What’s a small act of kindness from a woman that you still remember years later?
What’s a small act of kindness from a woman that you still remember years later?
r/AskMen
What’s a small act of kindness from a woman that you still remember years later?
Comments
I’ll start,
When I was a barista, I left a little note in a guy’s coffee sleeve because he looked like he was having a rough day, he came back every week after that and always smiled.
My now ex. I knew I was gonna ask her to be my wife when we were watching a movie and I said I really like that guys shirt. She somehow found that shirt online and bought it for me
a simple compliment. most men rarely get them. a random hug is will make a man whole week, to month
A girl I knew heard me talking to a friend I went to the gym with about how much water I drink, and she said “That’s probably why you have such good skin, super hydrated.” and I had never considered the idea that I might have good skin, but now I’m like “I have good skin heehee 🤭” whenever I wanna compliment myself.
20 years ago I met this girl at the beach early in the morning. We ended spending the afternoon together. It was her last couple days in town before moving out state. I saw her off to her bus as she was on her way to a going away party. She had roses for her friend and ran back to me from her line to board to give me a rose. Never spoke again. I’ll never forget her and not wonder how she is doing.
No girl has ever giving me flowers since.
I was having a shitty day and a woman in opposing traffic cheered me up. I still remember her being a ray of sunshine that day l.
When I was about 10, I was on my way from horse back riding lessons, and we stopped at a Subway to get food. My mother stayed in the car while my brother and I went in to order. When we went to pay using the cash our mother gave us, we found out that a woman in front of us in line paid for our food.
It’s extremely small, and for a lot of people it’s a forgettable thing. I’m sure she would never be able to recall that she did it. But for me, I kind of hung onto that as one of the first kind things a stranger ever did for me. I’ve since made sure that if I’m able to afford it, I pay for the person behind me to honor that lady, and to possible give someone the same small feeling of joy 10 year old me felt
I had a panic attack in the train and was trying to hide it. A random woman just sat next to me, gave me a bottle of water, and then said ‘Breathe, I’m right here.’ She did not leave until I got off
God bless her
2 months back. she asked me for my bag as she was putting her’s on the luggage section of the bus above the seats.
maybe im overreacting.. but that’s the kindest a woman has been towards me.
Trying on sunglasses, couldn’t pick between the two asked a woman near me which looked betters she was a little startled at first, but even still she gave her advice. She could have just ignored me or walked away like most women do. That was nice.
Was a girl that I was interested in, but didn’t end up dating.
Her and I were at a bar, chatting and eating. I took a bite of my food, and found myself needing a napkin. Without even saying anything she reached over to the side, grabbed a napkin, and placed it next to my plate.
She eventually turned out be on the crazy side, but I’ll give props where they’re due, that was a super kind act on her part that I still remember to this day.
A girl in my art class gave me chocolate chip pancakes that she made. And a coworker once gave me soup when I just started at that job
Showing her true colors the night i emotionally broke up with her and she slept with the guy i didn’t trust.
Made sure I was over her quite fast 🙂
I used to be in a cultural association in a city that I left one year later. After I left the Telegram grup of said association, one woman, that I normally don’t interacted too much with, sent me a DM wishing me a happy relocation, and that she remembered the day she came to our cultural association and how I helped and talked with her, when no one did.
I don’t think too much about it, buy I was really surprised.
A co-worker (LM for loud mouth) at my job was throwing a fit that I was allowed to clock out and go home. LM demanded if I cleaned up my station and to also clean LM’s mess up as well.
A kind and too-good-for-this-world co-worker (H for Hero) gently told LM that my station was cleaned and said it’s not my responsibility to clean up LM’s mess.
LM immediately calmed down and apologized. This was over 15 years ago and I’m still grateful for H for stepping in and de-escalating the situation.
One of my friends in middle school noticed that no one ever slow danced with me at school dances. I was always too shy to ask anyone to dance. She grabbed my hands and slow danced with me just so I could truly be part of the friend group. It’s still one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, even though it was really a tiny gesture.
My best friends grandmother talked and calmed me down when I was a kid and I was having a pretty big anxiety attack because I had a pretty bad fear of thunderstorms.
Edit: I feel I should mention this one too even though it hasn’t been that long, it will stay with me.
A year ago when I was told my dad’s condition had gotten worse and that he was likely done.
I was in the hall of the hospital sobbing and this woman with her husband comes to me asking what’s wrong, I tell her and she sits with me consoling me, saying a prayer for me and even gave me a gift to try and give me some hope that there could be a turn around for my dad.
I lost him two days later but…..it still means a lot. Her name was Karen so I won’t tolerate anymore Karen slander ya hear!?
Not a small act of kindness, but a big one.
A coworker was chatting about a recipe for vegan banana pancakes that she makes at home, and I told her I knew it and that I’d add some chocolate chips to make it a real treat (I’m vegan). We left it at that.
The next day was her birthday, so she brought some pastries and… vegan banana and chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. I ate all the pancakes without sharing… They were so good. 😅
The number of people who have made the effort to make a little vegan something to share can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
She never knew how much it meant to me.
12-ish years ago, on the way back from a very long day at an amusement park. I was crammed into the back seat with her and another guy on her other side, having just met her the previous day. She put my head on her shoulder after noticing I was struggling to sleep while resting my head against the car door. I fell asleep almost immediately, slept the rest of the way (~1.5 hours). I think I even drooled on her a bit, but she didn’t make a fuss or anything. Probably the nicest thing a woman has ever done for me, and basically a stranger at that.
As an aside, I love the energy you have in the comments – keep being you, you brought a near-smile to my face which isn’t an easy feat nowadays.
When I was 14 or so, I a flight for the first time and I was alone. The flight attendant made sure I was escorted on and off the plane.
My wife(28) and I(34) were eating bfast at a Dennys one time. This woman(24ish) approached us and said ” You two have really chill energies.”
It was probably the opposite, and she was just trying to transfer her chill-ness to us 🙂
She took a moment to learn how I liked my coffee and has made it the same way for over 20 years
a woman I barely knew brought some plush toys and I recognized one from a niche anime. She wanted to give it to me. Kinda felt like a kid. That was probably 13years ago.
When I was in elementary. I was waiting for my neglectful, abusive, and constantly late Mom to pick me up after school. Some random Mom is walking by with snacks for a sports thing going on outside. She just handed me a bag of chips and a juice box.
Until then I had no idea other people could be anything but some kind of threat. I never saw her again as we moved not long after for the who knows how many times. I’ve held onto that and usually have a snack or joke to give anyone who I think might need it.
The world needs more Love.
There aren’t any that stick out to me aside from women in my family being nice.
Well, let me take that back. There was a gas station clerk once, probably 10-12 years ago. She was probably just trying to cheer me up. Asked how it was going, I said meh. She said I’d look much better with a smile. At the time, I was too stressed to really let that reach me though.
And before you ask, that is indeed an act of kindness towards me when it comes to strangers. I’ve had women cross the street to avoid me, a mother tell their child to stay away from me at Walmart and say “that’s a bad man” just because the child was interested in some things I was buying. One woman thought I was stalking her just because I parked next to her and happened to be going to the same bar she was, even though I made sure to keep about 100 feet between us the first time I saw her and a completely different path to the bar the second time.
It’s sad how seldom most men get kindness from women that aren’t their partners or family.
Less woman and more a girl from my perspective now. I was the last person to be picked up by my school bus each day in junior high. The first week of school, my bus was very full. When I got on the bus, there were no seats left. So, one of the junior high senior year girls gave up her seat to let nervous first day of junior high Abeleo have a seat, while she sat on the steps at the bus entrance.
The next day, a different girl that was a friend of the first did the same. The kindness from them sparked my first crushes in junior high.
I can think of a few
One.. a female friend of mine opened up to me about her SA trauma in tears. I supported her like a friend should and she months later ended up buying me a £40 PSN Gift Card and a card with the nicest message in it and with a nice hug. Also telling me “You made me realise there are men out there I can trust”. That’s always stuck with me.
Also not a woman but my 10 year old niece loves her arts and crafts and I remember hearing about how she was being bullied in school. I then had a talk with her about the bullying (because I dealt with it in school) and gave get some advice i think is helpful. Not long after my mother gave me this clay art thing in a shape of a heart all painted with sprinkles on it saying it was from my niece and it said “Love you so much Uncle Jakey”. And I soon learnt the bullying stopped for her. Also my sister (her mother) telling me that my niece says im one of her favourite people in the world made me smile. (Her father is a deadbeat loser. So me being a positive male figure in her life makes me happy)
Third one was a female friend knew I was dealing with a bout of depression and knew how bad it was and made a list just saying things she likes and appreciates about me and why I should keep living.
I have more but I’ll stop. Those 3 always stick with me.
Bout 10 years ago a cute woman in a coffee shop said she liked my t shirt. I wore it more often after that
A coworker told me that my working with her was good for her mental health because she knew that whenever I worked it wouldn’t be a chaotic mess, it’s a small compliment but I still think about it a year and a half later and wonder how she’s doing, the little things really do make a difference sometimes
Like 10 years ago, bright sunny day, walking up to get lunch somewhere from work, this random girl a couple yearsbolder than me said “hello!” while crossing paths on the sidewalk. Not like a formal, about to ask you something, just like, a genuinely happy greeting for the sake of saying it.
I wasnt in her way, we hadnt made eye contact, i honestly almost didnt even register she was there, i was looking at my phone. I said hello back, she just smiled and kept walking.
Idk how or why, but it just floored me. Thats the only time that has ever happened to me.
Back in 1986, my 4th grade teacher became probably the single greatest influence on me still being alive today. Nobody (and I mean NOBODY) believed in me when I was a kid. Some saw my potential, but I wasn’t worth their time. My parents tore me down and had a huge hand in ostracizing me from classmates. I suffered from undiagnosed ADHD and severe depression. My teacher, on the other hand, noticed that I was pretty fucking sharp and that the main issue teachers had with me was not because I misbehaved or acted distracted in class, but because there was no discernable rhyme or reason to the organization of the folders that I kept my classwork in. She encouraged me to do well, and so I did. From that year onward, I was placed in increasingly advanced classes and before I knew it, I was scoring at the top of the class with the honors and gifted students.
I once made the mistake of calling her Mom in class, probably because it’s the first time I felt like something more than a burden for someone to address. I haven’t seen her since I left that school, but Mrs. Deceurs will always have a fond place in my heart.
If we’re not talking about teachers, then about 14 years ago I received a warm compliment from a group of women whom I stopped to hold a door open for. Most women don’t know whether to attempt to fuck me or be afraid of me because of my size and build, so that was nice. It’s not something I’ll do for women my own age and younger anymore if I don’t know them, but if there are some older ladies, I know they might actually appreciate the gesture so I’ll take the chance to be kind.
Almost 50 years ago in Year 1 at school. It was the annual school fair. I was waiting for Mum to pick me up. A girl in my class asked me to watch her school bag for a few minutes. When she returned she had bought some sweets for me as a thank you.
It is a memory that is very simple but stayed with me. I wonder what she is doing now.