Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Meeting Anger With Kindness


--by papamikey, posted Oct 30, 2010

From 1993 through 1998 I was a vendor for Chevrolet dealearships. Each week I would take a look at their used cars that were for sale. I would fix cracks in leather, cigarette burns in fabric,  re-color carpets that had stains, repair windshields that had been hit by a rock, etc.

Every week I would walk into this specific Chevrolet dealer's used car lot  to see what the used cars needed in the way of repairs. The general manager's wife was named Cindy. Cindy was always very rude,  treating me like I was below her or that she was better than me.  I was always upbeat, possitive and kind, but that never seemed to work with her. 

One day she accused me of charging  her to dye the carpet in a mini-van that had a stain in the carpet.  She had driven the van for the weekend and said the stain was not there.  Just trying to continually be agressive, and negitive without cause, she accused me in front of all her peers that day, and because I have always been an honest person who I finally took offense. 

However,  instead of being angry at being looked upon as someone that was not honest or had no integrity, I went to a florist and bought almost $100.00 in red roses with angels breath and had them put  in this nice basket. I picked out a card, and stated that I was sorry for the misunderstanding and that I did not ever have the intention of making her angry.

The following week,  I walked into her office like I did every week with my list of used cars that needed some attention before they were sold and said, "Hi Cindy," with my usual happy and up beat attitude. She gave me this big smile  and said, "You bought me flowers."  Every week thereafter she  would always make a point to say, "Hey Mike,  how ya doin?" or "Nice to see you, how are you?"

This woman began to change, perhaps because of this small act of kindness. It was actually so nice to see Cindy's whole way of being - change with me. She was always very kind, and would always have a big smile when I  walked into her office.

I guess people can change with a little bit of kindness!

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Readers Comments

eric wrote: According to the five love languages, i would guess that she loves gifts and words of appreciation. She was probably being cranky b/c she hadn't felt loved for a long time until you did that.
ds babanna wrote: Thankfull to yours and vere much
Ds babanna
shamini wrote: Wow, that was really nice. No one would think of being nice to anyone who have wronged them. Good for you.
bibiana wrote: Im so touched by this story,,its a real inspiration n i hope i can also do some good stuffs to people around me. I salute you sir for ur patience. God be with you
ttheal13 wrote: This story was inspiring. ! I am trying really hard to work on reactions to rude or unpleasant folks. I had a little smile gift in my purse ready to give to someone the other day. A clerk was so not nice to me, for no reason. I wanted to hand her my smile gift, but i couldnt do it. I didnt feel like she "deserved it". But its not about that at all. I have to get over this and i want to do something nice for someone no so nice. Please help me to get over this and do it more often. I wanna make unhappy/mean spirited people happy again.
serveothers wrote: We all know it's easy to say but you showed us how to do. You must be an extremely pleasant and kind person. I wish you the best in your life. I will try to implement what you did.
kmalyn wrote: I am going to do this also. I have some family that seems angry although, i do not know what i did to make them angry. They do not realize i try to help others on a daily basis. I do not always post my stories but, i love reading stories and i get a lot of ideas and inspiration here. But, i feel so much better helping others especially when i am having a bad day. My day gets better because i am thinking of others instead of thinking about my own problems.
melesai wrote: A what would jesus do moment. And you did it. Blessings!
Joan wrote: You are my inspiration! If everyone demonstrated kindness in the way you did, imagine how wonderful this world would be! Thank you for telling us your story. You made my day. :)
kipkirui wrote: Wow;its amazing how love changes people around us. Let us make it work.

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