(My brother is deployed and is suffering withdrawals from a particular flavored tea and asked us to send him some, which could cost us upwards of $60-80. I call the company for shipping advice even though I hate phone calls.)

Me: “Hi. I’m not sure if you know the answer, but my brother is deployed and I was wondering the best way to send two cases of flavored tea to his address.”

Rep: “Okay, I can look that up for you. What kind would he like?”

Me: “They only have the juices, so any of the flavored teas that aren’t diet would be what he wants.”

Rep: “Okay, what’s his address?”

Me: *gives address*

Rep: “Okay, this should ship in a week or so.”

Me: “Do you need a card for payment or something?”

Rep: “No, this is something we do for our service members to thank them for their service.”

Me: “Really?! Thank you! ”

Rep: “No, thank you for your family’s sacrifice!”

(They saved us money and totally made my brother’s day!)

(I am at a small table set up inside the store, trying to get people to sign up for our company’s credit card. A father and his son, who is no older than seven, walks up. One of my coworkers is next to me and asks the little boy about his shirt.)

Coworker: “Do you play Minecraft?” *pointing to his Minecraft shirt*

Boy: *shyly nods*

(I happened to purchase one of the Minecraft blind boxes earlier and had the small toy at the table with me.)

Me: *shows him the cow toy* “I like Minecraft, too!”

Parent: “Oh, look, [Kid]! She likes Minecraft, too. We’ve been buying those boxes, too.”

Me: “Yeah, they’re really cute. I’m trying to get the Enderman.”

Parent: “You know they have codes on them, right?”

Me: “Really? That’s awesome. I have to look them up!”

Parent: “Yeah, well, have a good day!”

Me: “You too!”

(The two leave to find his wife and shop around the store. I push the encounter to the back of my mind as I am doing my job. About 30 minutes later, the kid comes back with one of the small Minecraft boxes in his hand. He shyly hands it to me.)

Me: “Oh, did you get another one?”

Parent: “It’s the Enderman one. He wanted to give it to you just in case you still wanted it.”

Me: *overwhelmed with happiness because he was nice enough to find it and bring it to me* “Oh, my gosh, thank you so much!”

(I thanked both the parents and the little boy. That little boy doesn’t know how much he made my day.)

(My friend’s name is Niamh. It’s pronounced NEE-uv. She uses Neil while ordering simply for ease. She looks tomboy but still identifies as female.)

Friend: “Neil.”

Male Employee: “N-E-I-L?”

Friend: “Yes.”

Male Employee: “Okay, sir!” *smile*

Friend: “Uh, thanks.”

(She and I are still here an hour later studying when he approaches us.)

Male Employee: “I’m off shift and noticed you are still around.”

Friend: “Yeah.”

Male Employee: “I thought I’d give you these.”

(He hands her a piece a paper.)

Friend: “Oh… uh.” *surprised*

Male Employee: “I support you, Neil. You’re a handsome man. Be safe.” *waves and leaves*

Me: “Woah. That was…?”

Friend: *hands me the paper*

(The paper has many handwritten links. They are all about LGBTQ and the election. Even though he misread the situation thinking she identified as a trans-guy, that was amazing support for the community. We’re giving those links to our LGBTQ friends!)

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(A friend of mine graduates early, and decides to throw a bonfire to celebrate. She invites probably 100 people and even some former classmates. She stands up and reads a letter she had written the day before.)

Friend: “I never thought I was worth the effort that people put into being around me. I always thought that I was just a bother that people merely tolerated. I only told one person, but in the beginning of eighth grade I tried to commit suicide. I tried it again in the middle.”

(This was quite shocking as she always seemed happy and truly had never mentioned it.)

Friend: “But I realized with the help of most of the people here, that that wasn’t true. I’m very happy to say that everyone here has made a positive impact on my life, and that you all mean the world to me.”

(I started crying after, and she came up and hugged me. Now she’s a heart surgeon and travels the world in her free time, even though she almost ended her life as a teen.)

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My mom bought a second hand chair via Facebook. The seller drops it off at our place along with a bag of screws to assemble it. Pretty soon we find out some screws are missing. My mom goes to the hardware store to get some, but ends up buying the wrong size. This happens twice, and the store she got it from doesn’t appear to have the size we are looking for. At long last and after a lot of frustration that after 4 days (there was a weekend in between) we still have a have a half-assembled chair in the living room, my mom goes to another hardware store where she finally finds the right screws… to only find out at the register that she forgot her wallet.

Even more frustrated she is planning to leave the screws and come back another time. Then somebody standing behind her in line asks what the price for the screws is, which was only a small amount. The stranger digs up some spare change from her wallet and pays for the screws.

My mom came home flabbergasted telling me this story.

Lately, acts of kindness in our life was hard to come by, and this stranger turned it all around. Thank you, kind stranger for making my mom’s week!