A while back my mom got turned around driving in an area she didn’t know well, she isn't good with Google map or anything of that sort, for whatever reason it all hit her at once. She pulled into a parking lot, got overwhelmed, and called the number on a nearby business sign just to ask for directions because she was too flustered to think straight.

The woman who answered could’ve just told her where to turn and hung up, but instead she stayed on the phone with her for several minutes, calmly walking her through each step and waiting while she repeated it back.

At one point she even said, “You’re okay, don’t rush, we’ll get you there.”

My mom told me later that the directions helped, obviously, but what really got to her was that the woman could hear she was panicking and chose patience instead of irritation.

It cost her basically nothing, but my mom still talks about her like she threw her a rope.