When someone is good at their job, they should be rewarded for it. Luckily, this is a story where the “little” guy actually wins!

In this Reddit post, a super star janitor for an apartment building has an unbelievable offer due to his work ethic.

Let’s get into how karma was on his side, and not the managers!

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have

The management company that oversees my apartment building has always been bad.

Packages go missing from the mail room, repairs take forever, staff are unfriendly, not at all worth what we pay in fees.

There was only one solid employee, and he almost made up for everyone else’s incompetence — the janitor, Ruan.

Enter our main character!

He kept everything sparkling clean and even pitched in when other people slacked off (helping with repairs, ID checking in the lobby, and more) just because he took pride in the building.

Then the corporate oversight of the management company changed and the new boss was having all the properties inspected to do a quality spot check on the individual building managers.

Our manager, the winner that he is, decided the best course of action would be to not come in the day of the oversight visit so that it would have to be cancelled.

The hope was the checker would just inspect what he could without the manager on site — which wasn’t much — since he’d have already made the trip out there.

My apartment has terrible cell reception and no AC, so I spend a ton of time downstairs in the lobby, which has both.

Clearly the manager isn’t great…

I was able to overhear most of the planning for this visit as a result.

Our janitor, Ruan, knew too and he was spiffing everything up like new in excitement.

Fixing a few broken things the repairs guy ignored and even bringing in fresh cut flowers to the lobby out of his own pocket.

Ruan dressed up in a collared shirt and khakis for the visit (He didn’t know the manager was bailing, I just heard it hanging out in the lobby late one night).

So when the corporate inspector arrived, Ruan was the only guy he saw. He was dressed up.

So the inspector shook his hand and started rattling off the things he wanted shown to him.

Ruan knows this building better than anyone else on the staff so, you could tell he was a little overwhelmed at being seen as the point person, but he knew the answers to every one of the inspector’s questions.

Meanwhile a few tenants and contractors who frequent the building passed and all knew Ruan, brought him concerns about their apartments.

Those on the staff who knew we were being inspected even made a point to say, “Yah, Ruan’s the guy if you’ve got a problem.”

So the end of the inspection must’ve come because they recongregated in the lobby.

Seems like everything worked out.

The inspector told Ruan he wanted to get his full name so he could make a note in his employee file of how well he’s run the building so far, and that he’d meet with him later in the week to discuss fixes for the problems he found.

Ruan, shocked, is like “You want to meet with me again?” And the inspector is like, “Sure, I’m looking forward to a long working relationship. I like to meet with each building once a month. Sorry, what was your name again, for the file?”

Ruan told him and the inspector goes, “Hold on, I thought someone called Eddie was the manager here?”

And Ruan explained, clearly embarrassed and scared he’d done something wrong, that he is not the manager. The manager didn’t come in today.

The inspector then went and spoke with a few people in the building on his own while Ruan absolutely lost his mind in the lobby, thinking he was going to be fired or get the building censured or something.

Eventually the inspector comes back and he sits Ruan down and tells him he might not be manager in title but he’s manager in action, so if he wants it, he’s got a new job.

A heartwarming plot twist!

The man cried. Ruan’s been working as a contractor through a janitorial service, not directly for the building.

So no benefits, considered part time, very little job security or support.

And he’d just gone from that to a cushy office job in the building he loves in the blink of an eye.

I was sitting on the couch a few spaces down from them (the lobby has a sitting area with tables and chairs and couches) and I felt compelled to ask, before anyone got too excited, “Hey, excuse me, can you do that? Or could someone veto this?”

Because I hated to think Ruan would be so excited only to have some sort of bureaucracy or old boys club shoot down his promised opportunity.

The inspector turns to me and informs me he’s the new COO of the management company, and final hiring decisions are at his sole discretion.

The happiest ending for everyone.

Then he asked who I was and I basically said, “I was just leaving,” and I left before my big mouth complicated things any further.

This week Ruan started officially. We’ve got flowers in the lobby every day now and a dripping faucet I’ve been waiting six weeks to have fixed is scheduled for repair on Thursday.

He didn’t work there, but he does now!

Let’s see what the comments said about this sweet story…

Everyone loved this heartwarming post!

Many said it was the best work story they’ve heard.

It’s clear Ruan is a fan-favorite.

And no one feels bad for the old manager!

Karma comes around eventually, and it worked in this guy’s favor!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.