Sometimes the rules are clear, but your conscience tells you to bend them anyway.

So, what would you do if a hospital worker called during the pandemic asking you to hold a video game console that was technically against store policy to hold?

Would you refuse to hold one for them? Or would you break the rule and let them know it would be there for them?

In the following story, a video game store employee finds himself in this exact situation and opts for the latter.

Here’s how it all played out.

For you, we can hold it

One of the jobs I work (and the only one I’m working at the moment, thank you, COVID-19) is for a video game store.

If you know anything about video games, you’ll know that the newest generation of consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X) are near impossible to find.

They were released this past November, and my store’s PS5 waiting list is still a few pages long. Xbox, being less popular, has actually been sitting in stock at my location for a while.

Last week, I was doing my normal work when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it was my local hospital’s surgery ward (I know because I’m waiting for a surgery right now and have had some calls from them for appointments and such).

The guy was looking for a new Xbox console.

I answered, and the gentleman asked if we had any Xbox consoles or if there was a waiting list.

I said they’re here, come on down and grab one.

It turned out he was doing a 12-hour shift, and we closed before he got off. He asked if we could hold it.

Now, the store policy is very specific on these consoles because they are such hot ticket items. No holds, no exceptions, period.

He really was calling from a hospital.

I asked if my caller ID was correct, and he was calling from the hospital.

He said yes, he works in the ICU and he’s on his break.

I asked when he could come in.

Earliest would be a few days away.

It turns out that his manager would’ve done the same thing.

I told him it would be here, end of discussion. He’s working in a hospital during the pandemic, he’s getting the Xbox, and my manager can fight me over policy if he wants.

I wasn’t supposed to be there the day he could come to pick it up, but I happened to cover a shift.

When I greeted him as he walked in, he asked if I was “my name.”

I said yes, and we did the transaction. I told him how happy I was to be able to do something for our health care workers besides just saying we appreciated them.

He seemed to really take to heart that we appreciate everything they’ve done.

I told the story to my supervisor when he returned from vacation. As soon as I said he was a hospital worker, my supervisor interrupted, “So you told him we’d hold it, right?”

Wow! That was such a nice thing to do.

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit would’ve done in this situation.

This explains the reason for the shortage.

Here’s someone explaining why the Xbox was less popular than the PS5.

According to this person, new Xbox consoles are all sold out around them.

As this person points out, most posts are about bad bosses, so it’s nice to see a good supervisor for once.

This was the right thing to do!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.