1. Thief hit by a bus seconds after robbing a woman
In Bogota, Colombia, in May 2013, a man grabbed a woman’s phone at a bus stop, wrestling it from her hand. He turned to run away and only got a couple of steps before he was hit by a bus. The whole incident was caught on surveillance tape, aired by the BBC and other media (watch below).
2. Marine who dumped toxins felt illness was payback
Ron Poirier dumped hundreds of gallons of toxic solvents in the 1970s as a Marine electronics technician at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The chemicals seeped into the drinking water. The cancer that killed him in May 2013 was among the diseases afflicting Marines and local residents as a result of the toxins. He told the Associated Press before he died that he felt it was a retribution for his guilt.
“When judgment day comes, you know,” he said, “I hope those people that suffered ... realize that I didn’t know what I was doing.”
3. Person does a good deed, finds $40 in extremely unusual way
Reddit user mappberg shared this story:
I go through periods of insomnia, and I have stayed up through countless nights over the years. One such night ... I went to 7-11 at like 6:30 a.m. ... On the way out I see this [homeless man]. ... I go back in and buy him two microwave 7-11 hamburgers, and heat them up. I give him the burgers and proceed to Tropical Smoothie which opens at 7 a.m.
I park the car and open the door, look down and what do I see? A fresh $20 on the white line of the parking spot. … So that’s cool but then this is the really crazy part: I come back out of Tropical Smoothie and as I approach my car, what do I find? Another $20. In the exact same spot. I checked my pocket, the first one was still there. A glitch in the matrix?
4. Trying to get something for free, you pay anyway
Reddit user AdolphManson shared this story:
One day I paid for one, but took two papers (because I was sick of co-workers rifling through MY paper). As I walked off with both newspapers, I noticed that my shirt tail got stuck in the newspaper box when it slammed shut. I had to put in another $0.25 to get my shirt out.
Image of newspaper via Shutterstock
5. A good boy rewarded
Shared by Reddit user JeffreyGlen:
Today, my son and I went to Wal-Mart to get a new game for his DS. We got to the cash register I noticed the woman in front of me was upset. Her card had been declined and she was purchasing formula. My son is fascinated with babies so he was talking to the woman about her little girl. He put the game down and handed her his money and said, “Your baby needs food more than I need Plants Vs. Zombies.” My heart swelled at this, so I got the game anyway.
Well, as we were walking out, a lady approached us and said she saw what he did and gave him an envelope and said open it when you get home. When we got home, there was a $100 bill and a note that said “You deserve this young man!”
6. Giving when you have nothing to give, you end up on top
Shared by Reddit user ScottRockview:
At one point in my life, I sold furniture and I was [not good] at it. It was a rough time in my life where I made maybe $1,000.00 a month (around 10 years ago) and pretty much had nothing left after rent and what few little bills I had. There were a lot of times when I didn’t eat for days because I couldn’t afford to eat that much.
Anyhow, one day I’m trying to sell furniture and am selling nothing. It was nearing the end of the day and I had made $0 (I was on commission). An old couple comes in and is looking at TV stands. All the other sales reps avoid them because we all know that they’re going to take up a bunch of time end up buying something for around $100.00 and then your commission is going to be $2.00. ...
I look at them and figure … if I can sell anything today, at least I won’t get skunked and maybe my luck will turn around after that. They ended up buying 2 stands ($6.00 commission for me) but asked how they would be put together. ... There was a service I could have referred them to (for a fee of course) but … I said “I’m off at 9:00 p.m., if you come pick me up, I'll come set up the stands for you for free.” They took this offer, paid for the furniture and left.
The other sales reps laughed at me. They laughed at me more when my quitting time came around and I hadn’t sold anything else. The old couple picked me up promptly at 9:00 p.m. …
We got into their beautiful condo … I could smell some food cooking and tried to ignore it (I hadn’t eaten in about 3 days at that point, so it was hard). I worked for almost 3 hours straight until it was done. …
The old lady grabs me and takes me to the kitchen. She seats me and pulls out a plate of freshly made roast beef. That was better than any money. I was so grateful and thankful. I held back tears as I ate the delicious home cooked meal she had prepared for me. ...
The lady handed me an envelope [after driving me home]. I didn’t open it, just thanked them. I happily went up to my apartment knowing that I was going to sleep with a full stomach that night and that I would get to eat for the next few days. I was feeling great. I opened the envelope and there was a thank you card. Inside was $100.00. I cried. …
After that, for the rest of the time that I sold furniture, I always ran to help the people nobody else wanted to. I changed my focus from getting a big sale every day to getting all of the small ones nobody cared about and it got me through until I got a better-paying job.
*Image of man stealing a wallet via Shutterstock
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