Sometimes the difference between a problem and an opportunity is how someone chooses to respond.

So, what would you do if your workplace had a routine of pushing someone away, even though they had never caused problems? Would you keep doing things the same way? Or would you take a chance on them and see what happens?

In the following story, one employee recounts how a new manager did just that and changed the person’s life. Here’s the story.

Awesome new manager breaks cycle with homeless guy outside

My old manager was a real “working for the weekend” type and never went out of their way for the customers or us, no matter what.

One of the most difficult things about her was that we had a homeless guy who’d camp out in our back alley because a lot of heat comes off a vent back there, and she’d always make us toss him out because he was visible to customers from the main entrance.

She’s gone, and we have a new manager now.

She agreed to let him work there on a trial basis.

Her first week, one of the employees said, “Hey, that guy’s back,” and the new manager said, “This guy here often?” and we told her the whole story.

She asked what our interactions with him had been like, and we told her they had been perfectly pleasant, considering the circumstances.

She walks out, shakes the guy’s hand, and offers him a dishwashing job on a trial basis.

Now, he’s starting a permanent position.

She had one of the busboys help him get cleaned up and put him to work right away. He knocked it out of the park, made good, honest money, and got staff dinner.

She told him he was welcome to come back to work any night of the week, and if he was consistent, she’d see about getting him hired.

That was two weeks ago, and he started on a permanent basis today!

Wow! What an awesome story!

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about it.

This person’s manager was more like the first woman.

The story gave this reader an idea.

What a nice thing to do.

Here’s another similar story.

Sounds like she made a good choice. Hard help is hard to find, so let’s hope it works out for everyone.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a coworker who paid the price for never being able to be quiet.