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Kind things to do for a stranger

For someone you will probably never see again, or will see constantly and never know. No history to draw on, which makes these the most nerve-wracking and often the most memorable.

Showing 31–60 of 113 ideas

• Give one instruction at a time

  Stacked instructions fail for anyone tired, anxious, learning the language or processing differently.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Be the second person to volunteer

  The first person to speak up takes all the risk. The second one makes it safe for everyone after.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Tell someone how you got in

  Careers look like merit from outside and like luck and contacts from inside. Saying so out loud helps someone enormously.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Say plainly that you are glad they came

  Anyone new spends months privately unsure whether they are wanted or merely tolerated. One sentence settles it.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Pay a bit more at the place that employs people

  The difference between the independent and the chain is usually small per item and decisive per year.

  Half an hourUnder $10A stranger

• Add alt text to your images

  An image without a description is a blank space to anyone using a screen reader. Writing one takes twenty seconds.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Correct your own mistake where you made it

  Misinformation spreads further than corrections. Correcting yourself in the original place is the only version that works.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Find out who quietly fixed the thing

  Something broke, then it didn't. Somebody did that, usually out of hours, and nobody has said anything to them.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Let the car out

  Someone has been waiting at that junction for four minutes. It costs you eight seconds and they remember it.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Hand in the thing you found, properly

  A dropped wallet or phone handed to the right place is the difference between a bad afternoon and a ruined month.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Answer the question that has been sitting unanswered

  Someone asked in a channel two days ago and nobody replied. The silence is worse than a no.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Write down the thing only you know

  Every job has undocumented knowledge living in one head. Writing it down is a gift to a person you will never meet.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Reply to the post with nothing under it

  Posting something you made and getting silence is worse than not posting. One reply changes the whole experience.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Visit the resident nobody comes for

  Every care home has people who receive no visitors at all. Staff know exactly who they are.

  OngoingFreeA stranger

• Buy the last of it at the end of market day

  Unsold fresh produce at four o'clock is a loss the trader eats. Buying it is a favor disguised as a bargain.

  Half an hourUnder $10A stranger

• Review the tradesperson who did it properly

  For a small trade, online reviews are most of the marketing budget. One honest paragraph is worth real money to them.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Take back two trolleys instead of one

  Collecting trolleys in the rain is somebody's whole shift. Two at a time halves a specific, miserable job.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Fix the wrong thing on the map

  Wrong opening hours send someone across town for nothing. Anyone can correct them and almost nobody does.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Learn the name of whoever cleans your office

  They are in the building every day and structurally invisible, often working before anyone arrives or after everyone leaves.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Stand up before anyone has to ask

  Asking for a seat means announcing a pregnancy, an illness or a disability to a carriage of strangers.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Stand next to someone being harassed

  Intervening directly can escalate. Standing beside the person and talking to them usually does not.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Pick up what fell out of someone's bag

  Gloves, cards, a child's toy. The owner will not discover the loss until it is far too late to retrace.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Hold the lift for whoever is carrying something

  Cleaners, porters and delivery staff with loaded trolleys wait for lifts far longer than anyone with free hands.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Give a visitor the real recommendation

  Tourists get sent to the thing on the map. Locals know the version two streets away that is better and cheaper.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Take the appointment nobody wants

  The 8am slot, the Friday afternoon, the awkward gap. Someone has to take them, and flexibility is a thing you can give away.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Step aside early on a narrow pavement

  Whoever moves first is usually whoever is least able to. Deciding to be the one who moves is free.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Review the small place that is not struggling yet

  People review businesses when they are closing or failing. The useful time is before that.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Go back in and say the food was good

  Kitchen staff never meet the people who ate what they made. The feedback loop is completely severed.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Write the delivery note before they arrive

  Most failed deliveries are a driver guessing. Three sentences of instruction saves a doorstep conversation and a wasted trip.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Warn the parent who has not seen it

  A toddler heading for a road or a pond. The parent is two seconds behind and has not looked up.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger