It's Random Acts of Kindness Day. For this Big Issue vendor, kindness is always around him

Stuart Drucker sells the magazine at Roath and Riverside Farmers’ Markets in Cardiff. He told us about some of the many acts of kindness he sees on his pitch.

My customers are awesome, they are. I love chatting, that’s a problem. That’s probably why I don’t sell so much. A lot of my customers are older people and we talk. 

“Do you want a coffee Stuart?” Yeah! I’m like Spider-Man crawling up the walls because I have so many coffees and food. The community is brilliant where I sell. They really are. They are so nice.

I got this old woman going, “Right. What are you going to do this week?” And I go, “Well I’m going to the doctors.” “Well make sure you do it, I’ll be asking you next week!”

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I was homeless in Cardiff a long time ago when I first started selling Big Issue and then I got into hostels and moved away. 

I came back because I knew it was safe in Cardiff for the homeless, you know you’ll never starve.

I don’t just sell the magazine. I work in the Big Issue office on Mondays doing subscriptions. I enjoy it because I get to speak to and see the rest of the staff. I’ve been doing it for a while now so I know everyone.

I’ve got a friend, I stand next to the organic fruit and vegetables. Paul’s Organic Veg it’s called, and he’s
brilliant. He’s amazing. He’s helped me out, I’ve helped him out. I unload for him and I load back up because he’s on his own. 

He phones me if I’m not on the market: “Why aren’t you down here? What’s wrong? You haven’t phoned anyone.” That’s what it’s like. It’s really nice because if you’re not there people notice. And all my customers are so nice. 

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At Easter time I get all the kids Easter eggs. Little Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. Give them all to them. At Christmas I get little Christmas cards for the kids, bigger ones for the adults. I do it every year. It’s great. Oh, I love it. 

Saturday is my favourite day because everyone is there for the market in the car park. Brilliant. Love it. I have kids running down to see me. It’s mad. 

The market is brilliant. I’ve been doing them for so long now, I know everyone and it’s all always the same people who go to the Saturday one because it’s in a car park. 

Everyone looks after everyone. Crazy, they’re so nice down there. But you’ve got to be nice as well, that’s the thing. If you’re grumpy no one’s going to come near you. 

If you’re having a bad five minutes like you haven’t sold any, don’t kick off. Go and sit down for five minutes, just chill out. Because as soon as you’re angry and upset and all that, people can see it.

It is good to see the other side of things because I want to help people. I love helping vendors. They come and say something like, “I can’t afford my gas” and I say, “Listen, whatever you want, just ask.” 

I think Big Issue does a lot more than you think. I’ve been on both sides so I can put my point of view across to the office from the eyes of a vendor. So it’s a bit different.

Random Acts of Kindness Day is 17 February. If you’d like to support Stuart, you can buy a subscription from him. 50% of the proceeds will go directly to Stuart.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play