(I go get a pedicure. There is another woman in the shop already when I get there, and she is being attended to by the owner’s wife. The owner’s son takes me but sits me next to his mother’s client. Halfway through my pedicure, the client next to me gets up as and knocks her drink over onto my shoes. They are old slip-ons that I only wear for pedicures or nasty outside work, so I don’t much care.)

Client: “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to. It was an accident!”

Me: “Ma’am, it’s okay. I’m not upset. They’re just shoes.”

(The owner’s wife picks up my shoes and washes them in a clean pedicure bath while the lady keeps apologizing. She gets up to leave once my shoes are rinsed off and goes to pay. I go back to my magazine. The owner’s wife and son speak in their native language for a moment.)

Son: “My mother says that the lady paid for your session because you were so nice about the accident.”

Client: “You weren’t supposed to tell her until I left!”

(She playfully stomped out, but it made my eyes water at how kind she was.)

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(I am a soldier in the Army. I work in an administration section for the post. One day, two men come into the office: one a soldier, the other a civilian. Both are the same age. The soldier takes a seat while the civilian comes up with paperwork. My lieutenant is at the desk.)

Civilian: “Hello. I need an ID card.”

Lieutenant: “I can help with that. Please fill out this form.”

(It’s a very quick write-up, so he just stands at the desk and fills it out. He tries to hand it to the lieutenant, but she can’t take it.)

Lieutenant: “Sir, I need you to put the code for your relationship with the sponsor.”

Civilian: “Uh…” *glances at the soldier*

(At this point, I realize they didn’t simply come in at the same time, but are together. The civilian turns back to the lieutenant, with the soldier also looking, both nervous. The other soldiers working in the office also catch on, and look towards her as well.)

Civilian: “I’m his husband.”

Lieutenant: *not batting an eye* “For spouses, use [designation] as the code. You’ll be asked that in the future, so don’t forget it.”

Civilian: “Oh, okay.”

(He finished filling it out, and they both left with the paperwork for the new ID card. The lieutenant simply continued with her work as if nothing out of the ordinary happened, and we followed her example.)

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(I’m an overweight woman, who has always struggled with weight due to a non-functioning thyroid. I struggle to find a store that caters to larger brides until I find this one, so I go to see what they have. There’s a large woman (probably about 5’5″ and 350-380 pounds) on the stage in the center of the room having a fitting done. I’m browsing the catalogs when I hear an exchange between a daughter and her mother and the manager. The daughter is a thin girl who appears spoiled with how she talks. The daughter is staring at the larger woman on the stage, and leans in to her mother.)

Daughter: “I can’t believe someone like her is actually getting married!”

Mother: “I didn’t think whales mated for life!”

(The bride-to-be has clearly heard the comments, and is looking devastated. She takes a step away from the manager who is doing the fitting, but the manager stops her and walks up to the mother and daughter.)

Manager: “I can’t believe you think you’re going to get a dress from my store.”

Daughter: “Well, joke’s on you, then, because I’m actually here to pick it up! Besides, I’ve already paid.”

Manager: “Oh, you’re picking up your order? What’s the name?”

Mother: “It’s [Name].”

Manager: “All right…”

(The manager goes behind the counter, taps some things on the register, and then hands a receipt.)

Manager: “I need you to sign this.”

Mother: “What’s this?”

(The mother signs anyway.)

Manager: “That’s you signing that you have accepted a full refund for your purchase. You can find another store to get your dresses. I just cancelled your order and am refusing you service. Now leave before I call the police.”

Daughter: “YOU CAN’T DO THIS! MY WEDDING IS IN NEXT WEEK! HOW DARE YOU!”

(The daughter starts throwing things around.)

Mother: “We had those dresses custom made! How could you cancel her order?! Look at her!”

Manager: “I cancelled the order because I am not going to let any bride feel like she’s not worthy of marriage just because of her size. Clearly you both feel that you are better than others, and I have no place for clients that are, frankly, a**-holes. I’m calling the police, and since I still have your card information, I’m going to charge you for whatever damages your daughter causes.”

(The manager picked up the phone. The mother grabbed her daughter and they rushed out of the door. I ended up buying my dress from them, and it was BEAUTIFUL! Turned out the manager had a daughter who had a severe thyroid disease and had struggled with weight as well!)

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(My fiancé and I bought our car last summer. It’s a 20 year old SUV and the tires are almost completely shot. However, we can’t afford to replace them because not long after we bought it and moved into our new place, my fiancé lost his job. On our way home, the front left tire zippers, thankfully right as I am pulling into the parking lot behind our building, so we have to put the very old spare on it. After that, things just keep popping up that prevent us from being able to afford the tires, like hours getting cut at work, or a sudden bill that has to be paid immediately. We decide that we we’re going to replace them when we get our tax returns this year. This happens when we are coming home from meeting with a caterer we are considering for our wedding (which my parents are helping pay for). He is the one driving and he feels something strange in the car’s pull, so he pulls over and looks at the tires before getting back in the car.)

Fiancé: “We need to stop at the tire shop before going home.”

(We decide to try and see if we can get the tires on credit. We’d stopped at this shop once before, as it was recommended to us by the guy at the Auto Zone, but we didn’t have the money.)

Tire Guy: *is running my fiance’s credit, since we already know that mine isn’t good enough* “Yeah, you were declined… Are you guys sure you don’t have any way to pay? You need them today, and I don’t feel comfortable letting you guys leave with those tires.”

Me: *about to cry* “We don’t have anything; I have about $2 in the bank.”

Fiancé: “And all I have is the money for our rent.” *looks at me* “I don’t know what to do.”

Other Tire Guy: *tapping away at the other computer and looks at the guy helping us* “Wait, what about [Name]’s tires?”

Tire Guy: “That’s true… We could ask him.”

Fiancé: “Wait, what?”

Tire Guy: “One of our coworkers, [Name], just got a new car. When we get new cars, we all usually swap out the tires for better ones. Our boss lets us sell them here if we want to.”

Me: *just stares*

Tire Guy: *goes into the maintenance bay to talk to the other guy, who turns out to be the man who had talked to us the last time we stopped in, and who remembers us. Comes back a couple minutes later* “Okay, so he said he wants to give you guys the tires. No charge.”

Me: *just starts crying*

Fiancé: “Are you serious?”

Tire Guy: “Yep! So we’ll install them and make sure everything’s okay.”

Me: “Can I give him a hug?”

(They installed the tires and picked the best of our four old ones to replace the spare. They also disposed of the old tires for us, including the one that had blown out which was in the back of our car. All at no charge. We still can’t believe this happened. Amazingly, it was the first thing in a number of good things that started happening for us, including his hours at work stabilizing and me getting a promotion and a raise.)

(My period has hit me like a truck one day and I’m making my way towards the train station to get home. It’s becoming very hard to even stand, much less walk straight and I sit down to take break, but I’m obviously in pain. A woman stops to ask what’s wrong and, when I explain, goes off to get some painkillers for me. Unfortunately, my stomach decides that the source of the pain must be the poison I just drank and throws it right up.)

Woman: “Oh, dear! You know what? I’ll call my daughter and she’ll give you a ride home. Just stay here a moment!”

(Her daughter drove me all the way home and talked very kindly to me so I could relax but still give some directions. Despite it being a miserable day, I remember it very fondly.)