My daughter has special needs, to save you the technical terminology she basically struggles to control her own muscles. She can walk, but it’s a rather unusual gait, she struggles to hold things well and has regular twitching motions she can’t control. During her childhood she struggled with the fact that her peers in school would either make fun of her or just avoid her as if they feared they would catch something from her. With her family and friends she was a sweet girl, but around strangers she tended to be apprehensive and shy, fearing they would treat her poorly.

At the time of this story my daughter was in high school. She had just had some sort of bad experience with some kids at school that Friday, though she didn’t want to share the details with us, and so she had been particularly withdrawn and down since. We were taking her to a jazz festival since she loves music and we were really hoping it may be able to cheer her back up.

As we were entering the park where the festival was a young girl around five or six came running up towards us. Trailing a little behind her was a man and a younger girl, presumably her father and sister. The man calls after the girl as she reaches us.

Father: “Remember you have to ask first before touching anyone”
Girl: “Can I give you a hug?.”
Me: “Oh. okay?”

As promised the little girl runs comes up to me and gives me a hug, then turns to my sister and gives her a hug as well, after asking permission of course. While this is happening the father catches up

Father: “sorry, She’s randomly decided she wants to give strangers hugs this evening. I’m just trying to make sure she at least asks permission first. Hope she’s not a bother to you.”

While he is explaining that the younger sister wandered up to me and, a bit more tentatively, reached out as if to give me a hug. I do the same back and receive my second hug of the evening.

Me: “no bother at all, their adorable.”

My daughter had been a bit ahead and to the side of us when the girls showed up, not too far away but enough that the young girls didn’t seem to have noticed her at first. They had both given us our hugs and seemed about ready to continue running down the sidewalk out of the park when the father spoke up.

“Hold on, you missed someone! Did you want to ask her?”

He gestures to my daughter, and both girls turn and run up to her.

young girl: “Can we hug you?”
daughter: “okay”

Both young girls take turns giving my daughter hugs, not seeming to mind at all her twitching muscles or the fact that she struggles a bit to hug them back properly. I swear my daughters face seems to light up a bit more with each hug.

young girl: “Okay bye”

Just as quickly as the girls showed up they start to run off back down the road again. Their father gives me a look of amused exasperation I’m sure most parents can sympathies with.

father: “Thanks for humoring them, enjoy the music”

I would have responded back but the father was already rushing to catch up with the girls. Not long after that I heard him shouting another reminder for the girls to ask before giving hugs as presumably another family got the same drive by hugging treatment we just got.

Meanwhile my daughter seemed as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. The hugs from those little girls, and the fact that they didn’t seem the least bit bothered about my daughters muscles control, seemed to have been just solution to help bring her out of her funk. Between that and the music of the festival she was finally back to the sweet and happy girl I loved not long afterwards.

Thank you adorable siblings, for your random hugs and for treating my daughter like she a regular person and not a disability.

I had what should have been an amazing moment, “chris” who often bullied me about my school ability and future plans, served me in a phone shop, many years after leaving school.

At that point i had a good job, bought a house and was in a relationship. But rather than being smug, I just felt sorry for him.

He looked miserable, back in school he talked about his grand University plans and family contacts in major companies, all look like they came to nothing.
He carries out the transaction, apparently with no idea who I was.

Chris: ok, so we are nearly set up. What’s the name for the account.

Me: its (name)

Chris: hmm, I knew a guy called that.

Me: yeah common name.

Chris : wait did you go to (school)

Me: err yeah , many years ago.

Chris: I though you looked familiar. Ha.

Me: yeah, Chris right?

Chris: yeah, so what are you doing now. Are you even working?

Me: yep, been at my place for years.

Chris: yeah, this place is pretty great. Loads if perks, might even put a recommendation in if your lucky.

(Yeah, he would love that little bit if power again.)

Me: nah , I’m good thanks. I like my job.

Chris: where are you working?

Me: oh local place.

Chris: no, it’s for the form. Name of employer and job title.

Me: oh right, sorry. (Major company) and engineer.

(He carried on the rest of the application in silence before throwing the phone at me!)

After a drinking party at my friend appartement, I let my friend convince me to stay for the night instead of going back home (despite safe ways available) because “I never sleepover” and would miss less sleep this way. I thought: Oh well, why not for once? Can’t be that bad… I was a fool.

Around 1am we decided it was time to sleep, I set myself on the sofa in the livingroom. Said livingroom is not fully separated from the bedroom, it’s an half-wall type of situatuation, but I think nothing of it at this point.

So, we all fall asleep, then, 2am come and I heard a strange noise I can’t really identify in the sleepy-drunk stage I was at, but it won’t stop. It’s not music but kind of, but not.
I’m wonderring: What’s that? Are the neighboors not asleep yet? What’s going on? Then, it stop. So, I brush it off and I gratefully go back to sleep. When…about 10 or 15minutes only later, it start again!

It’s second time, I’m a bit more awake but stilll not able to exactly identify the noise, thinking: What the heck?! Again? Aliens are visiting or what? (of course not). I’m annoyed but it stop after a little while, so, I try to sleep again.

And, third time come after another little 10-15minutes, and then, I’m fully awake, brain is finally working and I understood: My friend boyfriend’s work in a breakfast restaurant, he wake up at about 3h30am and this is his snooze alarm. The guy snooze throught an hour and half of alarms!
My friend did not even warn me because she’s an heavy sleeper, is used to it by now and won’t wake up at all. The half wall situatuation does nothing to muffle the sound.

I’m not a heavy sleeper at all, even if I drank. I’m the “one alarm, get up” type. So, I’m super awake, yet also super tired, laying down on a sofa with nothing to do (pre smartphone time) but listening to this alarm going off every 10minutes.

When the boyfriend (finally!) got up, he said: He’s done with the snoozes, and I can go back to sleep if I want. As if I could after an hour and a half of being very, very woken up. So, it’s 4am, he made me a coffee. I proceeded to sip coffee until 6am, when my friend woke up too and we both left to our respective jobs.

On my way I told my sleep deprivate self: Yes, stay for night, so you “won’t miss more sleep”. You would had lost what? Max 45minutes if you went back home? Now you got one, ONE full hour of rest, on a sofa and a free snoozes alarms concert. SO great! That’s why you don’t do sleepovers. Remember. Never again.

Our store is closed, but a woman trots on in — past a big A-board sign saying our opening hours.

Me: “Sorry, ma’am, we’re currently closed.”

Customer: “Then why was the door unlocked?”

Me: “It has to be unlocked when people are in the store due to fire regulations.”

Customer: “But there are no people here!” 

Me: “We also count as people… ma’am.”

Related:
Because Retail Workers Aren’t Human

An older couple comes into the store, looking a little lost and wary. Something tells me I should go say hello.

Me: “Hi! Can I help you with anything today?”

Older Lady: “Hi, yes, we’re looking for something that lets you see the other person on a call.”

Me: “Oh, video-calling! Yes, we have lots of devices that can help with that. Did you want it on a bigger screen, like on a tablet? Or a smaller screen, like on a phone?”

Older Gentleman: “We… don’t really know. We only just have the old phone, so…”

He looks at a loss. As this is a sparsely populated part of the US, with lots of rural towns, it’s not uncommon to see older folk being forced into learning newer technology to keep in touch with relatives who have moved far away. I decide that today the day that I will help them figure all this stuff out.

Me: “Maybe if you told me what you’re trying to do, I can help suggest the best thing for you?”

Older Lady: “We’d like to call our children on the coast. They said we could see them if we got some kind of smaller TV or something?”

Me: “Sounds to me like they have what we call a ‘tablet’. If that’s all you’re going to use it for, we have some very affordable options that can do that. I’ll show you!”

I bring them over to the relevant section of the store and show them a basic model that also happens to be on sale. It’s just a little over $100.

Me: “If all you’ll be using it for is video calling, this should be more than enough. I feel I have to ask, though: do you have Internet at home?”

Older Gentleman: *Looking worried again* “No. Do we have to?”

Me: “Not necessarily! You said you had an old phone. Is that a landline or a cell phone?”

Older Gentleman: “It’s in my pocket!”

He gets out an older model of a smartphone, but it’s a smartphone nonetheless!

Me: “Okay, that’s a cell phone. Do you pay a phone bill for this?”

Older Gentleman: “Of course!”

Me: “Who do you pay?”

Older Gentleman: “[Well-known Phone Company].”

Me: “Okay. You might be able to link this tablet to the data plan that you’re using for your phone.”

They both look at me confused.

Me: “Uh… the video call will come through a phone signal, but it can go to this tablet via your phone.”

They nod in clearer understanding.

Me: “May I look at your phone for a moment?”

The gentleman eagerly hands it over, and I can see that it’s totally devoid of apps… but… there is an app for the aforementioned phone company. I get his permission to select the app, and I can see that he’s on a very basic data plan but is getting data all the same.

Now, there are still a lot of unknowns here. I won’t be able to explain to this couple how to tether devices or even know how strong their signal is back home.

Me: “Do you mind if I ask, where do you both live?”

Older Lady: “Just past [Large Ranch] on the way to [Town].”

Me: “Oh, near [Gas Station]?”

Older Lady: “Yes! Just turn right after that!”

Jackpot. That’s on my way home.

Me: “Okay, I’m going to suggest something unorthodox here.”

They seemed sweet and a bit lost, and I can be naïve and too trusting, but what the h***? I sold them the tablet with the understanding that they could return it for a refund if it didn’t do what they needed it to do.

I also agreed to drop by after my shift (I finish at 3:00 pm) and set up their tablet for them.

After my shift, I dropped by and drank some sweet tea out on their porch. I set up the tablet, and it took literal minutes to discover their old phone and tether it as a hotspot. I explained everything I was doing as I did it in a way that they could understand.

I tested the data speed of the tablet when close to the phone, and it was juuuuust about enough to get a video call, provided they keep both devices close, which I also explained.

They then called one of their children who lived on the East Coast to explain what was happening while I enjoyed a slice of the wife’s lemon drizzle cake. I talked to them and introduced myself, and I learned that they were happy to use Zoom or Google to talk to their family. I got the contact information and set up the older couple with the service, and less than an hour after my arrival, we were miraculously having a video call with their adult kids thousands of miles away!

The beaming smiles on their faces as grandchildren were shoved up to the camera and a series of “Hi, Grandma! Hi, Grandpa!” came through the tablet speakers made it worth all the effort.

I left my number and told them to call me whenever they have any issues, and they do. I look forward to when they actually do have issues… That lemon drizzle cake was incredible.

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

Read the next story!

Read the roundup!