forget that there are good people out there. From little acts of kindness to really going above and beyond for someone, grateful people share the most wonderful moments they've shared with a complete stranger.
Prank Call Gone Right.
“When I was a kid I was with my friends who were sleeping over at my place. It was late night and we started prank calling around 2:00am (pretty rude and stupid now that I think about it). It was my turn and an old lady answered. I asked if she could pick me up at the airport since I was ‘waiting’ for hours while speaking in a terrible accent. Somehow the conversation went from a childish prank call to a nice long conversation about life and stuff. Turns out the lady knew we were prank calling and just needed someone to talk to. She was a lonely senior and really appreciated our call. To this day, because of the prank call I try to treat seniors as best as I can. Being lonely really sucks” (Source).
Credit Check.
“I did a credit check one time, like you’re ‘sposta, only to discover that there were two credit cards in my name that I absolutely did not have. They were being used in New York and I lived in San Francisco. I got really upset for about 5 seconds before I realized that they had been using the credit cards for almost two years and were actually much more responsible with my credit than I was. I let it go. A few years passed and the credit cards are gone. I never met those folks (who I’m assuming were illegal immigrants) but they can use my credit any time!” (Source).
Heather.
“There’s a phenomenal radio show on NPR called This American Life. They had an episode called ‘Time to Save the World’ and Act II was called ‘Heather, Help Me.’ Some girls, when they were younger, decided to dial H-E-A-T-H-E-R and talk to whoever answered. It was an old guy on the other side – they all called him Heather and were kind of mean to him, but kept calling back and he would always just listen to them. Even though they were always prank calls, he never got mad or hung up. These girls would always just tell people to ‘call Heather’ whenever they had something to talk about, and this guy would always listen. It changed from prank calling to some people breaking down and opening up to him, since they didn’t know him and feel judged. He would offer his advice and listen to their problems. Around a dozen people called him over the years sobbing and saying they were going to commit suicide. He would try to talk them down and some of them would call him back later and thank him. It was a very interesting listen. No one knew who he was or what his name was, he was always just Heather to them” (Source).
The Backup Singer.
“One of the girls who lives next door sings in the shower. She’s really good. I can hear it in the whole upstairs but if I’m in the bathroom, I’ll do backup vocals or we’ll duet. There’s a good chance we’ll meet, yes, but it’s been going on for about two months now and we haven’t yet. It might be relevant to mention that I’m female, though I’d be in lesbians with shower girl. Her taste in music is awesome and all of the girls I’ve seen come and go from next door are very pretty” (Source).
Hello, It’s Me…
“In my typing class my freshman year I left a word doc on the desktop saying hello. The next day the person in the period after mine replied. We left each other messages in the document for the entire semester. It ended up being one of our more popular varsity football players. I was a tuba player in marching band. At games I’d see him after halftime, and he always made a point to bump fists as the team went back out. We never really hung out or anything, but knowing that a ‘jock’ understood that the band geeks were really there to support the team was pretty cool. Our senior year they ended up going all the way to state semifinals. Sadly we lost, but at the end of the game he came up to me, and shook my hand this time. Thanking me for the cool music” (Source).
What Are The Chances.
“Drunk on Chatroulette with some friends and one of us was wearing a Lakers jersey. This girl we come across tells us she’s from Australia and her brother is a huge Lakers fan and will be coming to LA in a few weeks. We get her info and eventually send emails and start video chatting with said brother who turns out to be an awesome dude. He says he coming to LA with some of his mates and they’re gonna do LA for a couple weeks then road trip across the states for a couple months. He turns out to be super cool and get along with us (we have a huge group of close friends) so he stays in LA at one of my friends apartments while his friends venture off across the US. We go to Vegas, Big Bear, parties, bars, Lakers and Dodger games and this guy just comes along, pays his way, and fits in like he’s always been part of our group. Anyways he has come back to LA twice now in the past year and a half and even came to Coachella with us this year. Social networking it keeps us all so connected with him that when he does come to LA its like a friend coming home from college for a few weeks” (Source).
Supermarket Antics.
“I was walking down the aisle of my local grocery store when I locked eyes with a complete stranger at the other end of the aisle. I slowly walked forward, our carts were lined up perfectly he smiled and started walking straight towards me. Our paces quickened until we were at a sprint. At the last second we averted the head on collision. He swerved to the right and I to the left. Our hands outstretched for the most amazing high five of my life. We both continued on our ways without a backwards glance” (Source).
What Asking A Simple Question Can Do.
“I’m a member of the Air Force and was stationed in Korea. One night at about 2230 and I’m grabbing breakfast (worked 2330-0730), when I met a young Army Private. Kid looked lost as all hell, had his bags and the ‘I just arrived in a foreign country’ look, so I asked if he needed help; all he needed was a phone, so I got him to one. No answer from his contact, so I offer to show him to the Army Patriot detachment on base, as my mind saw him as one of the new guys for them. Arrive, no one there. I tell him to just come to work with me, there’s a phone, so we make the way to my shop and I go about opening up and doing inspections while he’s at a desk calling his unit. About 30 minutes later my boss comes in wondering why I’m at work so early, and who I’m talking to. At this point, the private, myself and my boss all introduce ourselves. We find he’s not a member of the unit on our base, but from further north, and had been in-country longer than my boss and myself by a few months. He had just come back from an emergency leave due to a surgery his wife needed. He had to go home, but instead of his supervisors telling him about free Air Force flights for persons on emergency leave, he is forced to buy his tickets via civilian carriers. $2K+ gone right there. He gets home, only to find the Tricare (Gov healthcare that makes all military hate gov healthcare) paperwork had been ‘misfiled’ (lost) by Army medical types not once, but 3 times, so his wife was uninsured. He has to pull 2 advance paychecks to pay for the surgery, on top of paying for a rental car, gas, and food. 3 weeks later, he has to come back, and is trying to scrape funds to make it back to Korea. This is where things take a turn for the better. He meets (randomly) a group of reservists, who upon hearing his tale, take him HOURS away, FREE OF CHARGE, to the nearest AF base, and get him on one of those AF transports, where he’ll make a connection at another base to Korea. His fortune stays mostly good (aircraft breaks down at that first connection for a few hours, only hiccup) and he winds up on my base. My boss and I are shocked. Finally he’d managed to get a hold of his boss. He explains where he is, and she says ‘catch a cab.’ Now, anyone out here knows NOT to try and take a cab from one base to another – $300-700 cab rides are not worth it. We told him to tell her NO (ballsy of all of us). He can be put in the base hotel, and catch a $13 dollar bus in the morning. She agrees. Turns out to be good, he had quite literally less than $15 at this point, and can barely afford the bus. I empty my pockets of all US cash I have, and a Sergeant from the other shop in our building came out and got the story, and did the same. We paid for the Private’s room, his bus ticket, and gave him some extras for food. At this point, the Private is probably at the closest thing a man can be to crying with joy and relief a man can be without crying. The next morning as I’m walking him to the bus terminal, I learn he’s 27, and that his wife is doing MUCH better than she had been doing – we all had gotten a heartfelt thanks from her. We shook hands as he got on the bus, and I’ve never seen or heard from him again. It’s amazing how you can change someone’s day or even life just by asking a question ‘Hey man, do you need help?'” (Source).
Thinking Of Others.
“A few years ago I was going trick-or-treating with my niece and nephews and we were walking around a neighborhood, going up to doors with their lights on, all that jazz. Well, we’re finishing the loop and there are only two houses left with lights on so we go up to the second to last one and an elderly lady answers the door. My niece and nephews say ‘Trick-or-treat!’ and the woman promptly starts crying. It turned out that her husband had died a week before and she had completely forgotten it was Halloween and she felt terrible about not having anything to give my niece and nephew but they gave her a big hug because she was crying and then we left. Now, every year, the week before Halloween, I buy two sets of flowers and put them on her porch – one for her and one for her husband” (Source).
Leading The Pack.
“My friends and I used to go on Xbox Live together and play Red Dead Redemption. Though we wouldn’t actually play as we would all choose the fat and short Mexican and the mule, ride into a town in a pack where other players are, and, usually, get mowed down while we laugh hysterically. One night 5 other people caught on to what we were doing and joined in. It was a beautiful moment of 12 fat Mexicans on mules slowly rolling into a town in flying-v formation, getting shot down by other strangers in the game” (Source).
The Puzzler.
“Years ago my girlfriend started getting these weird emails with little word/number puzzles and riddles in them. It was clearly from someone she knew but they would never give any hint on who it was. For a few months she would get new puzzles, we would work on them, and then email back the response. Sometimes the answer would be the clue for the next puzzle, etc. We had a lot of fun and couldn’t wait for the next one. Then, out of the blue, the puzzles just kind of stopped and we were bummed because it seemed like we were never going to find out who had sent them. Something like over a year went by and then she got another puzzle in an email. This one said it was the final puzzle and the ‘puzzler’ would be revealed at the end. This time, the puzzle just had an address and said for us to look on the side of the building for the clue. I was starting to get a little reluctant and thought this might be some sort of psycho or whatever. After we realized that the address was in a very familiar and public place (a bar we commonly went to) we jumped in the car and took off. Sure enough we saw an envelope sitting on a window sill of the building. She reluctantly opened it up and GASP there wasn’t a finger or anything, only a series of clues and a locker-key. We were stoked. The clues worked kind of like a road rally. So we started figuring out the clues and they eventually led us to a natural history museum. Spooky. We knew there were lockers in the museum so we immediately went there and found the one that matched the key number. The latch unlocked and we sloowwly opened the door to find another envelope with even more clues. This time they took us through the museum until we reached a man-made “cave.” The ‘puzzler’ definitely picked this place because it was creepy and dark. Once we got to the spot the clues led us to, we found ANOTHER locker key. We were having a lot of fun and couldn’t wait to find out what was in the locker. We raced back to the lockers and she opened it up to find flowers and a sign that said turn around. When she did, she found me on one knee with a ring in my hand. She said yes. DUH” (Source).
Not All Heroes Wear Capes.
“I attended a school where people from primary years would study in the afternoons and the high school years were in the mornings. I had to sit everyday at the same spot. Once, when I was around 8 years old, somebody wrote a poem on the table, which I found really cool. I replied saying how cool the poem was, and me and the girl who wrote it started to talk to each other, through the texts on the table. One day, she waited for me in the class and introduced herself. We kept on talking for some time, and eventually lost contact. Some years later, I was walking alone and some girls from my class started picking on me. Suddenly the girl from the poems appeared and said them to leave me alone. They never picked on me again and I’ve never seen her again either. But she still my hero” (Source).
A Chance Encounter.
“I found out about Omegle from a college friend, and would get bored frequently and go on for s–ts and giggles. One day, at like one in the morning, while procrastinating the cleaning of my room and a paper, I decided to go on. I met some jackoffs and a bunch of d–kheads. At near three in the morning, I was getting sort of tired of talking to weirdos, so I told myself I’d give it one more shot before actually doing things. The girl I met was from New Zealand and we hit it off instantly and talked for nearly 6 hours. Sadly, I had to go to class and leave, but we decided to be Facebook friends. That was in September of 2009. Hardly a day has gone by that we don’t talk online, and a lot of the time, we talk for hours on end. She is my best friend, and I hope that when I meet her in person (if it ever happens) she doesn’t turn out to be a serial murderer or something, because that would really suck a lot” (Source).
An Unspoken Understanding.
“When I was in high school I smoked a bit of weed. I enjoyed smoking outside the most and found a spot at a lake by my school. It was off the trail and basically a hollowed out bush. Tons of space. My friends and I would go there for years. Then one day my friend and I were there as usual, sitting on a couple rocks. I took a huge hit when my friend said my name in a horribly panicked way. I looked up to see a man and a dog. I had never been so scared. Years of smoking and hadn’t even been almost caught. I put my hand up to my mouth and blew out the smoke, as if that would help hide it. The man pulled something from his jacket. I thought it was going to be a police badge. But it was a large ziplock bag full of weed and it also had a pipe in it. He walked over to us and sat down and his dog just stayed where it was. We handed him the pipe and he smoked with us in silence until we finished the bowl. Then he got up and left. It was so f–king weird. I still can’t get over it” (Source).
A Little Secret.
“I have a big SUV type car and I was late for a doctor’s appointment (they had a parking garage) and I was searching for a spot for nearly half an hour. I see an open spot at the end, near the pole. I try to park in but I’m really close to another car. I back up and apparently some a-hole parked on the side where there wasn’t a spot, making it impossible for me to get out without hitting the car. I attempted and smacked into their car, and this oldish man comes out of his car and helps me back up and says ‘It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. That guy isn’t even in a parking spot.’ I finally got out of the spot and thanked him, I parked in a residential area like half a mile away. Thank you sir, I probably would still be stuck in that spot if it weren’t for you” (Source).
In Another Lifetime.
“My dad had his college reunion recently. He asked me to DD for him, and since I had nothing to do, I figured, why not? Dropped him off at a hotel and went to a nearby Starbucks to do some light reading. I sat on a counter next to this girl who seemed to be grading some papers. Found out she was a high school teacher, teaching 11th grade English. We sat there and chatted for about four hours, laughing, talking, just overall having one of the best conversations of my life. During our conversation, she told me she was engaged, and I had a girlfriend, so there was no awkward intentions unspoken. It was just two people having a good conversation. I left without asking for a number, knowing fully well that we’d never see one another again. I told her I greatly appreciated her company, and she said that she thoroughly enjoyed it. Possibly in an alternate universe, we were best friends” (Source).