Human Kindness #19: Free Tickets

Welcome back to Human Kindness! If you haven’t already, please check out Human Kindness: Introduction for the background to this blog series! These stories are NOT all my own, they have been submitted to me for the purpose of this series and are a collection from some of the kindest people I know or who have contacted me to share their story.

I am ALWAYS on the lookout for kindness stories, so please do get in touch if you have one, there is a chance for you to submit yours at the end of this post (and I will always keep them anonymous). As always, if you’d like to receive these stories directly to your inbox every Monday morning, sign up to the mailing list at the end of this post.

This week’s story is a beautiful example of how a simple, casual act of kindness can continue to have an impact on the receiver all those years on!

“I used to work at a restaurant during my time at university and I loved the amount of different people I met. I came to know some people that came in regularly, and I enjoyed seeing them and chatting to them again when they came in.

There was one guy who came in and always placed a huge order, and I always wondered what he did because he always had earpieces in and walkie-talkies on him. I figured he worked in some form of entertainment or was an undercover police officer or something.

One day he came in and as he was ordering food, his walkie-talkie went and I heard somebody say something about the academy, which was a music venue just down the road and somewhere I spent a lot of time. I love live music and I knew the band Train was playing that night.

After he ordered, I asked him does he work at the academy and he did, he was a tech guy and made a joke that he was always tasked with the food run during the soundcheck. I commented that I will look out for him next time I’m at the academy as I’m there quite a bit, and told him to have fun at the gig, and that I liked what I had heard so far of Train.

He asked me what I was doing that evening and did I want to go to the gig? He could get me and a friend guestlist entry so we wouldn’t have to pay, and we could skip the queue and just rock up after work, no biggie. I didn’t know what to say. I hesitated and he reassured me that if I wanted to go, it was no problem he could sort it out and that they’re a good band and it’ll be a good gig.

I wasn’t sure of the etiquette – do I offer him money? Do I buy him a drink? Did he expect something in return? What do I do? But he didn’t, he was just such a genuine person, so I accepted his kind offer, me and a friend went to see the band, and it was one of the best spontaneous evenings I’ve had! Somebody even got proposed to during the song ‘Marry Me’ which was beautiful to see.

I didn’t really see him much after that, but every time I did I thanked him again for what he did. And every time he just shrugged it off and was like “no biggie”. But to me, it was a big deal and all these years later I still remember that something this guy did in such a casual moment of kindness still means so much to me.”

***PLEASE NOTE – it seems there are some issues with the below form and stories not being submitted. For some reason you have to go through the process TWICE, you will receive a confirmation when your message has been sent. If you still can’t submit your story, please email it to hello@reflectandintrospect.com***

Have you experienced an act of kindness recently? Maybe you have done something for somebody that you haven’t yet shared for fear of being judged to be “bragging” or you have been on the receiving end of a kindness that somebody has shown you. My inbox is ALWAYS open for your kindness stories so please submit them!

Stories will be treated with discretion and published anonymously at all times, and I will share as much or as little information as you wish. Message me using the form below and I’ll be sure to feature your story in an upcoming post.

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