Strangers You Remember

[Riqo]

Lotsa people like to discuss the relationships between a person and their family or friends, but what about strangers? Strangers are an important part of our lives .. they're always around!! There's tons everywhere!! Usually my encounters with strangers are simple and mundane .. but sometimes I meet some people that stick in my mind ..

Once I went to a flower field with my family and when we were done looking at all the lovely flowers, my mom and I were just waiting in line outside the bathroom . While waiting, I noticed my mom crossed her arms differently than me, so I crossed my arms in turn and compared the two in my mind .. The lady next to me in turn crossed her arms too! Then she proceeded to cross them in silly ways .. A short moment, but one that got a good laugh out of me! I like to think about it sometimes!

This one relates more to school .. During my first year of high school, I was just walking down the hallway when a boy I didn't know just handed me a mysterious paper with a QR code on it .. My friend scanned it (Thankfully the QR code wasn't malicious .. or else things would have gone terribly wrong! ) and behold ... it was just the link to the Never Gonna Give You Up music video! Next class, I made my tablemate scan it and he got a little mad at me LOL .. I still have that paper with me to this day!

Sometimes there's some special people out there that you only see once and never again .. Share your experiences if you'd like!

[Memory]

I've always wondered how many strangers have in turn remembered me... And in what ways! Good, bad, funny? I wanna know!

However, I don't tend to remember strangers unless I've had a good experience! There was a time in Starbucks when I was with a friend and we both loved the outfit a stranger had on. She had just sat down and was covered head to toe in rainbows, a cute pair of dungarees and some brightly coloured accessories. I loved her outfit so much so that when me and my friend were heading out to leave I decided to stop by her table and had said excuse me...

I'm a big believer in saying all the nice thoughts in your head out loud, so I continued quickly (because she looked worried) with "I love your outfit so much, it makes me really happy!" and to say that her face brightened up would be an understatement. She appeared so thankful and couldn't stop smiling even as I turned to wave to her before fully exiting.

Similarly, in another Starbucks LOL, some lovely autistic man yelled at me from across the store "I LOVE YOUR SHIRT. YOU ARE THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD." and I couldn't help but smile back between thank yous. I was wearing a shirt that said GIRLS <3 MY AUTISTIC SWAG and I'm happy that that resonated with him so much that he had to yell his appreciation to me!

[BananaBoots]

There's one particular memory I have from when I was in secondary school. We were on a class trip to central London and we were all standing around in Piccadilly Circus waiting for the coach to come pick us up so we could go home. If you don't know Piccadilly Circus, it's this square in the West End of London (near all the theatres). It has this huge statue in the centre and huge screens on the side of one of the buildings. Because of its location and iconic screens it's a go-to for tourists and, by extension, street performers.

So, anyway, we were all just kind of milling about in Piccadilly Circus, looking at the various street performers and there was one in particular that had drawn a huge crowd. This guy was pulling people out of the crowd to come dance with him. In the end he got some random people, 2 girls and a guy from my class and, most interestingly, a guy wearing what I'm pretty sure were M&M branded pyjamas (the huge M&M store is nearby so I'd imagine he'd just bought them).

So they all danced, it wwas very fun to watch. But at the end of the dance, the street performer tried to get the group to do a cartwheel. One or two of the random people did it, the guy from my class (to the cheers of the entire rest of the class), and the M&M pyjamas guy. I don't remember what happened after that but I still think about that day sometimes. I managed to get the entire performance on camera and it is fantastic but I'd rather not share it because, y'know, we were all teens in our school uniforms.

There's actually a little more to this story! While I don't know what happened to the M&M pyjamas guy as I never saw him again (or maybe I did and didn't realise, who knows?), I was in London again earlier in the summer on one of those open top bus tours. As the bus went through Piccadilly Circus, I could see a crowd gathered, and who was at the centre of the crowd? The street performer! It's been years but it's good to know that he's still at it, it looked like he was doing the same thing, too!

[Thorn]

When I worked at a cafe-bakery for a year and a half in high school, there were quite a few interesting customers.

There was this one middle aged lady who would always come in between 3 and 6 pm every day and get oatmeal mixed with fruit from our grab and go section. She did this consistently for over a year and eventually we started making sure we had one saved for her by the afternoon if we could help it. We would sometimes get worried if she showed up a little late. The front of house staff would actually talk about her a lot, wondering what her life was like, who she even was, why she decided oatmeal with fruit was the thing to always get at 5 pm. She was always very friendly to the workers, so we always appreciated it when we got to see her on our shifts.

There was another semi-regular who was a sweet near-90 year old woman who liked her coffee hot. And not "immediately out of the carafe" hot, not "fresh brewed from boiling water" hot. She would wait for a fresh pot of coffee to be made, and then while it's still steaming hot, ask the staff to microwave her cup of coffee for 40 seconds to a minute and then immediately hand it to her (we had a microwave to heat frozen frosting in the back). I remember being the one to get her coffee once. By the time it was all said and done, the coffee was literally boiling and bubbling in the cup. I used a drink sleeve and several napkins to carry the thing and I'm still sure it burned my hand more than if someone had told me to pick up a hot metal ball. I handed this roiling hot liquid over to this soft-spoken 4'10" senior citizen who dressed like a librarian from the 70s and she took the napkins and sleeve off, bare hand held the cup, and immediately started drinking it and said it was at the perfect temperature. I have never both feared and revered an old lady as much as I have on that day.

One of the most memorable non-regulars was a customer who came in asking about a cake. We sold a bunch of different flavors of cake in a couple of different sizes, so this was a pretty normal order so far, one I'd get half a dozen times in a shift. I go and get a cake, and the lady asks me if she can get something written on it. I say sure, because this is also really normal, I just write down the message and take the cake to the back and let the pastry chefs handle the writing for both food safety and clarity of lettering reasons. I flip open my notepad and get out a pen expecting another round of "happy birthday!" or "congrats on the (job/graduation/kid)" or "happy anniversary!". Instead, the woman looks at me and asks for the writing on this cake to say "Goodbye, Finger!".

I stop in my tracks, and then start to try to parse out the situation; maybe it's for a retirement party and the older employee is named Mr. Finger, or maybe this is some weird elaborate inside joke I'm just a bystander to. The customer, sensing my apparent confusion, elaborates and says that her friend is getting his finger amputated and is currently in the hospital, but he has a really interesting sense of humor so everyone in his friend group decided to bring comedic gifts about the issue. I try my level best to be a consummate professional about this, or as much of a consummate professional as a 17 year old running on 5 hours of sleep and 4 cups of coffee getting paid $7.25 an hour at a part time job who just got told to assist in decorating a cake for a finger amputation comedy special can really be. I nod and take the cake back, and explain to the three bakers on shift that I need them to write "Goodbye, Finger!" on this cake I have just bought to them. They too try to parse out what that could mean, if it's a retirement, an inside joke, a going away party for a neighbor. I stand there and explain that no, the statement "Goodbye, finger!" is incredibly literal, and that this was emphasized not to be a bereavement or get well soon cake, but a comedic pastry. The news of the situation spreads around the kitchen in minutes, the pastry chefs are besides themselves at the strangeness of the situation even as they very professionally and beautifully write out the statement on top of the cake. I walk out to the register, show the lady the cake writing, and she says it's amazing before taking it and walking out of the cafe, presumably to drive off to the hospital.

I don't know who any of those people are, but six years later I still think about them. How's the guy holding up without one of his fingers? Was it his pointer finger or thumb or a pinky? How did his friend group come together within short notice to set up a whole pre-surgery party? What kind of jokes do they make when there's not an amputation happening? Do they often wind up asking for bizarre food writing? Are those people still friends? What even was the right response to that situation?

Wherever they are, hopefully they liked the cake and the joke landed.

[Scootarooni]

Aww, reading all these stories about kind strangers really warms my heart!

I've always wondered how many strangers have in turn remembered me... And in what ways! Good, bad, funny? I wanna know!

I also wonder this so much! It motivates me to be more outwardly pleasant at work (I can be a bit quiet in the mornings and customers tend to perceive it as being grumpy lol). But at the same time if I slip up once in awhile I think hey! at least they've got a little story to tell about the weird employee at [my workplace] lol

Off the top of my head I have two strangers I remember!

At my previous job, I had a regular who was a very kind older gentleman. He always asked me how I was doing and how happy he was to see me ; w ; It always made my day! I'm glad I left that job because it was honestly very terrible but the look on his face when I told him it was my last day made me so, so sad :^( I haven't seen him since but I think about him every now and again and hope he's doing well.

One day I was picking up coffee at my local convenience store and I noticed the barista making my coffee had a nonbinary pin on their hat! So once they finished their coffee I complimented their pin and showed them my own on my bag. Their face lit up and they gasped and pulled out their phone to show me their phone case that also had the nonbinary pride flag on it. It was such a funny spiderman pointing meme type moment. And of course it's always so wonderful seeing other nonbinary folks out in the wild! 

[grovyle]

I also often wonder how strangers percieve me and how I've made their lives a little better (or maybe a little worse lol)

My strangers of choice for this topic are:

• Old couple from when I was a tour guide. They wanted to know everything about every single animal we had, congratulated us on how well kept they were, learnt my and a coworker's names (NO ONE DID THAT!!!), knew random trivia from my hometown, asked us about our careers and wished us luck on them... when they left, me and my coworker looked at each other and went "I wish those were my grandparents!!"
• Danielle from the queue to the Pentatonix concert. I went with my mom, knew no one else there, and god bless my mother but she takes awful shaky pictures and I had the best outfit ever and she was NOT doing it justice. So I struck up a conversation with the girl that was in front of me on line and she chose a background for my pictures, shooed people away from it, started telling the most deranged jokes so I would laugh, and took pics from many angles. We spoke a bit more but when the concert started I went apeshit and just ran to the front and didn't even say goodbye to her. Found her at the end in the merch shop shoving people aside so she could buy an enamel pin. Godspeed, Danielle
• Old woman from the bus (derogatory). I was having an awful day in an awful week, I think it was midterm season or something. I was on the public bus trying to get to the bus bus so I could go back to my hometown for the weekend. I sit in the back and the lady on the seat closest to the driver was trying to have a conversation with him, which he obviously didn't want to participate in because he was driving and had the life of like 40 people depending on his attention span and reaction time. But this lady wanted to have this conversation at all costs so she started YELLING AT HIM (as in rising the volume, not angry-yelling) about how when she was young women KNEW their place. Who do young girls THINK they are now? WEARING TROUSERS AND STUFF??????

[Bede]

When I was little, I went to a carnival, and I saw one of the prizes was a Pikachu plush. I spent all my tokens trying to win it, but couldn't. When I was crying and walking with my mom, these two teenage girls came up to us asked what was wrong. My mom told them the issue, and they just were like, 'Oh, we're not gonna use these tickets. Do you want them so you can just buy the Pikachu with them?' My tears cleared up immediately and I was so excited. I don't remember what I said to them at the time, but I remember telling my mom, "I hope they get on the good list for Christmas," which was very dorky because this was in the middle of summer, but I think I was just trying to articulate that I was really grateful and wanted good things for them.

I'm sure those girls don't even remember this, but I think about it often, as an example of the kindness humanity has to offer.

[MrsMoe]

I DEEPLY apologize to the person I'm gonna talk about here, since this was probably very embarrassing for him in hindsight, but it's an example I have the most clear memory of.

When I was in grade 12, I went to the computer lab to do some homework during my spare. My mom did my hair up in a really nice way, which tbh....I hated. I don't remember why she did it(I think it was picture day??? Maybe???), but I hated standing out or attracting attention in any way. Even if I looked nice, I felt like it was still a bad thing for directing eyes toward my terribly cringy self.

But once I was in the lab, the boys around me all started talking. I heard a lot of whispering and it made me feel incredibly self-conscious until I heard someone say "isn't that the girl you like?". Finally, the bell rang and school was over, but just as I was leaving, a boy gave me a note written by his friend. It said "Hey there. You look really nice today <3 Wanna go out sometime?"

I had absolutely no idea how to take this. I didn't consider myself pretty or appealing at all at the time (and sometimes I still don't) and I didn't even know this guy, so this was such a shock to me. Sadly, I had to turn him down, but I think I still appreciated it.

[SleepyCalaban]

This one is more on the odd end? Though not exactly bad? My first week of middle school, already a few days in I was talking to the cafeteria and a random 7th/8th grader came up to me and like shyly went "Hiiiii...." while starting a hug and held the hug for a moment. Then he walked away. I still have no idea who this kid was?? And I wonder if he still remembers that interaction because that was 8 or so years ago now?? 

[Onio]

I handed this roiling hot liquid over to this soft-spoken 4'10" senior citizen who dressed like a librarian from the 70s and she took the napkins and sleeve off, bare hand held the cup, and immediately started drinking it and said it was at the perfect temperature. I have never both feared and revered an old lady as much as I have on that day.

This is the funniest thing I've read all day!

[shevek]

I think I will probably post here multiple times, because I will remember a different stranger each time I see the thread

One I am thinking of right now:
I sat in the tram home, feeling sad. I looked out the window and there was a girl on the bike riding it parallel to the tram on the street. Suddenly she turned her head, looked into the tram, looked directly at me and smiled really brightly and genuinely. It also made me smile (she couldn't see it because I was wearing a mask) and instantly made me feel better. It was one of those moments where kindness of strangers was so unexpected and shocking, and it felt like it jolted a lot of hope and kindness awake in me too. Kindness and happiness by strangers that just happen just because, no reason or motive whatsoever, always get me the most.
Because, why would you simply smile at strangers in the tram? Not even a polite smile, but genuine joy? It perplexed me positively and I like to think back to it from time to time

Edit: actually I have another stranger story right now too!
It happened in the tram again (can you tell that I am in trams a lot? ) and I was wearing a selfmade rose/ivy crown - an ivy branch I dried in that position so it was like a circle, and then I used thin embroidery floss to tie dried rose buds to it. And there was this woman around my age who kept looking at me and smiling and I smiled back (pre-pandemic, no mask this time!) and it went that way the entire tram ride. I had to exit at some point and when I exited, I waved at her and she waved back. That was really nice thinking about why it happened, I guess I am more of the stranger(tm) in this story than her, since technically she was just smiling at me probably because I was wearing this elaborate plant contraption on my head, so I am the stranger with the cool plant crown, but still! I remember her  

[Capybara]

Earlier this year, I saw two customers at work; One woman was wearing a hat with a Memphis pattern  and I sometimes ask customers where they get things (usually I get a non-answer like "Shein" or "I don't remember"). She told me she got it at Spirit Halloween but it was summer so they weren't open. I noticed she was with another woman who I noticed had a tattoo of Springtrap from FNAF on her leg and dyed rainbow hair (!) - I assumed she was probably super young or the other woman's daughter, but when she turned around she looked older than me! (Around 40) I've never seen them again, sadly...

[starbreaker]

A couple of decades ago, on a visit to Manhattan to see Blind Guardian, I saw this gorgeous Goth woman. She had white hair, red eyes, and was dressed all in black with a parasol tucked under her arm. If it had been a sword instead she would have been a dead ringer for one of my OCs.

I didn't tell her that. All I had said was that I loved her costume and makeup. Turns out the white hair and red eyes weren't makeup; she was actually albinistic and I had poked some scars. So I apologized and left her alone. Kinda cast a pall over the whole night and I didn't even think of talking to anybody else.

[anglade]

Hmm... in no particular order:
 - The guy who complimented my ridiculous hawaiian shirt the other day
 - The guy on the london underground who rolled a joint while SAT NEXT TO ME, leading to an agonizing twenty minutes of trying to figure out what he was doing (I'd never seen anyone roll a joint before) by looking in the reflection of the window because I was still trying to look like I was minding my own business
 - The woman who, behind me while I was folding clothes at work, said to her family "Let's just go to [rival store]" and, when I turned around and accidentally locked eyes, apologized profusely (like hon it's okay I don't get paid on commission this is retail)
 - The guy who gave me my hot chocolate for free after I mentioned I was going back to my home country in a few days because "[I'd] come back" (╥_╥)
 - Every single person that has every let me come up and take photos of their dogs to send to my mom ily

[aribluejeans]

Ohhhh I've had a few encounters that I will remember until the day I die.

• Once in college I was very dressed up in a very public area and I made eye contact with an older man holding a bouquet of flowers and for some reason I had this crazy gut feeling that he was going to approach me and give me the flowers (I promise I'm not self-centered like that, it was just a strange feeling). Sure enough, he approached me and I think he had tears in his eyes and he gave them to me and said "You're very beautiful." It was very touching and he was very kind and respectful and I don't think anyone other than family had ever called me beautiful before that.
• I was taking a bus one time and a random older woman asked me for a hug. She was a little weepy and I couldn't tell if she was happy or sad. I wouldn't usually hug a stranger but I did and she smelled *exactly* like my grandma who had passed away years prior. It wasn't like an old person smell, I can't even describe how exactly she smelled like her. It was haunting.
• When I worked at a grocery store I was on cash register one night and the woman I was checking out noticed the way I was bagging her items and she asked me if I was autistic. Not in a rude way, just in a blunt sort of way. I told her I was pretty sure I am but that my mom doesn't believe it. We talked about what I struggle with and her son was autistic as well and after chatting for a while I remember her saying "I believe you" and it makes me really emotional every time I think of how kind she was to me.

I also think a lot of the people who have complimented the clothing I've crocheted for myself. Each time I wear a new one out, someone approaches me to tell me they love it. It's really nice. I'm fat and disabled so each piece takes a long time and it feels so nice when that's recognized by even total strangers.