The other day, I was on a crowded bus for an intercity commute, and was sat beside someone who was reading. So I got my book out and started reading as well. At the end of the trip I asked her what she was reading and what it was about, and added the associated series to my reading list. I also told her about my book. We parted ways and it made my day a little brighter. Does anyone have any similar stories of brief good encounters with other people?
I’ve always disliked smalltalk and never felt comfortable with it, but nowadays, and I don’t know if it’s age or isolation… nowadays I quite enjoy exchanging a few pleasantries with someone as we meet in a staircase or hallway. Just some words about the weather or encouragement for climbing the stairs or sympathy about heavy looking bags - mostly on the boring side but edging on quippy, followed by polite chuckles… it makes whatever made me go outside a little better.
It’s still slightly uncomfortable before deciding what to comment on today, and getting that neutral-positive response, but I like it nonetheless. Feels like a routine even though I do it with different people each time. Makes me feel more at home out there.
Was queuing at the checkout in the grocery store today and realized I wasn’t going to be done putting my foods onto the conveyor belt by the time the cashier would be done with the previous customer. Then a guy comes in to queue behind me and in the corner of my eye, I could tell that he only had three items or so. So, I turn to him and tell him that he can skip ahead of me.
At that point, I see that it’s a bouquet of flowers and a greeting card that he’s holding. He looked a bit embarassed, but then also somewhat touched, because he wasn’t sure, if I was being nice, because he’s carrying his emotions out in the open.
I wasn’t. 😅 I mainly just did not want to cause unnecessary delay. But was an unexpectedly wholesome encounter anyways.
once i fell into a snow drift and an old guy and his wife helped pull me out lol
A few months back we had a bad wind storm. I was driving home from work in the dark that night on some back country roads. I come around a curve and see some asshole with a flashlight in the middle of the road. Thankfully I wasn’t going too fast and I was able to break to a stop without slamming on my brakes.
Turns out it was a lady who lived in a house on the road. One of the old trees from the forest there had fallen into the road, blocking both lanes. With no streetlights there was a good chance if she hadn’t been there, I would have ran into it.
As I got out of my car, she told me she was watching to make sure no one hit the tree. She had called the towns emergency line but the police were tied up with other issues from the storm.
Some guy came out of his house up the way a few minutes later. He had a chain saw with him. He, myself, and another driver worked to clear any debris in the road. 5 minutes later the road was perfectly clear, and the driver and chainsaw guy walked off without saying any words.
Those people likely saved myself from car damage, as well as a good 20 minutes at least from having to find an alternate route home.
Every day in university I just act like I know everyone and people find that fun
Was on vacation to Italy waiting for the train to go to another city, and we met another couple there from Mexico that made some small talk. They told us that they’re going to get married after this trip, then we then talked about our countries and the economic and political struggles of them both, and they gave us a Mexican peso which we had never seen before. Despite it being a pretty small moment compared to all of the amazing things we saw in Italy, this is still one of the fondest memories of that trip
I had a guy buy me two drinks at an expensive Vegas bar. He didn’t really even want to talk.
