Poll: Do you help strangers that need help?

[Communist partisan]

Hello I experiensed a very wierd thing today I was out walking and needed to find a gas station cos' I lived in this town before (Vadstena) but I was really tired after I woke up around 15.24. I asked a stranger for help and he answered "go find it you're self idiot" and I was chocked cos' I never treat a person like that need help like that. After that I asked a other person really nice person explained the road asked if I need help finding it and it was really plesant. So my question is do you behave rude or civilised and helpful to peapole that need help?

 

[plastic_window]

I like to think I'm a civillised person when it comes to that stuff, and I try to help people if they ask me in the street or wherever. The other day an old woman asked me to get some pickles off the top-shelf at the supermarket and I obliged.

I don't go so far as to, say, buy booze for minors waiting outside an off-license.

 

[BonsaiK]

Hello I experiensed a very wierd thing today I was out walking and needed to find a gas station cos' I lived in this town before (Vadstena) but I was really tired after I woke up around 15.24. I asked a stranger for help and he answered "go find it you're self idiot" and I was chocked cos' I never treat a person like that need help like that. After that I asked a other person really nice person explained the road asked if I need help finding it and it was really plesant. So my question is do you behave rude or civilised and helpful to peapole that need help?

Another poll with superfluous options. Poll option 2 and 3 are the same and should be combined into one. Poll options 1 and 4 are also the same and should be combined. Option 5 should be removed and you should have a "depends" option or something like that, because that's what I would vote.

I'll help someone if they genuinely need it and it's not too much trouble. I let someone who had a car accident into my house to use the phone once, I've given homeless people who asked for bus money lifts in my car if they were going in my direction instead, I gave a girl who was lost and had her drink spiked a lift to the police station once etc. I won't ever give someone money though, but I'll help them in other ways.

 

[Dorian]

That depends.

If said stranger is nice about asking me something, then I'll oblige. Even more likely if they're over the 20 year mark of their age.

But if they're some arrogant punk thinking I'll do it regardless of how they act, hell no!

 

[Captain Schpack]

Yeah, I have a habit of offering help and being really friendly with people I don't know. I don't even have a problem with friending strangers of Facebook

 

[Quad08]

Depending on the request. For directions, helping people whose vehicles are stuck in snow, and other polite things yes.

Alcohol and games for minors, no

 

[everfreeDragon]

I don't go so far as to, say, buy booze for minors waiting outside an off-license.

Buying it would only result in worse problems for them anyway.

Now OT:
I help people who need it all the time, I even go as far as giving money to people WHO SHOW REAL SIGNS of needing it, like one cold winters evening on my way home from college, this guy with not many layers on had been waiting for a bus for longer than I had in the rain, after a while his bus shows up and... his Oystercard is refused, the driver tells him to get off, it's still raining and it's cold so being the nice guy I am, I stepped into the bus and paided for a ticket told the guy it was his and got off, the guy was sincerly thankful and I was happy seeing him like that.

That is just one of the many times I have gone out of my way to be helpful, it's just mentally programmed into me that helping feels good, for me it does.

 

[Andalusa]

Of course I would help. If I just walked on I'd feel absolutely horrible and feel guilty for the next few days or weeks.

 

[CrashBang]

I've had a few instances like helping a woman push her kid's buggie up a steep slope or point someone in the right direction. It honestly depends on what it is

 

[ScarlettRage]

Bannana

 

[Kollega]

Yes, i do. If someone has a small annoying problem you can help resolve in 20 seconds or if he is lost and asks for direction, why not help them? I'm not some kind of Nietzsche Wannabe, and i'm convinced that such little acts of kindness is one of the thing making us humans.

 

[Iron Criterion]

I would always help a stranger if I could, I was horribly shocked when I was jumped by a couple of guys and strangers simply passed by not so much as even glancing at me.

 

[joschen]

Not helping someone who asks for help feels unnatural.

 

[Sevre]

Yeah, I do. Because it makes me feel better about myself.

Off topic: Stranger Danger!

 

[Souplex]

I almost always help because I care too much.

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

Eh, I'm not necessarily charitable, but I do help people in need. I donate to causes when I have the money. With people it depends though.

I don't help people unless they really need it. For example, there was a kid I know who had drug problems/family issues, was an asshole as a person, but if he had trouble getting money for lunch at school I'd say "Why not?". OTOH he'd ask me to help him buy a drink one day when there was a water fountain nearby, and people have asked me to donate money for them to just buy unnecessary stuff, in those cases I said no.

It also depends on my personal situation and perspective. If I see something as too much trouble to get, or unneeded, I don't get involved. If I'm in a bad situation myself or stressed out, I'm less likely to help, and when I do help someone while I need help, it's usually because we bargain a deal ("I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine"). OTOH, if you're my friend or someone I feel that I have a connection with, I'll be more likely to help you even in trivial things, but those are friends (and sometimes acquaintances).

 

[funguy2121]

Only one banana? How disappointing. Depending on the scenario, I would. You of course can't be too careful when it comes to things like picking up a hitchhiker, and I flat out refuse to give someone cash at a gas station after they've stopped me to talk about Jesus and ask for gas for their pregnant wife (?). But if I see someone who's clearly lost or requires some form of assistance, I normally do what I can to help them.

I don't believe in Karma or any other mystic nonsense, but I do think there are "karmic reinforcers" out there (for lack of a better term), largely unperceived. In other words, if you do good whenever you can, that information has a way of getting around, so when the time comes that you need a helping hand (say, in the workplace), there will usually be more extended to you. So it's more philosophically sound to be good to people.

 

[_Janny_]

I try to help whenever possible. You never know when you'll be the one who is in desperate need of help.

 

[ThePocketWeasel]

I'll help them, cause I'd like to think I'm nice like that and I'd feel so guilty if I didn't. However if it comes to directions they'd be better off not asking cause I've given strangers wrong directions by accident then realised 2 hours later

 

[Therumancer]

Well I think it depends on a lot of factors. Our society is not currently the nicest place and people run scams and the like based on the simplest seeming things. A rude person in many cases simply being paranoid, probably due to some really bad experiences.

That said if people ask for directions or whatever I try and help, since I've never gotten screwed or had a problem trying to help someone that way. I am however lousy at giving directions.

In general however our society is a messed up place. If you need directions it typically works best to ask at a place of business (Mcdonalds, conveinence store, or gas station when that is not what your looking for). The people working there sort of expect it, and being in business are out to be polite. When I get lost that is what I do. Today it's increasingly unusual to see pedestrian traffic (one of the reasons we have an obesity problem is the use of motor vehicles), and a guy hanging out on a street corner for whatever reason is in many cases selling drugs or whatever and thus unless you act exactly the right way figures your either a cop, or someone who is going to rat him out to the cops.

Yes the above paragraph is jaded to the extreme, but stop and think about it. It's not right in ALL cases of course, but it's also not a totally off base assumption.

I'll also point out that in many areas prostitutes don't dress anything like they do on TV or the movies. Rather they dress normally to avoid police attention. Granted a lot of it depends on where you are, but those two normal looking girls window shopping right around closing time are as often or not going to be for sale (so to speak), you pull up, get her attention and say "hey where do I find a gas station" she might very well think your
F@cking with her or whatever.