Sometimes, the smallest gestures from strangers leave the biggest mark.

So, what would you do if you had to work late on your 21st birthday and give up your night out with friends?

Would you call in sick?

Or would you try to make the most of it with a little humor and hope someone noticed?

In the following story, one retail worker finds themselves in this exact situation and opts for the latter.

Here’s what happened.

“We tried getting you a cupcake…”

A few years ago, I was working at a video game retailer.

We offered free midnight pick-up for games on the release date for customers who had pre-ordered.

Two people were always scheduled for this to run smoothly – and guess who was chosen to come back after their 8-hour shift at 11:30 pm on their 21st birthday to facilitate the midnight release?

I understandably was a bit bummed.

I had planned to meet with some friends for my first legal drinks at a really neat bar downtown, so it was disappointing.

Regardless, nobody else was available to take the shift, so I sucked it up and postponed my birthday plans for the next weekend instead.

Joking with customers made the time go by a little faster.

A pretty small pool of people came in around 11:45, eager to get their hands on their new game.

Two of them were men that I had seen in the store before and were fond of, because they were always really funny and polite.

Having a pretty good rapport with both of them, I told them that it was my birthday and joked that I had tricked them into thinking that there was a game coming out that night; instead, it was actually my birthday party, and it was the only way I could get them to come.

Jokes in that vein continued between the three of us until midnight, when the games were available for distribution.

They got their games, thanked my coworker and me, and left.

Just as they were about to close up, a car pulled in.

At the time, our policy was to stay until at least 12:30 a.m. on midnight releases to ensure that everyone had time to pick up their game.

It was about 12:35 when we were shutting off our POS systems and shutting the doors, when a car pulled up in front of the store.

I sighed and turned my computer back on, expecting it to be someone who was late for picking up their game.

To my surprise, it was the two men from earlier who walked in.

Shocked, she cried about the kind gesture.

Their arms were FULL of convenience store candy and chocolates. “Here! Happy birthday! We tried getting you a cupcake, but the grocery store nearby was already closed. We hope that this is good enough!”

They dumped everything on the counter for me, and I was absolutely speechless.

I actually cried a little when thanking them, because I was just so blown away.

The fact that two near-strangers had gone out of their way to be thoughtful and bring me treats on my birthday so made the midnight shift worth it!

I think about them whenever I reminisce about my time in retail.

Why can’t all customers be this amazing?!

Wow! It’s so wonderful to hear that good people still exist!

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit relate to this story.

This is so true!

Here’s someone who worked at the same place and would never reopen the register.

Well, this is kinda rude.

According to this person, they come for the evil stories, but this made them smile.

That was so sweet!

Most people would’ve grabbed their game and rushed home, but what they did was so selfless and caring!

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.