Every retail worker has stories about wild days on the job, but some days feel straight out of a movie.

For one mall employee, a building-wide gas leak left her waiting around for hours and returning to a horde of entitled customers.

But one kind act from a generous customer somehow managed to restore her faith in humanity.

Read on for the full story!

A gas leak and a tip

I got to work at 7:30 a.m. to start my day, but before I could get started, an announcement came over the intercom:

“ATTENTION EMPLOYEES: THERE IS A GAS LEAK IN THE MALL AND WE MUST EVACUATE! GET YOUR COATS AND GO TO THE PARKING LOT!”

So the employees were forced to evacuate, but they tried to make the best of it.

We all went outside and huddled around our store manager, Jen, who said the fire department found the source of the leak—a snowplow had hit a gas line somehow, causing the leak into the mall.

She said it should only be until 9 a.m. when they’d get it fixed and the mall would be safe to enter. Jen suggested we all go to our cars to wait it out.

I sat in a coworker’s car because I didn’t have one and didn’t want to stand out in the freezing cold. Our HR lady went to get us donuts while we waited.

The evacuation lasted much longer than anyone expected, especially on such a cold winter day.

9 a.m. came and went, and the fire department came back and said it probably wouldn’t be until 10 or 11 now because there were still unsafe levels of gas inside the mall, though the leak had been contained.

Everyone groaned a bit because even though we were inside cars, it was still pretty cold on our side of the mall since the sun wasn’t up over the building yet, plus they’d been burning gas just sitting there.

My coworker and I decided to grab some coffee and come back, but that only wasted half an hour.

Then came more delays — and customers were getting antsy.

More updates came and went—“another half hour” and “just another 20 minutes or so.”

During all of this, people coming to shop came and left when security told them what was going on, yet people still continued to try to come to our store.

Several times, people my managers didn’t catch in time to warn got up to the door and knocked, completely ignoring the big yellow caution tape draped across all the doors.

One of my other managers told me he had gone inside for a moment to make sure the store was empty, but there were a few customers who somehow got in.

The employee could tell they were going to have quite the mess to explain when they finally could go back inside.

They thought the fire exit was an entrance and got in because the fire department left it unlocked by accident.

He said that one of the customers was standing in my department, yelling into the back room for someone to help her with a shoe.

When he told her to evacuate, she actually got upset with him—like it was his fault.

Around 11 a.m., the fire department said they found another leak but had contained it, and the gas levels in the mall were almost safe.

Then employees were allowed to re-enter, and what do they find waiting for them?

Finally, at 12 p.m., we were given the all-clear and allowed to go back into the mall.

Customers tried to follow us into the employee entrance and were mad when they were told to wait at the regular entrances.

As soon as I got to my department, someone was already standing at the register, irate that no one was there.

The employee tries to explain, but customers don’t seem to care.

I explained that because of the gas leak, we had to be outside since 7:30 a.m., so we hadn’t even really opened the store yet and I didn’t even have my registers open.

She got huffy and left.

The next customer that came up to me asked why the rest of the mall wasn’t open, and yet again I had to explain the situation—and that the other stores’ employees were probably smart enough to just go home.

She got mad as well. (I swear, holiday shoppers are the angriest, most impolite customers.)

Later on, the madness calmed down, and the customers who came in were less and less irate about the gas leak causing a delay in their shopping.

Then the employee met a much kinder customer.

I had a very nice customer who was trying on different boots, and we chatted about various things for about half an hour, on and off, while I helped other customers.

When she came up to pay, she told me that she had been watching me help other customers and that I was very helpful and kind to everyone.

She said to me, “Here’s $2 for good luck—” as she slipped me a $2 bill, “—and $50 for you. Merry Christmas.”

Then she slipped me a $50 bill and walked away.

The employee could hardly believe her eyes.

I looked at her in surprise, but all I could say was, “Thank you! Merry Christmas to you too!”

I had to quickly grab the cash and hide it because technically we can’t take tips, but since she was already out of my department, I didn’t get the chance to tell her that.

I stood there for a second in amazement that this just happened—and that someone was so kind to me.

I almost started crying but collected myself and ran into the back room before anyone could see me cry.

I unfolded the $2 and $50 bills and set them on the back counter and just stared at them.

The employee wishes this customer knew just how much her act of generosity meant to them.

That woman really made my day, and I didn’t get her name. I wish I knew how to thank her more.

The rest of the day went off without any problems—except that someone ate my lunch, but joke’s on them, I ate half of that sandwich already.

Still, the fact that all these crazy events happened in one day made today the weirdest day of my life.

This customer’s kindness managed to completely turn the day around!

What did Reddit have to say?

During a hectic holiday season, this customer’s kind deed was even more appreciated.

This commenter mimics the utter cluelessness of the average customer.

Oddly enough, this commenter thinks they may know exactly the mall this story is referring to.

Closing time is one concept customer seem to struggle with.

Between the cold and the chaos of all those cranky customers, this employee didn’t expect the day to end on such a great note.

Nothing like a crisp $50 bill and a warm smile to change your outlook on a crappy day!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.