Even nerd can be a hero!

[Raybarg]

Today when I was driving back home during rush hour I got stuck behind one Nissan car at traffic lights because she did not move, so I put my hazard lights on and went to ask whats going on.

She could not put gear on. After several attempts to do different things it was clear to me (though I know almost nothing about cars) that clutch is broken somehow... I also knew with my skills I could have put gear on without clutch.. but I thought it might be too much in situation like that to ask her to let a stranger drive her car and ask her to push! So I told her to steer towards nearby parking lot (approx 100m away) and said I just push the car there

Damn it was exhausting but the lady in distress was less in panic when she was not stuck in middle of a huge intersection. I left after she had called her brother who promised to be there "asap".

Oh, when I was leaving she did thank me

One thing that stung me was how not even one other driver came to help... there was like 20 cars behind me and most of them started to speed past us... even when I was pushing the car with all my strength. But that's how world is these days, people are busy with their meaningless lives.

[netmaestro]

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." - Henry David Thoreau

btw: Good job.

ps: Reminds me of the time my wife's friend called a tow truck to take her car to the garage because the throttle was stuck and wouldn't push down. The garage called her at work a few hours later to tell her they'd repaired the car at no charge. When she picked it up the work order read: "Remove tennis ball from under gas pedal"

[Joakim Christiansen]

But did you get laid?

[blueznl]

But did you get laid?

No sense of romantics, always getting straight to the point...

(Now did you? )

[PB]

> people are busy with their meaningless lives

Don't be so harsh. You have no right to judge their lives as
meaningless compared to yours. People do have priorities of
their own to attend to. Someone driving past could be heading
to an important job interview so they can feed their family. Or
to the hospital to have a cut looked at. Anything. We just don't
know, so we shouldn't judge.

[Raybarg]

But did you get laid?

That only happens in certain type of movies, not in real life

[Raybarg]

> people are busy with their meaningless lives

Don't be so harsh. You have no right to judge their lives as
meaningless compared to yours. People do have priorities of
their own to attend to. Someone driving past could be heading
to an important job interview so they can feed their family. Or
to the hospital to have a cut looked at. Anything. We just don't
know, so we shouldn't judge.

You are right. The hospital is in wrong direction so its out of the question. Where those people were driving into is living area as close to 'hood' as you get in finland so job interviews are out of the question. Maybe it was just that one driver waving his fist at me while I was pushing that car which made me make that harsh judgement.

[utopiomania]

You pushed a car with a lady in distress inside 100 meters, and she couldn't even say thanks to you?
and no one else bothered to help?

Something is wrong these days, thats for shure. makes you wonder what has happened to us all.

[naw]

I had a team meeting last Monday in London with 5 other colleagues, two of us had traveled down from the North of England (Nottingham and Chesterfield) After the meeting on the way to St Pancras Stn to catch a train back to the North, we were approaching an 'up' escalator when a chap travelling on a 'down' escalator fell over and became trapped in the escalator.

It took us a couple of seconds to work out what was going on but we rushed over to help. Meantime, other travellers were stepping over the guy stuck on the bottom of the 'down' escalator who was struggling to get up - obviously this was potentially very dangerous for him, while I stopped the escalator (emergency stop button) my colleague helped the guy up - he was an older chap, perhaps in his mid-fifties.

Other commuters gave us dirty looks for stopping the escalator (forcing them to walk 30 - 50m) down the escalator. Meanwhile a Polish guy ran 100m up the stairs to bring a medic down to help the older guy who was really very shaken up and disoriented having had his coat torn up in the escalator and rolled around on the gound.

The point is all those ars*hol*s who literally stepped over the guy rather than stopping and helping - probably 12 - 20 people COULD NOT BE BOTHERED to help someone who was clearly in need of help and in considerable personal danger. It took 2 Northerners and a Polish guy to do something to help...

London commuters are a breed apart - what a bunch of worthless scumbags ...

[Joakim Christiansen]

and she couldn't even say thanks to you?

Oh, when I was leaving she did thank me

You read too fast.

[Raybarg]

I didnt want to turn this thread into harsh judgementing But one thing to say is that I work in a software company employing ~150 programmers and majority of the people have the same level of situation awareness as I do when it comes to seeing someone needing help out there in public.

Maybe its the profession that we are which is in a sense a "customer care" because almost every coder attend in customer meetings as experts/coders/managers/contact persons.. And my job has been somewhere in middle of project management and actual programming where understanding customer needs and presenting them the solutions does train the mind to see such needs in normal life also.

Dunno, I would not like to think that helping someone makes me better person or those who didnt stop to help worse persons. I believe it is all just a matter of perception of the situation. Also, I admit that 16 years ago I was stuck behind an old car in traffic and it was apparent that the driver was elder... I did not stop to check if he needs help, I just got myself out of the situation... that incident has been nagging me over these years, and yesterday I had a chance to prove myself that I am not like that anymore.

[Mohawk70]

When she picked it up the work order read: "Remove tennis ball from under gas pedal"

LMAO !

[utopiomania]

You read too fast.

Either that or he edited his post too fast. Or a cosmic ray struck my screen and dizturbed the
rendering of his post..

No, seriously, If you need to explain that a lady actually DID say thanks after pushing her
car 100 m, then something is still a bit wrong...

[luis]

One thing that stung me was how not even one other driver came to help... there was like 20 cars behind me and most of them started to speed past us... even when I was pushing the car with all my strength. But that's how world is these days, people are busy with their meaningless lives.

I had often the opposite experience. Even if I generally don't like people and expect very little from them, when I was in difficulties someone, very often, offered to help me.

One time I was stuck in snow, and trying to put a plank of wood under one wheel to get traction, when two guys approached me and helped me pushing the car out. With their help I was free in a minute. I wasn't asking for help.

Another time I was pushing another car who stopped in the middle of a crossing (not mine but it's irrelevant, actually I were helping someone else) toward a parking zone and a indian guy just ran to help me push the car to destination, thinking the car was mine Again I wasn't asking for help.

And I had many other similar experience. That's why I still believe once in a while it's really possible to find nice people around, and that's why I don't go around punching random people in the face.

The possibility of hurting someone not deserving it it's really small, but it's there.

[Raybarg]

Yea I believe the thing preventing people from helping someone in the public is a fear of embarrasment. (is that a word?)

Myself... I am a bit of a lunatic so I dont care if it looks embarrassing to push a car in middle of traffic