Actions that may seem small to us can make someone’s day or even change their lives.

In today’s story, a man who works in tech support shares how helping an elderly man use Skype made him realize how important it is to have patience and to be helpful.

Let’s read the whole story.

This one’s a simple one, but I can’t get it out of my head.

I work in a store that offers technical support for consumer-level technology.

A few days ago I had an elderly gentleman that we’ll call Pete (name changed for privacy).

Our receptionist made him a walk-in appointment earlier that day and I ended up taking it.

When I opened it all up, the only notes I saw were “Third-party software, hard of hearing.”

But thankfully, he was able to communicate with him.

I walked up to Pete and greeted him, saw that he was staring at my lips as if to read them, then I asked if he knew American Sign Language (ASL).

I’ve been trying to learn ASL as a sort of side-hobby for a few months now.

Pete signs “yes” and we continue the conversation in Sign.

Turns out the issue is with Skype, which keeps crashing on his roughly 5-year old tablet, and he’s been having difficulty video-calling his wife who is Deaf.

She lives on a different continent, she travelled there for a temporary work opportunity and would be there for two years.

This being the mid-way point, it’s now been 1 year since Pete’s seen his wife.

Talking to her through video is really important.

Skype is the only way they both know how to communicate efficiently long-distance, as neither are comfortable with email or other text-based services.

As I go through verifying that he knows his password and making sure there’s a backup of his device, Pete and I are signing back and forth and his face was completely lit up.

I felt so good to be able to, albeit slowly, speak with him in his language and give him the time he deserved, even if his reason for visiting us had little to do with our physical product.

Once everything was verified and backed up, I uninstalled Skype and reinstalled it, had Pete sign in, and use Skype’s test call to ensure it wouldn’t crash (as it would immediately upon call creation before).

Test call went through fine. Sweet.

He just didn’t expect to be hit right in the feels.

I looked down to write a few extra notes and began to hear some coughs. I looked up and there was Pete, crying while waving to his wife through Skype.

Pete called her and she picked up! He introduced me to her and told me that it’d been 3 weeks since they’d heard from each other.

I stepped away to give him a moment alone.

It’s moments like these that keep me going as a technician.

Even though I barely touched Pete’s tablet, “fixing” it made me feel like a hero. It’s been a few days and I can still see his smile.

Just thought I’d share, thanks for reading.

The hero they deserved and needed!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

Someone shares their experience.

So sweet, indeed.

Yup.

Another reader shares their experience.

Exactly.

Why not go the extra mile?

This was beautiful and inspiring.

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.