I’m in my final year of university. My boyfriend and I are in a long-distance relationship; he lives on the British Columbia coast while I am in southern Alberta.

During spring break, I decide to book a plane trip out to spend the week with him. As it is a short trip, I want to have as much time with him as possible; therefore, I am looking for an early flight. Due to previous problems with other airlines, I don’t like to book with anyone except a specific airline.

I notice that their 10:00 am flight is quite expensive, around $200 one way. Not happy with that, I keep looking and am quite pleased to find a much cheaper flight, about $100 one way, for a 9:00 am flight! Wanting to scoop that deal up before the prices change, I book my flight with a one-way ticket, thinking I might be able to get a better deal booking my tickets separately rather than together.

A small part of my gut is telling me there is something fishy about that 9:00 am flight I found that is cheaper than the 10:00 am. Stupidly, I push that down and instead just look forward to my trip.

The night before my flight, I find I’m not able to check in. I find this strange, but again, I push it aside and strive to just check in with an agent instead at the airport. The next morning:

Me: “Hi, I’m having trouble checking in for my flight. Would you be able to help me? I’m not sure what’s wrong. I’m due to fly out in about an hour.”

Agent: “Sure, no problem. What’s your name?”

I tell the agent, and the agent types it into her computer and frowns at her screen.

Agent: “Hmm, that seems to be a bit strange. I’m not sure why you’re having trouble checking in. Let me look a bit further.”

I’m slightly worried. I booked through a third-party website to try and find the best deals on flights, and now I’m concerned that I was not properly registered for this flight. After a couple minutes, I see the agent’s eyes widen in realization and fear. As she turns to me, I can practically see her trying to curl in on herself.

Agent: “I found the problem. You’re not scheduled for a 9:00 am flight this morning; you’re scheduled for a 9:00 pm flight tonight.”

Suddenly, the cheaper flight makes sense and my heart drops into my stomach. The agent is leaning as far away from me as she can get, clearly prepared for the explosion of rage she thinks is coming her way.

I let out a string of expletives under my breath as I look away from her so she doesn’t think I am directing them at her. It isn’t HER fault after all but mine for not reading the times properly. Once I compose myself, I turn back to her.

Me: “Okay, well, I don’t really want to wait until 9:00 pm tonight and lose a whole day with my boyfriend. Is there anything I can do to fix this?”

The agent looks a little relieved but still apprehensive.

Agent: “Well, I can bump you to the 10:00 am flight, but there will be a fee of $150 to do that.”

I whisper more expletives to myself. As a student, money is tight, and this trip is already pushing it for me.

Agent: “Or you could call [Third-Party Website] to see if you would be able to change your flight through them?”

I realize I will have to bite the bullet for this and hope they will be able to accept a different credit card from the one on file.

Me: “No, I don’t know how long that would take, and I don’t want to miss the 10:00 am flight. I’ll just pay the fee and move to that one, please.”

The agent nods and glances back to her computer, typing information and making the changes I’ve requested. In the meantime, I’m digging in my purse to pull out my wallet and the card I want to use. As I glance up, my card in hand, the agent is holding my boarding pass out to me.

Me: “Wait, what about the fee?”

Agent: “I waived it this time, but please be sure to be more careful in the future.”

Me: *Nearly in tears* “Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise I will!”

I accepted the boarding pass and scurried off to security. As I promised that agent, I’ve never made that mistake again and my boyfriend and I are now happily living together.

I pull into my favorite fast food drive-thru for breakfast and place my order at the box.

Employee: “Our credit card reader is currently down and we’re only accepting cash payments. Is that something you can do?”

I agree, and we confirm my order. As I’m watching, the two cars in front of me both try to give their credit cards. Then, a car pulls in behind me and then leaves. As a long-time reader of NAR, I can only imagine what the employee is dealing with, so when I go to pay:

Me: “Please, keep the change! I’m sure you’re going to be dealing with a lot of angry people this morning, so you deserve a tip!”

She brought me my drinks and gave me a free upgrade from the large to an extra-large! I wish that young lady the best because, as I was pulling away, another person was flipping her off at the window. It pays to be nice and understanding!

I’m working the desk at a hotel and a mom brings her hysterically crying ten- to twelve-year-old daughter to the desk.

Mom: “Tell her what you did.”

Daughter: *Between sobs* “I jumped up in the hallway and slapped the exit sign and it fell down.”

Mom: “My daughter’s going to pay to replace it. I want her to learn from her actions and take responsibility for it.”

I know it’s in our hotel nature to say it’s okay or no problem, but I know this is important to her mom.

Me: *To the daughter* “Thank you for coming and telling me what you did. Why did you choose do that?”

Daughter: “I thought it would be fun. I never thought it would fall off!”

Me: “Will you ever do that again?”

Daughter: “No, never. I’m so sorry.”

Me: “Let’s go check out the sign. If there is a fire, then guests may not be able to see where the exit was without it, and it could be very dangerous.”

The three of us go to the hallway. Upon inspecting the sign, it isn’t broken at all. I am able to put it back up and it works perfectly.

Me: “Luckily, there was no damage, so there is no cost you have to pay to replace it. I’m proud of you for taking responsibility for what you did.”

Mom: “I’m proud of you, too.”

We often deal with such negativity and naughty adults and children on the job. I was so happy that a child owned up to her mistake — with a firm nudge from mom — and that there was no harm to the hotel.

I work the morning shift in a small restaurant. Two of the wait staff call in sick and, of course, we have an unusually large breakfast rush.

The manager steps forward to help serve tables, but we are still slow at getting to everyone. One particular family — a husband, wife, and two teenage children — is very understanding. When I apologize for the delay in simply bringing them the orange juices and coffees and taking their orders, they wave this off.

Customer: “You are obviously busy today. You’re doing great.”

This started a domino effect. The people at the table next to them heard and, when I brought out their order a few minutes later, they made a point of thanking me and sympathizing over how busy we were.

The table next to THEM also spoke up in my support and in support of my manager, who was working just as hard. It literally went like this in a near-perfect circle around the room, with everyone chiming in.

I don’t know if we were blessed with an unusually kind group of people or if it was some sort of bizarre example of peer pressure, but it was wonderful. Everyone left a good tip. That family that started the Dominoes of Niceness falling? They left nearly a 50% tip.

My state is in its fourth lockdown. I have been out of work since the start of the health crisis. I get a call about a job that I applied for a couple of months ago that I didn’t get but was next in line for. Great — they want me to start tomorrow. One problem: I don’t have all the clothes and shoes I need as I am very short on money and have been applying in several fields. So, I place a click and collect order for a superstore. The website says if placed by 12:00 pm, the order will be ready by 4:00 pm on the same day. I place my order at 11:30 and wait for a message to say it’s ready, but by 5:00 pm I’m still waiting. I ring the customer care, who puts me through to the store.

Call #1:

Worker: “I’m sorry, sometimes we have problems finding the items. Let me find out what’s going on and call you back.”

Call #2, half an hour later:

Worker: “I’m sorry for the delay, but we’re having problems finding all of your items on the shop floor. I have three team members looking out the back at the deliveries. I’m going to go and help look, as well. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on, and I haven’t forgotten you.”

Me: “Thank you. I really need these to start a new job tomorrow. Even if I need to substitute things, I don’t mind paying the difference.”

Worker: “No problem. We’ll work it out. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

Call #3, nearly an hour later:

Worker: “I’m sorry, but we were unable to find [pants #1] and [shoes]. We do have [pants #2]; they are the same colour and style. The only difference is [pants #2] are made of organic material and are slightly more expensive. Are those okay?”

Me: “That’s fine. How do I pay the difference?”

Worker: “Oh, no. Don’t worry about that. It’s our fault; we’ll cover it. Now with the shoes, we were unable to get them in women’s shoes. I do have several similar styles in men’s.”

Me: “Great. I don’t mind taking the men’s if they fit.”

Worker: “All right, it looks like you ordered size seven in women’s. What I’ll do is pull out a couple of pairs in men’s in sizes I think will work. When you come to collect your order, I’ll have a seat ready so you can try them on and see what works.”

Me: “Thank you so much. You have been amazing.”

Worker: “My pleasure. I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get it sorted out.”

Me: “No problem. You’ve really gone above and beyond to make sure I got what I need.”

Worker: “You’re welcome. See you soon.”

When I arrive, true to her word, everything is ready, including a sanitized stool for me to sit down a safe distance from everyone to try the shoes on. I find a great pair that is more expensive than the ones I ordered, but when I go to pay:

Worker: “Oh, no. It’s our mistake. Don’t worry about it. Good luck with the new job.”

Me: “Thank you so much. You really went out of your way to help. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to start tomorrow, and I’ve been unemployed since the start of the health crisis. This really means a lot.”

Worker: “I’m glad we could help. My manager said to do whatever I need to make you, the customer, happy and I’m so glad we could. Good luck with the new job.”

I thanked her again and asked for her manager’s name so I could contact corporate to let them know how amazing they were. Not only did she go out of her way to make sure I had my items, but they also covered over $50 in the difference and went above and beyond. I started the new job, and many months and two additional lockdowns later, I am still working and have just been offered full-time permanent employment.

To the worker, if you’re reading this, thank you so much. If it wasn’t for you going above and beyond and making sure I had what I needed, I would still be struggling to survive. You will never understand what a difference what you did made to me and my family.