I got a short, mid-calf boot at urgent care when I had a broken fibula. The orthopedic clinic said it was too short to be supportive and gave me a taller boot the ended just under my knee. They never charged me for it.
^^That’s pretty remarkable. I have an urgent care witch-hunting me for $3.00 right now, even though I’ve faxed the explanation of benefits from my insurance to them which says I owe nada. And I am just that kind of personality type that will keep faxing the EOB to them rather than pay the $3 to make them go away.
When we find cameras/phones we always take a picture of us with our thumbs up when we return it so the people who get it back are like, oh, I wonder who was so cool to give it back-hey, who are these weirdos on our phone/camera? 
@MotherOfDragons Funny camera story…we found a digital camera years ago at a popular vacation spot. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a place to physically turn it in. We decided to browse through the pics to see if there were any clues as to where the people were from, in the slim hopes that we could maybe find them or post the info in the classifieds of the local newspapers. Wellllll, let’s just say the owners of the camera were mighty proud of the POT farm they had going in their basement. So proud that they posed semi nude with their plants. And, the nice picture of the front of their house with a visible street address was pretty neat. The kicker was the car in the driveway with the license plate also visible. Yeah, we probably had more than enough info to go to the local PD, but decided against it.
@shellz OMG omg!!! I might have turned that into the local cops and said “I found this camera” and let them figure it all out. Unless I lived in Colorado, then I just would have mailed it back to them, lol.
Yeah, we thought about that, but the locale we found it at was not the same as the locale where the pics were taken. The camera was found in the desert, the pics were taken in Tahoe. We know it was Tahoe from one pic with a familiar street corner/restaurant. I just kept thinking, how stupid can you be, posing with your drugs, in the semi-nude, with your face showing, and your license plate clear as day? I’m thinking they will eventually be winners of the Darwin Award. Lol!
This one is a bit self aggrandizing, I admit, but it has a neat ending.
Years ago I stopped at a Manhattan McDonalds to pick up dinner on my way home from a late night at work. I noticed an unkempt, dirty, aromatic and, I’m guessing, intoxicated man just kind of gazing at the menu and at a filthy crumpled dollar bill in his hand, quite befuddled. I ushered him to a seat and asked him what he wanted. A burger? Some coffee? He just nodded and pressed the dollar into my hand (ew).
I grabbed some cash from my purse, left to wait in a long-ish line, got both our orders and brought his back to him. At which point I saw a woman standing next to the table. She said, “I’ve been guarding your purse–you left it on the floor, and I didn’t want anyone to steal it after I saw you being so nice to that man.” Yes I, who usually kept an iron grip on my purse in NYC, had left my purse on the floor of a McDonalds and walked away! I thanked her profusely. I think all three of us felt pretty good about life that evening.
LOL, @shellz ! I’m not sure stupidity had much to do with their posing semi-naked with their pot plants… All that’s missing from that picture is the empty plate of brownies.
Actually, to be serious for a moment, I’m thinking that after reading this thread, I need to do something different in my life. I can’t think of an instance where i did anything worthy of this thread. That’s a problem I need to rectify.
Very early one winter morning, H and D were driving 1.5 hours through rural mountains to her competition when the car died with half an hour to go. Soon a man stopped to help. He called a friend who owns a garage to tow the car, then he insisted on driving them to their destination. The tiny car he was driving wouldn’t fit the three of them with her gear, so the kind man drove home to switch to his wife’s minivan.
Like many of the stories here, the man refused any monetary thanks.
@MommaJ, I don’t think it’s “self aggrandizing” to tell a good story on yourself. I did! Not to show I’m a super person, but just a regular person who tries to do what’s right. I think I’m a good person, but Lord knows I could tell a lot of bad stories on myself, too. And I have done so here as well! I think on any given day, we could be really good, or maybe not so great. We all have our good days and our bad days.
A friend of mine said she saw a man with a sign on a corner which read “Homeless and hungry. Please help.” She went to a nearby restaurant and good him a good, wholesome meal to go. She drove up to the corner and signaled for him to approach. When she gave him the dinner, he threw the box at her car, saying, “What the hell is this? I want money!”
The other day, it was 82 degrees in Dallas. There was a young man at an intersection, holding one of those signs. I put my window down and said “I don’t have any cash, but I just bought a cold bottle of water that I haven’t opened yet. Would you like it?” He looked fairly disgusted and said no. It was hot outside, and I thought he should have taken it. Maybe he thought I might have lied about not having opened it yet. Who knows.
One day when I was waiting to enter the freeway, I was tapped on the rear of my van by the car behind. It didn’t feel like a bad hit, so I just went on my way (turned out I and van were fine).
Must have been good karma because a few years later, I hit a car and the nice lady told me just give her $100 for paint and she’d do it herself instead of having me pay auto body hundreds or more.
Some people begging for $$$ do NOT want food; they want money for drugs, booze or whatever they want.
I’ve done two good things. Well, I’ve done more, but none of them are worth mentioning here.
I found a $20 bill on the street in New York during Christmas season. There was a Salvation Army bucket right there and I put the $20 in the bucket.
In the parking lot at my local Barnes and Noble, I found a gift card worth $100. I gave it to the girls’ shelter in town, that houses girls who are having terrible family lives for whatever reason. It bought several of the girls gifts for Christmas.
I figure if I find a bunch of money (or a gift card; same thing), I’m not meant to keep it.
Last week DD and I were running errands. We passed a young Golden Retriever standing in front of a house and DD said, “Mom, that dog doesn’t look like he should be there - something’s wrong”. We pulled over and she jumped out to grab him. He was a total sweetie and tried to get in our car. I knocked on the door of the house he was near but the owner didn’t recognize him. Luckily his collar had his name and a phone number, which we called and left a message that we had found “Jake”. His owner called back immediately; she was out of town and had left Jake with friends who lived near where we found him. We connected with them, a worker at their house had left the gate open and they didn’t know Jake had escaped. I think the whole thing took maybe 15 minutes but we both felt so good about rescuing Jake! TBH, I don’t know that I would have stopped if DD hadn’t said something - all credit goes to her.
I routinely pass by a particular city intersection where there are often people holding “homeless and hungry” signs. I almost always roll down the window and give them granola bars or other food I might have with me. I know darn well some of them might be addicts or whatever, but I can’t help thinking - that’s somebody’s son, daughter, sister, brother.
This is a little different, but I go with a group from our church to the local youth detention facility. We do not preach at all, but throw a birthday party for everyone celebrating a birthday during the month. Some of the kids have never had birthday cakes. Each birthday kid gets to bring one friend. We give the honorees a big bag of M&Ms, too. We play games with them and have a great time. One week, my husband beat a kid at chess. The young man was surprised, because he is a good player himself. He asked DH if he would be his mentor! So DH goes in once a month to play chess and talk.
Another group at our church is trying to buy a big house in the country, so that a few kids could live there when they get out. They could work with horses and learn how to cook, among other activities. I hope it works out. Most of the kids get out, go right back to their old life, and get in trouble quickly.
S2 has found and returned a couple of wallets over the years. Also has found and reunited a few dogs and their people. I don’t think I could ever be more proud of him than when he does the right thing like that.
I believe in paying it forward. Have been on both sides of the equation.
Buying a house in the country for young people who are released from juvenile detention sounds like a nice idea, but there are some logistical things they will likely have to work out as well–maintenance, insurance, whether to have a property manager (living on or off premises), etc.
Maybe I am a Scrooge when it comes to people asking me for money but I surprised myself two weeks ago. I just finished filling up my gas tank when a man in a car that had seen better days pulled in to the pump behind me and asked if I had $3 for gas. I immediately said no, I have no cash (usually I don’t).
I went into my car and was going to leave but I found a crumpled $5 that I didn’t know I had. I got out and walked up behind him as he was asking another grumpy person and tapped him on the shoulder. He was startled. I said, “I don’t usually do this, but here is $5”. He said “Bless you!” and went inside to pay.
I felt good about it but hoped I hadn’t been scammed.
Here’s how I decided, ages ago to see it: when I go up and meet St Peter, I’d rather have to explain some good intentioned deeds that were a mistake than why I ignored some chance to try. I’m no angel, I just believe we can try, one way or another, little or larger.
@Madison85: I had someone at the pump bring his can over to me and I put a good amount in it. My pump was still open, I’d seen him asking for 1 or 2 dollars from the others he’d approached, and I could see his worn down car and weary female companion. I just believed he needed what he said he needed. The look on his face was priceless. The deed left me feeling great.
@VeryHappy: I took my daughter to look at some colleges in the fall in NYC. I loaded up a Metro-Card (for the trains and buses) and gave her a few bills. She lost everything. She felt terrible, but I told her what my mother had always said to me, “Let’s hope that the person who finds it really needs it. Then it’s not such a bad thing after all.” I could see she forgave herself in that moment.