RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Have you ever had a good idea that could have gone horribly wrong?
I was at a stoplight in January, cold outside and I saw a couple of girls standing at an intersection. It was 7 AM and I thought "I've time before work, they look miserable. Why don't I offer to drive them to wherever they're walking to. Won't take but 5-10 minutes."
While I'm waiting for the light to change, the school bus pulls up, lights flashing and the two girls get on. I immediately think about how 'strange guy pulls up to two highschool/jr. high girls and asks if they want to get in for a ride...'
Last week. Driving home in a cold rain, see a young woman walking on the wrong side of the road. Again, I figure she's walking home so I plan to offer her a ride. As I get closer, I see a backpack. Curse the fact that even though I was honestly going to offer her a ride, pulling over to offer the young woman a ride would likely get me reported as a potential kidnapper...
Gods I hate humanity sometimes.
Have you ever had a good idea that could have gone horribly wrong?
I was at a stoplight in January, cold outside and I saw a couple of girls standing at an intersection. It was 7 AM and I thought "I've time before work, they look miserable. Why don't I offer to drive them to wherever they're walking to. Won't take but 5-10 minutes."
While I'm waiting for the light to change, the school bus pulls up, lights flashing and the two girls get on. I immediately think about how 'strange guy pulls up to two highschool/jr. high girls and asks if they want to get in for a ride...'
Last week. Driving home in a cold rain, see a young woman walking on the wrong side of the road. Again, I figure she's walking home so I plan to offer her a ride. As I get closer, I see a backpack. Curse the fact that even though I was honestly going to offer her a ride, pulling over to offer the young woman a ride would likely get me reported as a potential kidnapper...
Gods I hate humanity sometimes.
Consequences of a sick world. I have a funnier version for you -
In the early 90s I used to drive to my folks' house in Detroit to mow their lawn for them. On the way home it was sprinkling and I spot a young lady walking with a couple of grocery bags, so Ipulled over and offered her a ride. She accepted and we shared some small talk. After about a mile she asks if I would be interested in a 'date', then elaborated as to the cost of a certain service. Scared the heck out of me.
Dropped her off as fast as I could then sped home, where I told my wife. She still laughs at me about it today. And I have never had the nerve to try to be a gentlemen again out of fear of a repeat or something like yours.
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Back in high school, one of my best friends worked as a lifeguard at a local pool. He saw a little girl (under 3) fall into the pool, so he did his job and yanked her out of the water before she drowned.
The mother, who was chatting with a friend and not paying attention to the child at the time, rather than being grateful, berated him for bruising her child and made a veiled threat to sue him and the pool.
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Even as a woman I find this to be a concern. I am always sure to maintain my distance when I see a lone child wandering in the mall or a grocery store. I will ask the child if I can help them look for a parent, but will generally avoid touching the child while I try to find assistance or a caregiver.
And I can't even consider offering assistance to someone while driving - either changing a tire, offering a ride to someone trudging from a stopped car toward a gas station, or anything else - out of a fear of what could happen to me.
It sucks. I'd rather be able to help.
I kick myself nearly every time I pass someone fixing a flat on the road. Most of the time, I simply do not realize what is going on before I am too far gone and would have to turn around and all of that. I keep thinking though, why didn't I stop and help?
And every time I pull up to a red light and someone is begging. I can not even make eye contact.
With enough people, there's going to be
an increaing amount of people who ruin
peoples good intentions by taking advantage
of them...like suing mcdonalds for their coffee
being too hot after they spilled it on themselves,
or people being sued by the criminal they shot or
beat up in their own home, the list goes on...
Too tell the truth, I feel the same frustration,
I'd like to help those people too, but you have to
be careful.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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I'm at the grocery store recently, quick check aisle, girl in front of me (I only see her from behind) doesn't have enough money to buy whatever it is she's buying.
***It's important to note that I'm not really paying that much attention, and just want to get my stuff and leave.***
The checker has her arms crossed and is being wildly unhelpful.
I see that she's like $1 short, so I flip some money onto the stand and tell her I've got the difference.
I get angry stares from all of the checkers.
....I'm confused.
The girl then turns back to thank me - she is incredibly pregnant....and I just unwittingly purchased her a pack of cigarettes.
Yup.
I'm pretty awesome sometimes.
>_<
It's not a good deed, per se, but I used to work at a woman's clothing store in the mall. In order to boost sales, they suggested we offer to hold the customer's items, and that we ask for their phone numbers so that we could call them later and ask if they still planned on buying the items if they never came back in.
The first time I tried this, I realized very quickly, by the look on the customer's face, just how creepy it sounded for a male sales representative to ask for a girl's phone number under the guise of business. Suffice to say, I lost the sale, and never tried that tactic again.
I lived in Lethbridge, which is known for freezing and thawing all winter long. I was at the bus stop downtown and saw a woman with a bunch of groceries, so I decided to help her carry them across the street. So I said, "Can I have your groceries?" She flipped and said "Why do you want my groceries?!" Completely shocked, I said, "Because I'm a nice person?" After she decided I wasn't going to steal them, she said no thank you. I didn't even look like a bum that time either.
Sebastian's pretty close. Not quite as much color though.Gee, thanks, Moff.... just how creepy it sounded for a male sales representative to ask for a girl's phone number under the guise of business...You're a guy!?!? I thought that everyone looked just like their avatar.
Umm... as awesome as my avatar is, I hardly resemble it.
I understand your confusion though, I had assumed incorrect gender based on Screenname/avatar many times.
And no, I won't tell you if this was one of them.
Have you ever had a good idea that could have gone horribly wrong?
I was at a stoplight in January, cold outside and I saw a couple of girls standing at an intersection. It was 7 AM and I thought "I've time before work, they look miserable. Why don't I offer to drive them to wherever they're walking to. Won't take but 5-10 minutes."
While I'm waiting for the light to change, the school bus pulls up, lights flashing and the two girls get on. I immediately think about how 'strange guy pulls up to two highschool/jr. high girls and asks if they want to get in for a ride...'
Last week. Driving home in a cold rain, see a young woman walking on the wrong side of the road. Again, I figure she's walking home so I plan to offer her a ride. As I get closer, I see a backpack. Curse the fact that even though I was honestly going to offer her a ride, pulling over to offer the young woman a ride would likely get me reported as a potential kidnapper...
Gods I hate humanity sometimes.
You're not the only one. I get the exact same feeling whenever I see people walking.
You're a guy!?!? I thought that everyone looked just like their avatar.
LOL!
Yeah, my avatar is a picture of Marzena, from the Age of Worms campaign. After my first character got turned to stone by the cockatrices, I started playing her as a PC.
Sad, but you have to protect yourself. One time I did the unthinkable. I was chatting with some guy as we were waiting for a plane, and he got up to use the restroom. He asked if I would watch his bag for a minute, and I said yes. That was a long wait. I'm just sitting there picturing what might be in the bag and imagining my name on the front page of the paper as the dummy who agreed to babysit a bomb.
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Not exactly a good deed, but several years ago I was riding the train in the morning, on my way to my first day of a new job, when I noticed this incredibly attractive young woman get on the train.
Now I’m not usually in the habit of chatting up strangers on public transport, it usually comes across as a bit creepy, but this girl really caught my eye, and I was feeling somewhat confident since I’d made an effort to look good for my first day on the job – thought maybe I could get away with not seeming too creepy. This could be my only chance to ask this girl out! But I couldn’t quite strike up the nerve to approach her and start talking to her. I figured well, maybe I’ll see her on the train again, and I can strike up a conversation then.
I got off the train and was walking towards the office, when I noticed the same girl walking ahead of me – and imagine my surprise when she walked into the same building ahead of me. Turns out that the really cute girl not only worked in the same office as me, but was part of the team I ended up working in.
So it would have been great to talk to her … except that it also turns out that she was dating the team leader … hmmm, awkward …
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You're a guy!?!? I thought that everyone looked just like their avatar.LOL!
Yeah, my avatar is a picture of Marzena, from the Age of Worms campaign. After my first character got turned to stone by the cockatrices, I started playing her as a PC.
See I look just like my avatar. Wanna see what's under the kilt? Oh wait, I forgot. You're a dude. Creepy.
;P|
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I was driving by my local park and saw a dude screaming and yelling at his girlfriend and generally acting in a menacing manner. As I went by he hit her with a backhand to the face. I stopped and interposed myself between them while I called the cops. The dude tries to get at her, I get in the way and get hit. I shove him back away from me and the girl. She hits me in the back of the head. Cops come after 5 minutes of me trying to avoid getting hit by them both and try to arrest me. She was mad at me for interfering with her relationship and calling the cops on them. Cops get the story and arrest both of them and let me go.
I think that qualifies as "no good deed goes unpunished".
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The biggest good deed I ever managed was on the way home for a 4 day weekend while I was in the Marines. I had just got my enlistment bonus and was planning one hell of a weekend. However, I stop at some middle of nowhere gas station to fill up and as I am leaving town I see this family standing on the sidewalk watching the firefighters put out what was left of their house. I inquired as to whos house had burnt and the father with tears in his eyes said it was their home. So I got out some money and gave it to them and said it was just a little something to help. I got in my car and was about to drive away when the dad rushes up and says he can't take it. I told him to take it because he would put it to better use than I would. He asked my name and I told him it didn't matter, said goodbye and drove away.
I still have no idea who they were but I am sure most people aren't used to strangers walking up and giving them a thousand dollars then leaving without dropping a name. I have never told anyone outside of family and close friends about it. I try to good as much good as I can. As my father used to say, "A man is only as good as his name." I may tend to come off as an a-hole but I just try to do the best I can. That one event however has always stood out in my mind. I have no idea why I did it. It's not like I really wanted to but it just felt like the right thing to do.
In the end I hope it helped them out and I wish I could manage to do it more often.
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I was driving by my local park and saw a dude screaming and yelling at his girlfriend and generally acting in a menacing manner. As I went by he hit her with a backhand to the face. I stopped and interposed myself between them while I called the cops. The dude tries to get at her, I get in the way and get hit. I shove him back away from me and the girl. She hits me in the back of the head. Cops come after 5 minutes of me trying to avoid getting hit by them both and try to arrest me. She was mad at me for interfering with her relationship and calling the cops on them. Cops get the story and arrest both of them and let me go.
I think that qualifies as "no good deed goes unpunished".
Been there as well. Except the guy slung her heavily adorned key chain at her. I caught and stepped between them. He threatened along the lines of I'm bigger than you and I'll kick your ____. I responded with maybe but I promise you I'll give as good as I take. He sulked and then left. She walks off without even a thank you.
The biggest good deed I ever managed was on the way home for a 4 day weekend while I was in the Marines. I had just got my enlistment bonus and was planning one hell of a weekend. However, I stop at some middle of nowhere gas station to fill up and as I am leaving town I see this family standing on the sidewalk watching the firefighters put out what was left of their house. I inquired as to whos house had burnt and the father with tears in his eyes said it was their home. So I got out some money and gave it to them and said it was just a little something to help. I got in my car and was about to drive away when the dad rushes up and says he can't take it. I told him to take it because he would put it to better use than I would. He asked my name and I told him it didn't matter, said goodbye and drove away.
I still have no idea who they were but I am sure most people aren't used to strangers walking up and giving them a thousand dollars then leaving with dropping a name. I have never told anyone outside of family and close friends about it. I try to good as much good as I can. As my father used to say, "A man is only as good as his name." I may tend to come off as an a-hole but I just try to do the best I can. That one event however has always stood out in my mind. I have no idea why I did it. It's not like I really wanted to but it just felt like the right thing to do.
In the end I hope it helped them out and I wish I could manage to do it more often.
Nice one.
It wasnt me who got the cash but thanks for doing it.
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The biggest good deed I ever managed was on the way home for a 4 day weekend while I was in the Marines. I had just got my enlistment bonus and was planning one hell of a weekend. However, I stop at some middle of nowhere gas station to fill up and as I am leaving town I see this family standing on the sidewalk watching the firefighters put out what was left of their house. I inquired as to whos house had burnt and the father with tears in his eyes said it was their home. So I got out some money and gave it to them and said it was just a little something to help. I got in my car and was about to drive away when the dad rushes up and says he can't take it. I told him to take it because he would put it to better use than I would. He asked my name and I told him it didn't matter, said goodbye and drove away.
I still have no idea who they were but I am sure most people aren't used to strangers walking up and giving them a thousand dollars then leaving with dropping a name. I have never told anyone outside of family and close friends about it. I try to good as much good as I can. As my father used to say, "A man is only as good as his name." I may tend to come off as an a-hole but I just try to do the best I can. That one event however has always stood out in my mind. I have no idea why I did it. It's not like I really wanted to but it just felt like the right thing to do.
In the end I hope it helped them out and I wish I could manage to do it more often.
That was a truly honorable and decent thing to do. It sounds like you have no regrets about it, either. Count yourself a good man.
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That was a truly honorable and decent thing to do. It sounds like you have no regrets about it, either. Count yourself a good man.
No regrets, and I count myself a decent man. I'm working on the good part.
Then again maybe that's why every video game I play that has a variable alignment system I always end up Super Good.
letssee, aside from contributions to the homeless only one situation sticks out to me.
when I was 16 I was cleaning out my closet and found tons of old clothes that I knew wouldn't fit me so I decided I'd clean and donate them, because I had to do laundry anyway. so fast forward a few hours and everything is washed and I not only forget how many bags I was donating, but which out of those bags were going to be donated so I assumed that all of them were going to go so I donate all of the bags and realize waiit....I was only donating two bags of clothes, so I ended up inadvertantly donating most of the clothing that I owned to the homeless but after scolding myself I realized that I didn't need those and that I potentiall help a LOT of people.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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@Fake Healer and damnitall22: Good job to both of you for breaking up domestic violence, even if it was thankless from the victim. You did the right thing and that's more important than getting thanked for doing the right thing.
EDIT: Plus, by showing those ladies what a real man is like, hopefully you helped keep them from breeding with a substandard male.
Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this? Last time I had a flat I was in a small town here in Kentucky and I had so many people stop and ask if I needed help (which I didn't) that it took quite a while to change the flat just because I had to keep saying, "No I'm good thank you."
do you guys think the area you live changes this?
Yeah, it does. City people are a lot more guarded than small town people. It also has a lot do do with sex, as in woman-woman, man-man, etc. Unfortunately, there is a lot of sterotyping, and you can blame the natural programming of the human brain on that. Human brains are designed to sterotype to make short cuts. EX: Person had a poodle when a child and has sterotyped poodles as nice dogs, based on associated memories. Person may at times be surprised when all poodles do not meet his preconcieved notion, especially a particularly nasty one (or Paizo-lurking poodles of any sort).
In a small town, we seem to know each other, or the family that we or our vehicles are associated with. Our sterotypes are more based on actual interaction than, "Dateline says men in back alleys are dangerous to single women". But we never truly know each other...
Director of Narrative
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Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this?
I certainly think so. Ten years ago me a three friends were hitchhiking in rural Ireland and a jeep pulls over and offers us a ride. I was surprised that the driver was a young woman by herself....picking up three young men in the middle of nowhere. I don't see that happening in the city.
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I was recently on the receiving end of a good deed in Brooklyn of all places.
I was driving an 18-wheeler through Brooklyn just after a lot of snow fell (one weather station said 14 inches fell). I got in a spot where I needed to turn left and tried hard to avoid running over a car on my left. Instead I got stuck in the snow on the right! Figures.
So I get out and try to KICK the snow away to free the truck.
Then a kid (kid being a guy in his early 20s) shows up carrying a shovel. I ask to borrow his shovel, and he says no, he'd do it for me. So the guy shovels me out. I ask where he is from, and turns out he's from Ireland.
I finally get free after about half an hour of digging. I offer the guy $10 (all the cash I had on me at the time... going to NY after all, don't wanna carry much fold!) but he refuses.
That guy saved me a LOT of time and trouble.
Being a big cyclist I've noticed that cyclists stop for each other a very high percentage of the time. Every time I'm having trouble with my bike about 50% of the cyclists that are going by will stop to see if they can help. In fact my rear break went on me recently and I'm struggling to get it out of the way at least long enough to get home - its about 10:30 at night and within a minute or two two people had stopped to help me and one of them had a hex key which solved all my problems.
On the other hand I noticed that sometimes you want to help but are afraid to as well recently. I was on the Metro (see bike story above - its in the shop getting the breaks brought up to snuff) and I come upon this two or three year old sitting ion the platform crying.
I realize I'm not comfortable getting within two feet of this kid but want to try and help so I ask the kid where his mom is - at which point an adult male calls out to the kid angry to 'come here'. I call out to the guy - 'This one yours?' and he says yeah so I head on my merry way wondering if he's presuming that I'm some kind of evil kidnapper.
I'm also left wondering why he was so far from the kid but expect the answer is something like - child is acting out and has plopped down and refused to move while bawling its eyes out over some trivial thing that makes a parent wonder why we, as a society, ever stopped using the belt as a form of punishment...and would it really be so wrong to bring it back.
You know one upside to all the cameras is that I no longer really worry about seeing a crying child and offering help, then someone thinking I'm some crazy. For the most part I figure in public I'm being recorded anywho so if they parents act crazy I can tell go ahead have the cops pull the recordings I'll wait.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this? Last time I had a flat I was in a small town here in Kentucky and I had so many people stop and ask if I needed help (which I didn't) that it took quite a while to change the flat just because I had to keep saying, "No I'm good thank you."
Oh it does in my experience. rural folk are less likely to think the worst.
His reply? "Well Matt, I figure the odds of you getting raped in the parking lot are pretty low."
Having grown up in BFE (northern Appalachia) the thought of attacking a woman never even had entered my mind...
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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In the end I hope it helped them out and I wish I could manage to do it more often.
That is frakking awesome. I gave $100 to a coworker's 'fire fund' and make it a point to the woman collecting that she wasn't to know it was from me or how much I contributed. I'll admit it wasn't entirely altruistic. I work hard to maintain a presense of being pretty distant and unbiased. Kind of need to for my job.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
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Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this?I certainly think so. Ten years ago me a three friends were hitchhiking in rural Ireland and a jeep pulls over and offers us a ride. I was surprised that the driver was a young woman by herself....picking up three young men in the middle of nowhere. I don't see that happening in the city.
When I was about 18, I was hitchhiking through the countryside and a pickup pulls up. The woman behind the wheel is about twice my age but still very attractive in her cutoff denim shorts. After finding out where I was going she says, "I'll take you all the way there, but first you have to come to my place and help me out with a little something."
She doesn't tell me what. I agree.
We get to her place and, with a wink and a smile, she takes me around back of the house and into one of the barns ...
I was driving by my local park and saw a dude screaming and yelling at his girlfriend and generally acting in a menacing manner. As I went by he hit her with a backhand to the face. I stopped and interposed myself between them while I called the cops. The dude tries to get at her, I get in the way and get hit. I shove him back away from me and the girl. She hits me in the back of the head. Cops come after 5 minutes of me trying to avoid getting hit by them both and try to arrest me. She was mad at me for interfering with her relationship and calling the cops on them. Cops get the story and arrest both of them and let me go.
I think that qualifies as "no good deed goes unpunished".
Stories like this are pretty common, actually. Stopping a single instance of abuse can be counterproductive, because at the end of the day she'll probably still be with him, except now she might have to deal with him taking out your intervention on her.
Damnitall - very classy move hombre - truly honourable - stories like yours restore my faith in human [good] nature
My experience was more animal based... picking up on the earlier poodle theme about 15 years ago I visited a friend who'd moved back to Perth, Oz - during the holiday we were having a bar-b, when I noticed my mates Rottweiler and his mother's poodle [Ruby]started getting agressive with each other... thinking I was saving his mother's precious poodle from become Rottie lunch I pushed between the dogs and promptly had little Ruby jump up and sink her @*£&ing gnashers straight through my finger!
Bite got infected and I still have nerve damage in my right index finger to this day...
@*£$ing poodles... ;)
BD
… especially a particularly nasty one (or Paizo-lurking poodles of any sort).
How long have you been waiting to take that shot?
I may tend to come off as an a-hole but I just try to do the best I can.
I try to be good, but I don't always try to be nice. And as Red Riding Hood says, "Nice is different than good." Although she should have said "different from" but we won't get into that.
In fact, when we first started watching Scrubs, my wife pointed at the Dr Cox character, and said "Oh my god, that's you."
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this? Last time I had a flat I was in a small town here in Kentucky and I had so many people stop and ask if I needed help (which I didn't) that it took quite a while to change the flat just because I had to keep saying, "No I'm good thank you."
Sometimes rural folks might be more helpful (if your car is broken down on the side of the road) and other times, not so much. If you live out in the middle of the sticks and somebody shows up on your doorstep asking for help, they are likely to be looking for someone to rob. It happened to me when I was younger. A guy came to the door, said his car was broken down, and asked if he could come in to use the phone. My mom wouldn't let him in. He went around to the barn and tried to steal our truck. Another time a lady in the community answered the door only to be taken hostage and driven to an ATM. She was saved by the fact that her attacker was an idiot and let her out at an ATM where she could just run inside the store and call the sheriffs. When your nearest neighbor is too far away to hear a scream you have to be more careful about answering the door.
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How about this for a good deed that'll go unpunished?
For just the cost of a couple green beers that you may have had recently you can help autistic children feel like part of the community, the parents of autistic children to learn about options for their childrens well-being and education, earn a tax deduction for next years taxes, and feel really good about doing a great deed.
Donating is safe, easy and quick on the website I've set up through Autism Delaware. Here is the link again.
My team of fundraisers is currently running in 3rd out of 42 teams. A bunch of people tossing in donations of $5 or so would be more than enough to help us get into 1st place!
What a deal! A few bucks for the feeling of doing a great thing? What could be better!
Thanks to all that have donated and to all that will. You guys have been great so far!
Here is a link to the main thread where a bunch of people in the Paizo community have done a good deed that was unpunished.
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How's this for a good deed that goes unpunished?
For just the cost of a couple green beers that you may have had recently you can help autistic children feel like part of the community, the parents of autistic children to learn about options for their childrens well-being and education, earn a tax deduction for next years taxes, and feel really good about doing a great deed.
My team is currently in 3rd place out of 42 or so teams. A bunch of people tossing in donations of $5 or so would be more than enough to help us get into 1st place!
Donating is safe, easy and quick on the website I've set up through Autism Delaware. Here is a link to the website.
What a deal! A few bucks for a feeling of helping out disabled kids, like my son Luke, and their families.
Thanks to all that have donated and to all that will. You guys have been great so far!
Here is a link to the other thread where you can see for yourself just how many Paizo posters have already done a good deed that is going unpunished!
[/end shameless plug] ;P
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Not wanting addresses or such but do you guys think the area you live changes this? Last time I had a flat I was in a small town here in Kentucky and I had so many people stop and ask if I needed help (which I didn't) that it took quite a while to change the flat just because I had to keep saying, "No I'm good thank you."Sometimes rural folks might be more helpful (if your car is broken down on the side of the road) and other times, not so much. If you live out in the middle of the sticks and somebody shows up on your doorstep asking for help, they are likely to be looking for someone to rob. It happened to me when I was younger. A guy came to the door, said his car was broken down, and asked if he could come in to use the phone. My mom wouldn't let him in. He went around to the barn and tried to steal our truck. Another time a lady in the community answered the door only to be taken hostage and driven to an ATM. She was saved by the fact that her attacker was an idiot and let her out at an ATM where she could just run inside the store and call the sheriffs. When your nearest neighbor is too far away to hear a scream you have to be more careful about answering the door.
One of the best defenses in the sticks like that is a dog. Doesn't even have to be a real attack dog, but it makes people think twice when they hear barking. ;)