It’s been a brutal winter, and we feel the pain of it late one night when I wake up to find a burst water pipe in one of the bedrooms. My mother and I spend the rest of that night and most of the next two days emptying the bedroom out and drying things out… and sadly, almost all the things in said bedroom are mine, as I was in the process of changing bedrooms when this happened. Among the items that suffered water damage are several art prints and sketches done by favorite artists, many irreplaceable.

Amid all the headaches dealing with uncooperative insurance and restoration companies, I end up contacting the artists in question to get quotes on what the damaged sketches were worth and if there’s any hope of purchasing replacements of the damaged prints. One artist replies very quickly with the following:

“Sorry to hear about the water damage. I hope things get sorted out fast for you and everything… As for the two prints just send me your address and I’ll get new ones in the mail to you as soon as I can. They’re on me.”

It was a small gesture, but I still teared up. This entire situation has been a headache for my mom and me, but one person’s act of kindness made a difficult situation more bearable.

(I work at a rather well-known small retail store. I am very open about my sexuality and don’t tend to let other people’s opinions affect me. I am on register; it being a rather slow day I only have one customer in line.)

Customer: “That’s just sick, isn’t it?”

(She is motioning to a newspaper showing a homosexual couple that was the first to marry in our town.)

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “Letting gays just marry and act normal… It’s sick that this is what society as fallen to.”

(At this point I am annoyed but decide to just ignore the comment and continue to ring up her items.)

Customer: “IT’S SICK, ISN’T IT?!”

(She is now yelling her eyes wide as she just stares at me.)

Me: “No, I disagree with you and so would my girlfriend.”

(The customer looks at me shocked before turning to my manager who is near by listening to everything.)

Customer: “Sir, can you ring me out? I don’t want this devil-worshiper touching anymore of my items.”

(I am now about in tears as I just stand there amazed by her ignorance.)

Manager: “No… I’m busy, but let me see if my boyfriend is free.”

(He started looking around before calling some random guy’s name into our otherwise empty store. The customer left without her things, mumbling stuff about Hell. My manager is a straight married man with kids… The world needs more people like him!)

This story is part of the Pride Month 2023 roundup!

Read the next Pride Month 2023 roundup story!

Read the Pride Month 2023 roundup!

This story is part of the American States roundup!

Want to read the next story? Click here!

Want to read the roundup? Click here!

(My cat suddenly passed away and I called to cancel the standing order for his prescription food. I explain what happened to the customer service lady and she was lovely and expressed her condolences. The call then took a very surprising twist.)

Customer Service: I see you last order was [a month-and-a-half ago]. I’ll go ahead and refund that order for you.”

Me: “Well, I only have one bag left and really, I’m not sure when I’ll feel up to sending it back.”

Customer Service: “Oh, no, ma’am! I am refunding the entire order. You can give the last bag to a shelter or the vet’s office. This is just our way of expressing how sorry we are that he passed and how hard this time is for you.”

Me: *shocked and sobbing* “That is so sweet of you! Thank you so much.”

(A few days later I received a handwritten condolence card from the same customer service rep. The most outstanding customer service I have ever received and am telling everyone to use this site for their pet needs.)

(My mom is eligible in the French charity that distributes food packages to people with low income, so she decides to volunteer to ask for donations in the local supermarket. The charity waits behind the registers with empty shopping carts and ask to people if they want to donate part of their groceries after their purchases. While it’s obviously not an obligation, some people still have rude reactions.)

Child: *stares at my mom*

Mom: *waves*

Child: *to his dad* “Dad, what’s that?” *points at my mom*

Customer #1: *in a huff* “Don’t mind them. That’s for hobos!”

(Later in the morning…)

Mom: “Hi, would you like to donate food for charity?”

Customer #2: *unintelligible grumble*

(Later, beginning of the afternoon, my mother notices an elderly customer at the register, being very slow to get checked out. Once she gathers her groceries in her bag, she proceeds to walk towards the main entrance very slowly, barely walking. She then notices the charity stand.)

Elderly Customer: “Oh…” *looking disappointed*

(She then leaves. My mom sees her barely walking through the parking lot, carrying her groceries. Two hours later, she notices the same slow and elderly lady coming back into the store, this time pushing a shopping cart. They think nothing of it, until they notice one more hour later that she checks out with a cart filled with canned food, bottles of milk, and boxes of eggs. She then pushes the cart towards my mom, smiling…)

Elderly Customer: “Here.”

(Yes. While it was winter, and she was very old and barely walking, she did a round trip from her place back to the supermarket, just to donate a completely filled shopping cart. My mom and the other volunteers thanked her a lot, and the lady only replied with a smile, and then my mom told the other volunteers about her while they watched walk away from the supermarket, again through the parking lot. Thank you for bringing back faith in humanity, unknown nanny!)

(My fiancée and I have a habit of fighting over the check when we go out to eat. At one of our favorite breakfast places, we have had the same waiter several times. He is really good and funny so we tip really well. We go in for breakfast and he waits on us. When it is time for the check:)

Waiter: “Which of you are going to pay?”

(We both raise our hands.)

Waiter: “Nope. Get out.”

(We were speechless and just stared at him until he said that us fighting over the check was so much fun, our meals were on him. We just stared at each other, left a tip, and left, completely speechless.)