I was a victim this week.
I was trying to get my car washed. Sometimes I just go through the Exxon car wash - it’s convenient to my house and easy to use because I can just swipe my gas card to pay for it. But my car was pretty dirty. I probably should have taken it to one of those detailing shops because it was really dirty. So I thought I would take it to that really nice drive-through car wash across the street from the Exxon. At the BP station.
I pulled up to the entrance but the card reader wouldn’t read my BP card. I tried a couple times, then pulled around to the front of the gas station (sighing heavily. Soooo inconvenienced). Inside, I told the cashier that I was trying to get a car wash and it wouldn’t read my card (*flashes BP card around as visual aid*). She says, “We don’t have anything to do with the car wash.” I said, “So you can’t charge my gas card and give me a code?” I mean, that’s how they do it across the street at the Exxon. She says again, “We don’t have anything to do with the car wash.” Fine, I huff. I’ll just go across the street.
And as I’m walking out of the convenience store (did I mention completely inconvenienced by the whole ordeal?) this guy behind me in the store says, “Ma’am?” I turn around and he’s digging in his wallet for a card. He pulls out what looks like a credit card for Sunshine Car Wash and tells me, “There’s $12 on this card, you can just swipe it and use it.” I imagine that I looked at him like he was offering me some of his herpes simplex 2, and said, “Are you giving me this?” And he says, “Yeah. I know the guy who owns it, and they’re not affiliated with the gas station. Take this, and you can reload it, too.”
I was a victim of a random act of kindness. I mean, the guy knows the owner, maybe he gets these cards free. Who knows? Doesn’t really matter. He saved me more hassle and got me a damn good car wash. So to the friend of the Sunshine Car Wash owner who gave me his card at the Germantown Parkway BP station on Monday - thank you for your kindness. I will do my best to “pay it forward,” because I do believe what you put out there comes back to you ten-fold.
Do you have an experience with a random act of kindness? Giving, or receiving? How did it change your attitude, your behavior, your situation?
Responses to “Casualty of a Random Act”
May 7th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I was coming home from a job interview. I was driving a long on 240 and started feeling the truck pulling, yeah it was my worse fear, a blow out on 240 at 5:30pm.
Within moments of me analyzing the situation, and take my “good” shirt off a Latino man was backing up to my vehicle. He jumps out of his car and within 10 minutes the spare tire was on the truck.
I tried to give him all the money in my billfold, he would take it. I asked “Why did you stop to help me today?” He said “because a couple of weeks ago I ran out of gas and someone helped me.” I gave him thanks shook his hand and we went on our way.
I have since jumped a stalled car off and I even gave the people my spare pair of jumper cables.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Several years ago when my husband was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., and working insane 19-hour days, I was spending the middle of December taking finals/teaching someone my job at the newspaper/getting ready for Christmas/getting ready to move halfway across the country the day after on only three weeks’ notice (could we possibly pile just a little more on?!!!) and totally at the end of my rope –
I didn’t want to go shopping at the Commissary because I was cleaning out the fridge, so I popped my children in the car and ran to BK to grab supper. When I pulled up to the drive-thru window to pay, the attendant said that the lady in front of me paid for our meals and said to tell me to have a great evening. We had lived at Ft. L ( a small post) for the better part of six years and I’m really sure I didn’t know the lady in line in front of me, but her small action totally changed my attitude. I realized I was so busy being miserable at MY situation that I wasn’t being very nice to those around me and that I had a tremendous amount to be grateful for, beginning with that dinner gift.
I never got to thank her.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Oh, I have another one, and I’ll even mention who was the “criminal” in this case.
Y’all know the Canale Bros grocery out in Eads? (I believe it’s technically George Canale and Sons) Back when I was in high school, they were the only thing for miles in either direction. I drove past there every day on my thirty mile trip to and from school. One day my car broke down a little ways from there, in the pouring rain.
I had only been driving on my own a little over a month. I was terrified, because my father had told me if I didn’t maintain my car properly he would take it away from me, and I was convinced that whatever had happened must be my fault, because let’s be honest I hadn’t really thought about maintaining the car at all. But as it turns out, it wasn’t my fault… the distributor cap had gotten wet and cracked.
The Canale brothers treated me just like you would want your own daughter to be treated - got me a place to sit, made sure I called my parents to let them know why I was late, and what’s more, they carefully dried off my distributor cap, then when they figured out it was cracked, they went and got me a new one. They also refused payment, which is a heck of a way to run a business, but what they said was “There aren’t a lot of people who live out here and we have to take care of each other, you’re our neighbors.”
I’m still something of an idiot about cars, but I’ve tried to remember the part about neighbors.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Two years ago, I was going through a very bitter divorce. I was in a very bad place emotionally as the circumstances around this divorce had me feeling like particularly bad person. I had my son with me, we’d just been to the doctor for a severe sinus infection in him (he had a 103 fever). I was low on gas but had no money to get gas with. (ie: soon to be ex husband refused to help me with living expenses) I ran out of gas on Union near Methodist hospital. My son and I were sitting out on the lawn next to Union. I was trying to call someone to come and get us/get gas for me. All available people were at work and I couldn’t readh them. I look up and saw a man on a motorcycle turn around. He stopped and asked what the problem was. After deciding I would probably be ok speaking to him, I told him the situation. I said I did not even have a gas can. He lifted his huge compartment lid and pulled out a gas can. Then he drove up a block or two to the nearest gas station, came back and put the gas in my tank. I offered to pay him with the few extra dollars I had on hand, or to mail him a check. He wouldn’t take the money. I will never forget how kind he was to help me and my son. It makes me cry thinking about it even now.
L
May 8th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Not sure if this applies in exactly the same sense, but it is most vivid: I was the victim of an attempted rape but was rescued by a car full of strangers (women) who just happened to see something scary going on at midnight on the side of the street. They drove to a nearby restaurant, ran in screaming for help on my behalf and another stranger, a man, jumped in their car and returned to the scene. They all got out & started yelling for me to run, scaring the bad guy off, and the man-stranger chased him until he lost him. Never got the bad guy and never got a chance to thank my rescuers.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Yes, I’ve encountered some very lovely people.
Once many years ago I was looking for one of my favorite books which had somehow gotten lost in a move, “The Thirteen Clocks” by James Thurber. I wish I could remember the name of the bookstore I went to… they’re gone now, victims of Borders and Barnes and Noble, but they were a fine little privately-owned bookstore, and one of the things they did was run searches for out-of-print books. This was back before ebay and amazon’s book searches.
Anyway, usually these people were lovely, but for some reason on this occasion they treated me like I was from Mars, with a lot of eye rolling, acting as if such a book had never existed and I was clearly insane. I filled out the search form, paid my search price, and left without much hope.
In the parking lot I was stopped by an embarrassed-looking older fellow. “I couldn’t help overhearing you,” he said. “I want you to have this.”
And he handed. me. the. book.
Turns out he just happened to have two copies. One was in his car. It was a first edition. I offered him money but he wouldn’t take any.
It’s still one of my favorite books - and it’s still out of print and hard to find, although someone has released an audiobook version of it. Which makes sense; it’s the best read-out-loud book in the world. My mother rarely read to me as a child; instead, she had me read to her. There’s a long, clever, alliterative passage which I loved to read out loud; it was like riding a bike very fast downhill. If you can get your hands on a copy, don’t pass it up.