Joanna Summers, host:

Now it’s time to watch our series “My Unsung Hero”, presented by the Hidden Brain team. “My Unsung Hero” tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on another person. Today’s story is a story we first brought to you in 2023. And it’s from Oliver Munsterer. About 15 years ago, he had to travel from his home in Leipzig, Germany, to a town a few hours away for a job interview.

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Oliver Munsterer: And I went there the night before and checked into the hotel. I was kinda tired. In the morning, I woke up, took a shower, and got ready. And I thought I was perfectly prepared for everything. You know, I had my shoes, suit and tie on. And then I discovered I didn’t have my dress shirt. Like, I have everything, but no shirt. He was about an hour away from the interview, and I panicked. And I went down to the lobby and I went up to the guy at the registration desk and I said, you know, I have a really big problem – I have this job interview in an hour and somehow I forgot my shirt at home, my dress shirt at home, and if he knew any store nearby that was open that I could buy a white shirt at.

And you know, he listened to my story, and as soon as I finished it he said: I have a solution. He took off his formal shirt, his white shirt, and handed me his shirt without saying anything. Just, like, here you go. good luck. This was just a spontaneous act of kindness. So, you know, I put it on and went to the interview and did the interview. It was fine. It wasn’t my dream job, so it didn’t work out in the end. But after the interview, I went back and gave him his shirt back, and he smiled at me.

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Munster: It was such a spontaneous and wonderful gesture that it instilled this idea in me that I was part of this sisterhood of, you know, mainstream kindness. And ever since then, when I see someone who needs anything, you know, I’m very willing to share, and I always think about that day where someone – a complete stranger – saved me, you know, from a lot of trouble.

Summer: Oliver Münsterer, now from Munich, Germany. Although this job interview was unsuccessful, he became a pediatric surgeon and professor. You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at Hiddenbrain.org.

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