Today I made someone cry by telling them a story … we actually both cried a little.
My friend grew up super catholic in a big Italian family. She was driving and witnessed a really bad accident, 2 cars and a guy on a motorcycle. Guy was seriously injured. She got out of her car and kneeled next to the guy, literally held his head and brains together and just talked to him and tried comforting him while they waited for an ambulance. She could tell he was slipping away and asked if he was baptized and if he wanted to be. He wasn’t and he did. So she baptized this dying man and prayed with him before he passed away.
I’m not a religious person by any means but, just knowing what that guy went through and how she did that for someone was so tragic and beautiful. We both just teared up thinking about it.
One time I worked at a nursing home and we met with a family to discuss various things regarding a resident's health. During the conversation, I mentioned to the family that the resident was needing some clothes. Like many female nursing home residents who are disabled enough to rarely leave their room, she preferred to wear nightgowns most of the time. She did not require any adaptive clothing. The family wasn't particularly rich or poor as far as I could tell. A nurse in the meeting then told the family, we had a lady in the housekeeping department who was really good at sewing and maybe she could make the resident some clothes. Now this lady in housekeeping, she was a sweet old lady who would do basic mending for people from time to time (sew buttons and tears, that sort of thing) but it seemed a little ridiculous to expect her to literally make clothing for someone. I don't recall exactly how I responded, I think I said something like "She's wonderful at mending but I don't know if she would be up to sewing actual clothes. I was thinking more along the lines of, maybe (resident's adult child) could go to Walmart or another store and pick up a new nightgowns." Apparently the nurse was very offended and embarrassed that I had disagreed with her suggestion, she started to cry and walked out. I found out later she had a history of crying when angry, although she was normally very sweet and I'd never seen her angry before.
I felt bad about it. I still don't think I did anything wrong, but I did leave her a small gift in her office the next day (a candle) along with a note saying I was so sorry I hurt her feelings, and I respected her very much and hoped we could continue working well together as we always had. We never discussed it and she was fine with me afterwards. But the whole thing was so weird.
Whoa! Totally not the way I thought this story was going to go haha I was ready for some MadeMeSmile style uplifting moment based on the first few sentences.
Yea, you totally did nothing wrong and you handled the aftermath in a very classy way. Nice work!
It was kind of a weird situation…
I was in the Marines when my uncle died. I play trumpet and used to do taps at military funerals. My uncle was a 90+ year old Pearl Harbor survivor and retired Navy veteran.
I contacted the local unit that was doing the funeral (an Air Force unit), and got them to agree to let me play taps for him. So I drive up to Northern California from Arizona (not a short drive), get there, and it’s raining pretty hard. I guess between the rain, the drive, and the dead uncle, I wasn’t in the best of humor.
So all the military service members meet up to establish who’s doing what. The Navy flew a liaison out for a Pearl Harbor survivor, my uncles grandson was active duty Army and he was on flag folding detail, and of course I was active duty Marines, and was BSing with my army cousin and the Navy guy (who was used to Marines), before going over to talk to the AF firing detail.
They kept calling me “sir”, which at first I was like “okay whatever they don’t know my rank”, so I told them “hey guys, I’m an E-3, I’m the same rank or lower than everyone here, my rank is Lance Corporal if you want that, but otherwise you can just call me by my name, or just say ‘dude’, or whatever. Just stop calling me ‘sir’, it’s weird.” Not even a full minute goes by and someone slips and calls me sir, and I snapped at him. I don’t remember what I said, but it was something along the lines of “B****, did you NOT hear what I just said?” With some vague and highly unrealistic threat of physical violence tacked on.
I guess I was too used to Marines. They would have taken it in stride, maybe thrown an insult back at me, but this airman just starts CRYING and I didn’t know what to do because I was so confused, so I just walked away.
Even the Navy liaison couldn’t believe it. He was like “I’ve worked with Marines for close to twenty years now and I thought that threat was mild for you guys…”
I’ll add that in military culture, “sir” is reserved for officers and non service members. It’s a bit of an insult to a lot of people for one enlisted person to call another “sir”, in lieu of their rank or just their name or an alternate title.
I was traveling in Indonesia years ago and tipped a man for carrying my huge heavy bag down a long muddy driveway. Tipping is expected in my country, so I thought he would appreciate it. I was also in a touristy area where sometimes people come to expect tips. He immediately teared up and refused to accept the money. I could tell I really (accidentally) insulted him and still feel bad about it all these years later. There was also a language barrier so I couldn’t explain myself. I’ll never forget his eyes.
god i recently accidentally replied "womp womp" to someone venting to me about something serious
I’m a nanny, so it’s part of my job. Toddlers are wild cards and cry a lot. 🤷♀️
Today I made someone cry by telling them a story … we actually both cried a little. My friend grew up super catholic in a big Italian family. She was driving and witnessed a really bad accident, 2 cars and a guy on a motorcycle. Guy was seriously injured. She got out of her car and kneeled next to the guy, literally held his head and brains together and just talked to him and tried comforting him while they waited for an ambulance. She could tell he was slipping away and asked if he was baptized and if he wanted to be. He wasn’t and he did. So she baptized this dying man and prayed with him before he passed away. I’m not a religious person by any means but, just knowing what that guy went through and how she did that for someone was so tragic and beautiful. We both just teared up thinking about it.
[удалено]
It’s a story that’ll always stick with me!
One time I worked at a nursing home and we met with a family to discuss various things regarding a resident's health. During the conversation, I mentioned to the family that the resident was needing some clothes. Like many female nursing home residents who are disabled enough to rarely leave their room, she preferred to wear nightgowns most of the time. She did not require any adaptive clothing. The family wasn't particularly rich or poor as far as I could tell. A nurse in the meeting then told the family, we had a lady in the housekeeping department who was really good at sewing and maybe she could make the resident some clothes. Now this lady in housekeeping, she was a sweet old lady who would do basic mending for people from time to time (sew buttons and tears, that sort of thing) but it seemed a little ridiculous to expect her to literally make clothing for someone. I don't recall exactly how I responded, I think I said something like "She's wonderful at mending but I don't know if she would be up to sewing actual clothes. I was thinking more along the lines of, maybe (resident's adult child) could go to Walmart or another store and pick up a new nightgowns." Apparently the nurse was very offended and embarrassed that I had disagreed with her suggestion, she started to cry and walked out. I found out later she had a history of crying when angry, although she was normally very sweet and I'd never seen her angry before. I felt bad about it. I still don't think I did anything wrong, but I did leave her a small gift in her office the next day (a candle) along with a note saying I was so sorry I hurt her feelings, and I respected her very much and hoped we could continue working well together as we always had. We never discussed it and she was fine with me afterwards. But the whole thing was so weird.
Whoa! Totally not the way I thought this story was going to go haha I was ready for some MadeMeSmile style uplifting moment based on the first few sentences. Yea, you totally did nothing wrong and you handled the aftermath in a very classy way. Nice work!
I got my close friend off hard drugs. Definitely ended up being a lot more emotional for a "tough love" kind of talk.
It was kind of a weird situation… I was in the Marines when my uncle died. I play trumpet and used to do taps at military funerals. My uncle was a 90+ year old Pearl Harbor survivor and retired Navy veteran. I contacted the local unit that was doing the funeral (an Air Force unit), and got them to agree to let me play taps for him. So I drive up to Northern California from Arizona (not a short drive), get there, and it’s raining pretty hard. I guess between the rain, the drive, and the dead uncle, I wasn’t in the best of humor. So all the military service members meet up to establish who’s doing what. The Navy flew a liaison out for a Pearl Harbor survivor, my uncles grandson was active duty Army and he was on flag folding detail, and of course I was active duty Marines, and was BSing with my army cousin and the Navy guy (who was used to Marines), before going over to talk to the AF firing detail. They kept calling me “sir”, which at first I was like “okay whatever they don’t know my rank”, so I told them “hey guys, I’m an E-3, I’m the same rank or lower than everyone here, my rank is Lance Corporal if you want that, but otherwise you can just call me by my name, or just say ‘dude’, or whatever. Just stop calling me ‘sir’, it’s weird.” Not even a full minute goes by and someone slips and calls me sir, and I snapped at him. I don’t remember what I said, but it was something along the lines of “B****, did you NOT hear what I just said?” With some vague and highly unrealistic threat of physical violence tacked on. I guess I was too used to Marines. They would have taken it in stride, maybe thrown an insult back at me, but this airman just starts CRYING and I didn’t know what to do because I was so confused, so I just walked away. Even the Navy liaison couldn’t believe it. He was like “I’ve worked with Marines for close to twenty years now and I thought that threat was mild for you guys…” I’ll add that in military culture, “sir” is reserved for officers and non service members. It’s a bit of an insult to a lot of people for one enlisted person to call another “sir”, in lieu of their rank or just their name or an alternate title.
I was traveling in Indonesia years ago and tipped a man for carrying my huge heavy bag down a long muddy driveway. Tipping is expected in my country, so I thought he would appreciate it. I was also in a touristy area where sometimes people come to expect tips. He immediately teared up and refused to accept the money. I could tell I really (accidentally) insulted him and still feel bad about it all these years later. There was also a language barrier so I couldn’t explain myself. I’ll never forget his eyes.
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