AskReddit is just a great place to kill time and learn a lot about life, from people for whom anonymous handles means more about being honest and less about trolling. This thread asking what was the nicest thing you’ve ever done without telling anyone is a tear jerker. Whether or not these were real secrets, it’s interesting/amazing what people can keep to themselves.

Some of my favorites:

mightyelf 212 points

I used to pick up pretty much any hitch hiker I saw. I would even pick up people at the bus stop. It just seemed to me that since I had a car and some free time that it was no big deal to help someone out. I never asked for money or anything like that. It was nice to see the people smile. One day I pickup up a guy about my age( I was 19 at the time) and he was very thankful that I I did. He was telling me about all the stuff he had to do that day and he knew that he would only get 2 or 3 things done because the buses. I had to be at work soon so I asked him if he knew how to drive standard. He looked at me funny and said yes. I pulled into my work and told him to be back here in 12 hours. I gave him $20 for gas and said bye. The guys at work asked me who he was but I didn’t even remember his name from the short time we rode together. They urged me to call the cops but I told them the kid would be back. After my shift ended my car was there. The kid had the biggest smile on his face and as I drove him home he told me how he was able to get everything done and that I had saved him atleast a full day of running around. I saw him from time to time after that. It was nice to hear that because I helped him out he would go out of his way to help others out.

MonkeySpanker 53 points 4 months ago[-]

I won a lawsuit and got about 25k in the bank. I dropped about $8k on my debt, $2k on toys for me (laptop), and the rest went in to paying off debt for friends and family. $8k went to my sister’s credit cards, $2k went to dental work and other kinds of stuff needed for her. $3-5k on a friend who was about to lose his house.
Besides, I’m horrible with my money… I probably would have wasted it on stupid shit anyways.

Line6 27 points 4 months ago* [-]

One day my best friend’s wife told me that she is planning to leave her husband. She wanted me to know in advance so that I can be there for him. Now my friend is one of the decent person I’ve ever known in my life. He loved her like crazy and would have done almost anything. Her wife’s problem was that she was not feeling like a princess. I don’t judge her for that but the guy was working hard to provide his family with some financial stability.
I told her then and there, if she is planning to leave him because she doesn’t love him anymore that can easily be fixed. Just let him know somehow and he’ll make you fall in love with him again but if you don’t want to love him anymore just drop the bomb and leave. She didn’t say anything and left. Next morning I got a text from her that said “Thank You I know now”. They are still married.

euryalus0 31 points 4 months ago[-]

When it looked like he didn’t have much time left, I gave my best friend who had AIDS all my money so that he could take a trip across the country to SF and be with his boyfriend. Only about $1500, but we were both pretty broke at the time. The good news is that after about 10 pretty rough years full of very close calls he is now in pretty good health thanks to the latest meds. (The bad news is we had a pretty major break-up of our friendship about 8 months ago and he hasn’t spoken to me since.) Don’t regret it at all however.

JustATroll 190 points 4 months ago[-]

One of my best friends lost $800 in overdraft fees and didn’t get paid for 2 weeks. They called me crying, I told them to call the bank and see if they can sort it out. Meanwhile, I went to the bank and deposited the amount he said he was missing. To this day he still thinks the bank reversed the overdraft fees. This was like a year ago, and (at least from what he tells me) he’s never overdrafted since.

kr 202 points 4 months ago[-]

I pickup tissues and trash that coworkers (and other folks in the building) throw on the floor in the men’s room before the caretaker goes in to clean.
She caught me once.

atinasutherland 789 points 4 months ago[-]

When I got my settlement check for getting my finger cut off at work I kept $2000 dollars and put the rest in the bank. That night after dinner and drinks I was coming home and saw a homeless man (25-30) that I’ve seen several times before, posted up against a wall near the intersection shivering in the cold. Since there were 3 hotels at that intersection, I stopped, rented a room for a week on my debit card then took the key out of the envelope, replaced it with $1700 and walked over to the gentleman to hand him the key and cash.
No bullshitting, I saw him a month or so later working at a gas station, clean, shaved and nice hair. Im not sure if he recognized me but I’m glad because I recognized him and he appeared to be happy and doing well which said enough. I haven’t seen him in several years but I like to think he’s back on his feet, maybe a family, a house, whatever really but just doing well.

johnbc5 985 points 4 months ago[-]

When I lived in the city an older lady about 90 got her apt robbed in my building. They went in a stole all her cash and took some valuables that she had. She did not have a bank account so the thieves took about 30K the ladies life savings. She was afraid of being evicted for the apt because she wouldn’t have the rent money and did not want to end up in a state run nursing home. I called the landlord and paid her rent in full for the rest if the year, five months worth and told the landlord not to tell her it was me. I also had groceries delivered to her once a week for the next two months until she had some money saved from her social security checks. I never told anyone what I had done for her and I don’t think she even knew my name because the apt building had about 50 apartments in it. The landlord was I only one who knew and he wanted to tell her what I was doing but I told him that I would deny it. I did not want her to feel indebted to me. She posted a letter in the lobby of the building to thank who ever had helped her. I took the letter down and kept it. The landlord still writes to me every few months to tell me how she is doing. She is still living in the apt seven years later. I never told any one.

I’d like to think I’ve done equally selfless things and that I don’t remember them off the top of my head because I don’t have anyone else who knows to refresh my memory. One time I drove a drugged-out homeless man who was making a scene at Starbucks to the nearest Methadone clinic, but that’s mostly because I didn’t have anything to do that morning.