The many ways I've helped people

Originally published September 27, 2019

As I stated earlier in my "I'm Happy to Help" post, I like being helpful and I am happy to help with basically anything.  There's not much that if I'm asked to do, I will turn down.  To me, it's one of the greatest joys you can achieve in life, depending on how you helped someone and how much in need they were.  I not only enjoy helping people at my place of work, but also friends and family outside of work.  

Most recently, I helped my parents move.  They used a couple "Pods", which are portable storage units that you load up and the Pod company transports it to your new address.  In a lot of ways, they are more convenient than using a moving truck.  I helped my parents load theirs and unload theirs at their new place.  I did this over at least six different days, with the longest being the final bit of loading their pod, taking 5 hours.  What gave me the incentive besides making my parents happy was the fact that moving is not something that happens very often.  My parents moved for the first time in 20 years, and they moved out of my childhood home.  It was my last chance to see the home I grew up in, so I had to take advantage of that.  I have also helped one of my best friends move, going as far as to get him a moving truck (he doesn't drive) and helping him load and unload the truck.  As you can tell, I do not mind helping people that I know move. 

At my past job, I enjoyed helping customers.  I always liked making someone's day better and getting paid to do so.  One experience that sticks out in my mind is helping out a couple who wanted a certain type of ice cream that we were out of on the shelf.  I was already in the middle of something else, but I agreed to help nonetheless.  I checked the back freezer, and unfortunately for me, the ice cream backstock was all the way in the back against the wall, and there were full pallets of frozen load in the way as the frozen load had recently gotten there and been put away.  Most people in this situation would have either told the customer we didn't have any or told the customer that it was buried in the back and there was no way of getting to it.  Not me.  I had a good feeling that we had it, so I ended up getting a step-stool and literally climbing over the pallet to get to the ice cream.  Low and behold, we had the flavor they wanted.  I brought it out to them and they were very happy.  I stocked the rest that they didn't want.  Yes, I could have hurt myself; maybe the pallet wasn't stacked well and it could have collapsed.  But that's me: I will seriously risk myself to help others.

Also at my last job I did a lot of unusual things to help customers.  I helped a few different people jump start their cars because theirs wouldn't start for whatever reason.  I helped old and disabled people into the electric mart carts.  I helped countless customers out to their cars to load their cars for them.  Each time I really did not mind; mainly because I was getting paid for it, but also because it made me happy to make them happy.  I also helped countless people with hard-to-reach items on the shelf.  Now I'm pretty short for a guy, so that usually involved me going to the back and getting a stool.  As long as they were patient enough to wait, I was willing to help.

This willingness to help people comes from my parents, not just in how they raised me but by the examples they set.  On one road trip we took when I was a kid (I was maybe 10 years old), my dad saw someone on the side of the road trying to change their tire.  He pulled over and helped them change their tire.  This was at least 20 years ago, but it has always stuck with me.  It showed me that helping others who are in need really warms the heart and can really on occasion change someone's life for the better.  If you have the time and the ability and it does not hurt you much or at all, why not help?  

I have also helped people financially as well, mainly my sister.  My sister needed to make a down payment to purchase a condominium, but didn't quite have enough, so I loaned her money so she could do that.  She also had one of her cats need emergency surgery she couldn't afford right at the moment, so I loaned her money for that as well.  I agreed to loan my parents money so they could afford to have enough in their bank account to purchase a new house, but they ended up getting the money from my grandparents instead.  But the fact I was willing to my parents really appreciated.

As you can tell, I enjoy helping people.  After I'm gone from this world, that's one of the main ways I would like to be remembered: That I liked helping people and rarely said no to a legit need for help.  I feel guilty whenever I choose not to help someone, even if it's as simple as picking up something a person dropped.  So I will continue to be helpful throughout my life because that is what makes me feel good deep down in my heart.