12 Times People Just Wanted to Be Kind, But Life Had Other Plans

Remaining a kind person in this world is an act of courage and sometimes, rebellion, that only the brave can achieve. Even though from childhood we're taught to be selfless and to treat others the way we'd like to be treated, not all acts of kindness work out how we hope. Some leave us laughing while others exhaust us or leave us regretful, and these kind people definitely learned that the hard way.

1. How did you expect me to know that?

A homeless woman was asking for food on the train, so I offered her a Kind bar. She slapped it out of my hand and yelled, “I’m diabetic!” Sorry, lady. No broccoli in my pockets today. karaokechameleon / Reddit

2. Digital grannies

For a while I worked in adult learning, specifically focusing on digital literacy. I helped my elderly neighbour with her computer one time, now I get asked by every elderly person in the village if I can help them with stuff. I do it because they don’t have many other options but it’s kind of exhausting, I work long hours as it is and have lots of other commitments and responsibilities. CliffyGiro / Reddit

3. Oops!

I tried to catch a heavy glass door for someone. Underestimated its heaviness. The door slipped and swung directly into them as they were coming in. to_the_tenth_power / Reddit

4. Tall tax

So I, a 27 year-old female, am rather tall. I often help people in grocery stores that need things on high shelves. I just call it the Tall Tax, it’s better to be kind to the short folks so they don’t bust your shins. Well one day after a rough day at work, I am at the grocery store to get a few items, I used a basket because I didn’t need much. I had just gotten some ice cream and was heading to the cashier when I come across a mother and teenage daughter.

The mother was shorter than shoulder height on me, and the daughter was in a full-time wheelchair (no leg mobility). The daughter is pointing to a pint of ice cream she wanted, on the top shelf of the freezer. There were only a few left and they were pushed all the way to the back.

I stop as I’m walking by, and kindly say “Do you need some help? I have a bit more reach.” The mother and daughter gladly accept my help, the mother said she was thinking she’d have to get an employee to help. I put my basket down and easily reach up to get the pint, then pull the last few pints forward for the next person. They thank me and I return to my basket and go to pick it up.

Next thing I hear the daughter: “Thanks! We all know 'I' wouldn’t have been able to get that!” and pats her wheelchair with a huge grin on her face. It takes me out! Instead of stooping down to pick up my basket I’m almost on my knees laughing. She’s laughing too, and her mother stutters out, “Y-you can’t just say that to a stranger!” to her daughter. But the two of us are just dying with laughter for a minute or two until we part ways. Sail_Historical / Reddit

5. Questioning intentions

One time a "do a nice thing for your parents today" group came to our school (third grade). I made my mom a bowl of cereal (the kind she didn't eat), left it out for 3 hours with a badly-written note, and she thought I was trying to bribe her to buy me something and she explained why I can't do that. Sleepless****poster / Reddit

6. An ATM's double-edged sword

A guy who worked at my college while I was attending/working in a different department, lost his job for reasons entirely out of his control. I ran into him a couple of months later, and when he told me what was going on I offered to give him some money to help him out. It wasn't much, but he was really struggling in the short term, and I could give him something.

I handed him the money after getting it from the ATM, then I walked home feeling good about helping someone who had always been nice to me.

I didn't realize until the next morning that I'd left my card in the ATM. The bank wouldn't be able to get it back to me until the following Monday, and this happened on a Friday night. I had no cash, and I was running low on food. My parents had to come and buy me groceries. eclecticsed / Reddit

7. Apples only

I was at a food store and this woman in front of me was buying a bag of apples but her card got declined. I asked the cashier if I could pay for it and the woman was very thankful but then she disappeared into the store, leaving me and the cashier looking at each other like "what's happening?"
The woman came back with lots of other stuff and I told her I would pay for her apples only, not tons of more groceries. She got angry, walked out and left all her groceries. She kept saying I was selfish and rude. Made me really unsure about helping people. Mateba6 / Reddit

8. My house, your house

We agreed to let an old friend of my husband’s stay with us for a few weeks. We have a pretty nice RV. He’s a single dad, so his 10-year-old daughter was with him. Initially he told us he just wanted a change of scene, but later we found out he had been evicted. They stayed for 8 months in our RV. It was okay for the first few weeks, but he slowly started leaning on us more and more. He would go to work and leave his child in the RV and not tell me. The RV was a horrible mess. We kept it civil for her sake, and we didn’t want to just throw them out. It was a long 8 months. Sometimes people mistake generosity as weakness. gingerjuice / Reddit

9. Not lost, just found

I was driving through a road where there are not any buildings. It was kind of deserted and the speed limit was 50. I saw a dog run into the middle of the road and I let the dog into my car because there was no one around and no buildings, so I thought it was lost. I drove a bit to some businesses up a hill to a parking lot and I called the number on the collar. The owner was in that parking lot and yelled at me saying she works at one of these businesses and lets her dog wander around. I apologized for picking her dog off the street. beanbagbean / Reddit

10. Quite a way to go out

I was at a restaurant with my girl, her mom, and a couple of their family friends. We were leaving and this man in a wheelchair was being pushed in by, I presume, his wife. Well, the wheelchair got stuck on the lip of the door and they couldn’t get it over the hump, so trying to be nice, I grabbed one of the legs of the chair and lifted it to get it over the lip.

The foot pedal of the chair came off, the man was in excruciating pain, and I did not, in fact, help in any way, shape, or form. jordanstall09 / Reddit

11. Inconvenient but courteous

This middle-aged lady asked me for directions while I waited for the bus. As I pulled out Google Maps, the bus we both needed to get on drove by, stopped for a second, and then sped off without us. It was a weekend, so the next bus wasn’t due for another hour and a half. I ended up walking twenty minutes to the subway in the cold. ponponponzu / Reddit

12. Helping hand turned sour

I was walking in my neighborhood and noticed a wallet in the gutter. It was washed out of a drain and had an immigration ID card. The address on it was close by. When I knocked on the door, a woman stood there blankly.

When I explained why I had bothered her, she became immediately suspicious of me. She asked me my name and I told her. She asked me for my phone number, and I gave it to her. She took her wallet and went through it. “My money is gone.” I just stared blankly and returned her dumbfounded look with one of my own. “Someone stole this out of my car 2 weeks ago. I put my purse in my car before I go to bed, so I don’t forget it.”

I listened to her mastermind some story about how I must have had a hard time sleeping or living with myself, so I fished the wallet out of the gutter because I "knew where it was." She was going to call the cops. I told her to go ahead and started walking down the road to my house. I said, "You have my name and number, if they can get past a conversation with you, they can come find me." They never came. THE_HORKOS / Reddit

Even though kindness doesn't always have the desired outcome, there's still a need for it in this world. Here are pictures of the moments that make life worth living.