Good Samaritaning... do you?

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Today walking back on promenade pass this child's toy abandoned sat right in the middle of the prom. Pooh Bear, one of those rattle-type thing so must have been a toddlers. I walk past it but then I also know that a stone's throw away is the Beach office and many people will go there in the hope of retrieving lost items, provided someone has been kind enough to hand them in.

So that was my intention and I turned back, picked up said toy and, as I walk past a beach hut there was a young couple, the man is standing tapping into his mobile and as I go past I hear this:

MAN: "Can tell them a mile off"
WIFE: "What's that?"
MAN: "Weirdo's"

There wasn't another soul around within earshot so he must have been referring to me. If he was it mas making me mad with rage but I know I can't go and confront him though I suspect there are people on here who might.

So I tell the guys in the Beach office who try and explain that some people's minds are incredibly small and thanked me for handing it in. Meanwhile I'm still a bit livid but why I post about this is no, I don't want sympathy, I just want to try and understand how someone's mind could read into a situation the way that it was. Something has gone very wrong somewhere if that's the kind of gratitude a good deed can bring.

And would anyone else have done the same? Or left it there?

I do everything that I can to be a good Samaritan. It makes me feel good when I do that, and I get to do what I like to do the most. Helping people.

I do not know what that guy was reading into your actions. How odd...

I would have picked up the bear and returned it if I had noticed it (I can be oblivious to things when I am out). Kids can become attached to their things, even very young children and there was a place nearby to return it, it seems the decent thing to do.

Yeah. I'm still hurt by it but know what I'm thinking now? That the only weirdo was the man at the beach hut. How sad that anyone could think that way, TBH I hate what this world has become, everyone suspicious of each other and living under a paranoid sky. Wasn't like this in the seventies.

I can see why you are hurt, I would be but you did the right thing, he didn't; he's the one with a problem, not you!

I once had a simular expereince; I was on a full public bus on my way home from college when an old guy of about 80 got on. He had a walking stick and didn't look like he could stand for long so I offered him my seat and he yelled at me "that he was prefectly capable of standing'!

It really upset me at the time but hasn't stopped me doing 'good deeds', if I can.

Feel sorry for the other guy, he obviously has some major issues if he thinks helping and being thoughful is 'werid'. Also think how happy the kid was when he/she was reunited with their toy, you so kindly handed in.

You did the right things and be proud of youself for it.

Thanks. The best way to think is to hope the child is reunited with the toy. Funny thing was, hours earlier I saw a man pick up a discarded toy in the street, run after the mother who of course was very grateful because her daughter had no idea she'd dropped it. Maybe that stuck in my mind and so I copied a similar situation?

Also, I understand what you wrote about the elderly gentlemen, they really can be so proud that they refuse help or snub us when we try to, of course that doesn't make them bad people, just a bit awkward.

Yeah my mum said he was probably just to proud to take the seat, especially from a girl.

As for that bloke who thought you were 'weird'; I have given up trying to work out why some people think the way they do, it gives me a headache and I don't get any closer to figuring it out!

You know you did the right thing and thats what matters.

That's right. I posted in general chat on my fave music forum, there are some quite highbrow people there, one suggested it may have been better to report the item to the Beach Office and let them deal with it but I replied saying my brain just doesn't think like that and in any case I would like to think that what I did was the "norm" whatever that is, anyway Jacs thanks for replying, I know I did the right thing, could have been something as simple as that man was just trying to look 'macho' in front of his wife maybe?

Yeah, it's sad how some people feel the need to insult others just to make themselves feel 'big'.

May be some people would not have handed it in but that doesn't make you wrong. When I stood up for that old bloke on the bus, no one else bothered but I know I did the right thing, even if he was ungreatful.

You know you did the right thing, that's all that matters.

I belong to thefallonline and mentioned you there yesterday because there was a topic about the TV programme Mastermind, I said that The Kinks were your obsession and that if you went on Mastermind they probably would be your specialist subject. Although The Fall are post-punk, everyone discusses a wide range of music and the concensus of opinion is that The Kinks are timeless and great.

I do anything i can to be a good samaritan.

I am a bit embarrassed to say how far i go though although i think a few peeps have a good idea.