Paying it forward

[Arkhangel]

I love the concept of paying it forward. It's such a simple way to turn one small good thing into a lot of small, or big, good things. I thought maybe it'd be worth having a thread dedicated to the ways in which people are paying it forward in their own lives (or to encourage people to do it more often).

So for example today I found my ipod which I thought had been stolen from the gym on Monday. I realised it was missing on Tuesday, remembered that the gym was the last place that I'd had it and called up to see if anyone had turned it in. Someone had turned in my headphones, but no ipod. Since the two were attached when I last saw them, I assumed the ipod had been nicked. I was pretty sad about it - it's 11 years old, has been through the washing machine twice and followed me all over the world, so it's not particularly financially valuable but it has a lot of sentimental value to me. And then I was at my usual locker this afternoon and had a sudden brainwave, and felt up to check the locker shelf which is above my head/out of sight for everyone but very unusually tall women. Guess what was there?   So since the world did something nice for me, I made a $40 donation to a youth homelessness charity.

How have you paid it forward lately?

[Iskaral Pust]

I'll be a grouch and say that I don't like how "paying it forward" has been co-opted by anyone and everyone seeking donations.  I paid over $110k in tuition to my MBA school but I get donation requests from them every month to "pay it forward" to help reduce the cost to new incoming students.  Why the fuck should I pay for someone else's MBA program when I had to pay for mine?  Shouldn't their increased earning potential pay for it?

Setting aside my grouchy complaints, I get great satisfaction from making small but valued donations to others, whether it's heavy tipping of the underpaid service sector, donations to local charities, or helping out a less fortunate family member.  But I don't expect any cosmic karma from these actions, and I don't do it because I had some piece of good luck that I need to repay to the universe.  In fact, sometimes it's when you've had a really bad day that you need to remind yourself of your relative good fortune and share some with others.

I don't itemize any of my donations for tax deductions, which I feel ruins the whole intrinsic motivation to donate and the social compact to pay taxes.

[The Anti-Targ]

8 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I'll be a grouch and say that I don't like how "paying it forward" has been co-opted by anyone and everyone seeking donations.  I paid over $110k in tuition to my MBA school but I get donation requests from them every month to "pay it forward" to help reduce the cost to new incoming students.  Why the fuck should I pay for someone else's MBA program when I had to pay for mine?  Shouldn't their increased earning potential pay for it?

Setting aside my grouchy complaints, I get great satisfaction from making small but valued donations to others, whether it's heavy tipping of the underpaid service sector, donations to local charities, or helping out a less fortunate family member.  But I don't expect any cosmic karma from these actions, and I don't do it because I had some piece of good luck that I need to repay to the universe.  In fact, sometimes it's when you've had a really bad day that you need to remind yourself of your relative good fortune and share some with others.

I don't itemize any of my donations for tax deductions, which I feel ruins the whole intrinsic motivation to donate and the social compact to pay taxes.

I know some people who do get tax returns from their charitable donations and then pay those returns to charity. I guess that's arguably robbing Peter to pay Paul. But on the other hand you know those few dollars aren't going towards buying weapons or corporate welfare.

[Martell Spy]

I've made a large effort to be less of a misanthrope just in this past year. I've always considered myself a polite person, but I've put a greater effort into being decent to fellow Humans in public or driving. I go to greater efforts to hold doors, let people go in traffic, and try to be warmer with greetings. I'm still lousy at smiling, but I think the greater effort to be warmer helps. And the entire effort has benefited my mental state in ways I did not predict. I feel more relaxed.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Going through a toll gate last Friday morning I was informed by the attendee that the person in front of me had paid my toll.  So, I paid the toll of the person behind me. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Aside from pecuniary contributions, I have tried lately to display a sunnier disposition toward the hoi polloi.  Walking fast around in a big, busy city, I found myself scowling or internally rolling my eyes at inconsiderate dog owners with long leashes, tourists stopping randomly to take pictures, the semi-ambulatory obese, etc.  But after reading A Man Called Ove, I decided to show a little more tolerance for those around me and not be such a curmudgeon.

[The Anti-Targ]

A little thing I do is look retail workers in the eye, smile and say thank you when they had over the receipt. It's interesting how many times I get a somewhat surprised smile back (they always at least smile if I make eye contact, though a small don't look directly at me so they don't make eye contact). In doing that small thing I've acknowledged them as people and not transactional automatons. I like to think I've made their day a little bit better.

[Unlady B]

In my city public transport is paid with an electronic card which you have to charge with money beforehand to be able to use it. When you used all the money in it, you need to recharge it to be able to get the ticket. Recharging spots are not always easy to find, or maybe just lose count of how much money you spend in the card and find yourself with no credit. Asking another person to pay your ticket and handing them the money cash is a daily scene. This has happened to me countless of times, and a lot of times I've been refused the money. So as a rule, whenever someone asks me to pay the ticket, I refuse to accept the money and just tell them to pay the ticket to the next person in the same situation in the future.

 

[MercenaryChef]

I walked by one of the homeless folks on my way home drinking a beer. Dude asked for one.  Sadly I only had the one. Next night I had a sixer and saw him but he was asleep. I left him a beer. The next  morning I found the bottle empty. 

Then a few weeks later some awesome beers came unbidden to my door.

Thanks jehovah.

[WillWork4NinjaPowers]

You can pay it forward by helping my #gishwhes team raise money for two Syrian families https://www.crowdrise.com/change-a-life-khoulouds-story/fundraiser/TeamEldritch

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

On 8/4/2016 at 6:14 PM, Baltan said:

In my city public transport is paid with an electronic card which you have to charge with money beforehand to be able to use it. When you used all the money in it, you need to recharge it to be able to get the ticket. Recharging spots are not always easy to find, or maybe just lose count of how much money you spend in the card and find yourself with no credit. Asking another person to pay your ticket and handing them the money cash is a daily scene. This has happened to me countless of times, and a lot of times I've been refused the money. So as a rule, whenever someone asks me to pay the ticket, I refuse to accept the money and just tell them to pay the ticket to the next person in the same situation in the future.

 

I've used my Metrocard to swipe people through the turnstiles on the Subway. I don't even wait for the person to thank me. One time though a person actually tracked me down on the train and insisted I take the money for the fare and I felt so dirty taking. 

[Datepalm]

I wish we had that options here - like all electronic cards, sometimes people run out without realizing it, can't recharge, etc, (its not that common because you can still charge on the bus itself, but not on the connecting train,) but you can't pay it forward because they're all ID coded and you can only pay for one trip at a time. 

Otherwise, dunno. I make an effort to be polite and considerate of people around me in general. I don't know that I deserve good karma from the universe for that. 

[The Meereense Knot]

A couple weeks ago I was on my way to the subway. Saw $5 just lying on the sidewalk. I didn't see who dropped it, but there was a homeless man right there so I picked it up and handed it to him. I was excited to see it at first cause hey free money, but it's not like it was mine to start or that i needed it for anything. 

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

20 hours ago, Datepalm said:

I wish we had that options here - like all electronic cards, sometimes people run out without realizing it, can't recharge, etc, (its not that common because you can still charge on the bus itself, but not on the connecting train,) but you can't pay it forward because they're all ID coded and you can only pay for one trip at a time. 

Otherwise, dunno. I make an effort to be polite and considerate of people around me in general. I don't know that I deserve good karma from the universe for that. 

I has one that was unlimited that could be used every fifteen minutes and a backup that I reloaded with cash as a spare. 

[Raja]

21 hours ago, Datepalm said:

but you can't pay it forward because they're all ID coded 

These are public transport cards, yes? I imagine they're not transferrable then? That's a bit odd, and inconvenient, especially if you have a family. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Over the years i've stayed at quite a few cottages along Lake Michigan during summer breaks. The majority of the ones ive stayed at are set up with a pay it forward theme. Usually we try to leave the cottage and grounds as clean or cleaner than when we arrived. Its not unnusual to stock up these places with consumables for the next visitor. The cabins can be remote and often no caretaker. So we always try to leave behind anything not needed or replace things that run out. (Charcoal, dish soap, TP, OFF spray, citronella, shampoo, garbage bags, firewood, lighter fluid, maybe a few pantry items or a 6 pack of microbrew is a nice touch as well).

Its always a warm sight to realize the party before you did this and just as satisfying to leave something helpful for the next vacationers, have seen and done this many times.

[Raja]

This definitely doesn't count but I was doing an away rotation at a hospital earlier this year - we were given student lockers for one month. I opened mine up and it was a complete mess - bits of paper, a stethoscope, surgical dressings etc. that were left behind by the previous student. On the last day of my rotation, I cleaned it up and stocked some surgical dressings, a suture removal kit, drains etc - Essentially everything a new student would need on their surgical rotation.

[LongRider]

My co-worker was having a tough month and I realized she wasn't bringing lunch or having much for dinner with the fam so I bought her some groceries to get her through.  I told her to not worry about paying me back but to pay it forward.  She said "Thank you' and had lunch for the rest of the week. 

[Datepalm]

15 hours ago, Raja said:

These are public transport cards, yes? I imagine they're not transferrable then? That's a bit odd, and inconvenient, especially if you have a family. 

Yeah, it's annoying. They're personal, photo-IDed, and its actually kind of a pain to get one issued - have to go down to one of a handful of offices with long lines and erratic opening hours.(You can get a 'disposable' one for about the cost of a ride, but then you can't use it for most discounts. But you still have to get one to have transfers. A cash-bought ticket won't work. It's a system thats inexplicably getting worse over time, I swear.)  Any discounts - pensioner, student, etc - are hard coded to the card and you're only eligible for them on that card, you can't pay for someone else (even though they've now partially moved to a stored-cash system instead of a passes system) and, just to make things extra annoying, they're still wonkiness between different modes. 

So...free stethoscope? I didn't think a stethoscope was something people just randomly left behind, like pens without caps and half-filled notebooks. 

[Raja]

7 hours ago, Datepalm said:

Yeah, it's annoying. They're personal, photo-IDed, and its actually kind of a pain to get one issued -

Now that I think of it, Birmingham ( and maybe other parts of the UK?) has a similar system. They're certainly photo IDed - it's just a hassle if you're only in town for 1-2 months. I think I got too used to the public transport cards we had in Singapore  - they're transferrable and you can pick them up for about $10 at any train station. It's just easier that way, you can share cards if you have friends visiting the country etc - I find it odd to have photo ID for public transport. 

It was one of those cheap stethoscopes - not the ones doctors usually carry, but you're correct, generally not something people leave behind (  there's a joke to be made here re: surgeons and the fact that they don't ever use one)