"Can I use your phone?"

[BobM]

Had a kid come up to the house and ask to use our phone. He had a bump on his noggin and said that he had run off the road and got his truck stuck/wrecked. I had the 1008 taken apart to put glowplugs in it. So I hurried up and put it back together while the kid( OK,OK young adult male) tried to get someone to come rescue him. He had planned on walking back a mile or so to wait for his friend.
Well I took him back up to his truck in the 1008 while the wife brought the silverado up for extra lights. And he was stuck. They are installing a 42" gas pipeline up there and he had driven into the just rainsoaked fill. He was in over the front hubs and up to the rear axle.
He wanted me to try to pull it but without it's help I only moved it about 3'. But that was enough he could lock his front hubs and, with him now driving his truck, he came right out.
The 1008 worked great. But man is it ever slow in 4 low!

 

[sgtrisk]

Sounds like a fun evening, though!

 

[BobM]

Sounds like a fun evening, though!

Yeah. I told the kid that it was fun just playing with the truck. But when we were leaving, he tried to give my wife the $6.00 in his wallet. Great lady that she is, she told him the same thing that I did!
Besides, it is raining and nasty here. All I can do is play on the 'puter!

 

[99dodge1500]

Sometimes it pays to be a good samaritan, I pull people out in my dodge all the time in the winter, I was offered 20 bucks for pulling this older lady out, and the kind of person I am I didn't take it.

 

[BobM]

Sometimes it pays to be a good samaritan, I pull people out in my dodge all the time in the winter, I was offered 20 bucks for pulling this older lady out, and the kind of person I am I didn't take it.

Years ago I was in a company truck and this guy in a ratty old 2X4 Ford truck was belly deep in the ditch. It was against company policy to hook onto anybody, but the guy looked kinda desperate and i pulled him out. He offered me money, but I declined. That is when he told me that he had been using this old truck to pull people out for 50 bucks a pop!
He jumped in his truck and sped off before i could smack him!

 

[Jones]

I always figure that I'd really appreciate it if someone came along and helped out one of my kinfolks so I too refuse money; just ask that they return the favor by helping out if they ever see someone who needs a hand.

To heck with "carbon credits"-- "kindness credits" are what we could use more of.

 

[randyscycle]

Thanks for helping out someone in need! It could be anyone of us on the need end of a bit of help at some point.

I will generally help anyone out without expectation of anything in return and it has always repaid me with help whenever I needed it most.

Sadly, I did have a bad experience in a snow stuck years ago in my old Monte Carlo on a rural side road. It was so deep that the car just plowed along until I couldn't go any further. With only an e-tool I dug and drove, and dug and drove, until I just got stuck and tired enough to not be able to go any further. A couple guys came along in a big Chevy 4WD pickup and pulled alongside. After asking if I needed help they offered and began to get ready to pull me along. Just before hooking up the tow strap, the driver told me I'd have to give him $25. I told them to get lost (not exactly in those words) and I'd be happier digging. They got pretty nasty and if I hadn't been armed, I think they'd have pushed the issue further. Needless to say I had to dig a lot more, but I did get home safely and after dark.

 

[kendelrio]

A couple years ago I drove a wrecker. Christmas Eve I was on call and around 8:00 I got called out for a broken down vehicle. It was about 30 minutes away. When I got there, it turns out the man (in his 60s) had a flat and couldn't unlock the cover on his spare. I unlocked it, changed it and wrote down on the ticket the customer was gone when I arrived. (Didn't charge him). When I was on my way up there, there was a car on the other side with its flashers on about 5 miles out of town. On the way back, the car was still there. I pull over and its a 20 something couple and the wife is preggers. They were out of gas. I figured since I was going back to town anyway, I could piggyback their car to the gas station. Told both folks Merry Christmas pass it on.

 

[M37Dodge]

A note from the legal end:

Taking a few bucks may be risky . . .. When you accept that $/"gift", you may suddenly fall outside the good Samaritan law protections offered by your state. So, if they claim you damaged their vehicle later - you may be held liable like a commercial wrecker.

Check your own state's laws to be sure.

 

[M-37]

We get alot of stuck trucks out here. Our Rd. , peters out into ATV trails or Jacked up 4 x4's

 

[BRUTUS12]

Pet-Peeve # 1: you do the right thing, be a good person, you feel great about yourself and the people you help usually offer some sort of payment and you always deny because it's the right thing to do, help others when in need. then motorist, seeing that your flashers/strobes are on or that your just on the side of the road broke down, STILL don't merge to the next lane to give you some space. this drives me nuts!!

best "help" story: running late to meet the family for dinner and see a car along side of the highway with 2 old men standing outside and it was POURING freezing rain and COLD. stopped to help them change the tire, start talking and find both are Vietnam Vets, never felt so good to be able to thank them in person for their service and give a kind gesture...that was self-satisfaction at an all time high

 

[99dodge1500]

I have been offered alot of things when I pull people out, I don't think about money, I don't like doing it but when I am low on gas and the offer me 5 or 6 bucks I unhappily take it, but not to be selfish.