This is a sad story, folks…

But you need to stick around, because it has a happy, wholesome ending!

It proves that some customer service employees really do go above and beyond to help customers who are in heart-breaking situations and desperately need someone to help him.

Read on to see how this worker helped out a customer who was desperate to preserve the memories of his late wife.

The accident.

“I worked phone and retail for a fruity tech company.

I spent two years in retail and two years on the phone. I’ve heard tons of stories with some being real and some being lies, but there are three I’ll never forget and this is one.

I got a phone call from a man practically sobbing. While I’ve dealt with a fair share of calls, it’s rare to get a crier so I braced for impact.

Here come the waterworks…

Through his tears a guy was telling me about how he NEEDED to get his phone repaired. The display on his phone was shattered and he NEEDED it fixed. The display was broken and he couldn’t enter the password even though he knew it.

There was more to the story so I asked, was there something on the phone he was trying to recover?

As soon as I asked the tears were practically into overdrive. He explained his wife got into a car accident on her way home from the mall. She was t-boned and passed away on impact.

My stomach dropped.

He then told me her last photos of her were her and his daughters together and he wanted the last memories of his wife with her kids so he could remember her.

Now I’m heartbroken, but determined.

They wanted to help him out.

I’ve never loved anyone that much, but I have looked for that type of love so all my energy was focused on him. Normally were told to keep calls short or we get texts to speed things up and if we need help, but those were going to get ignored.

We tried the quick things like plugging it into the computer, but the computer wasn’t a trusted device. She didn’t use Cloud backups. And in-store service was going to be problematic.

In-store they plug phones into a machine and if the frame is bent or there are issues, the machine mail fail to repair and erase data. It’s rare, but it happens.

If I transfer to higher ups they can’t do anything so I think back on my retail training. I remember in the drawers of my old store we had data recovery business cards for local places. I decide to call the local store closest to him.

They came up with a plan.

I partnered with a retail manager, which phone support is not trained to do. I explain the scenario and we create a plan. The plan is to get him in-store and have a manager waiting for him so he doesn’t have to repeat his story or why it matters.

He was going to get white glove service and if we couldn’t repair the phone, we partnered with a local recovery place to recovery photos for next to nothing.

We are committed to saving these photos. I get that manager’s email and I transfer the call to him.

A week later I’m hoping to find out what happened so I emailed the manager asking what happened.

He explained that the phone was too badly damaged to be repaired without risking being erased, but a local data recovery place was able to save the photos. He then forwarded me a thank you email from the customer.

There are still some good people left out there!

It wasn’t the most heroic thing I’ve seen (we once had someone have a heart attack at a store) and it wasn’t the most painful (that would be dealing with a suicide and helping a family look for a suicide letter), but it does show that we all aren’t out to get you, make money or screw over the customer.

Some of us like our customers and want to help you.”

I’m glad they were able to find a way to recover the photos.

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person chimed in.

Another individual was impressed.

This Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Another individual weighed in.

This is called going above and beyond the call of duty.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.