Canva

Counter to what some folk who haven’t ever been in the situation might realise, working retail can be really gruelling. Because, depending on which store you work in, every day could be non-stop. From the time when you arrive you might be restocking shelves or unpacking merchandise, preparing checkouts and giving everything a little spruce up before the customers roll in. Then, once the doors are open, you’re busy – either helping customers on the shop floor or manning the checkout – until the moment they close again.

And that’s before you even consider the customers themselves, who can be difficult, draining, and downright unpredictable. No day in retail is ever the same, and it can be a real emotional overload when customers are getting snappy – or worse. But occasionally – very occasionally – there are customers and situations that stick with you for all the right reasons. And in the milieu of customer drama, the retail worker in this story will never forget one exchange between two customers.

Read on to find out why.

Seven years, and the only good story that’s has ever come out of working retail happened to me two days ago.

I work in a travel goods store, and two days ago there were a few customers browsing around the store, but no one needed any help so I was just standing by the front desk.

A customer came in, an elderly man with a deep Haitian accent and okay English. He came up to me and said that he wasn’t looking to buy today, but he was planning on visiting family in Haiti that he hasn’t seen in over twenty years.

He said that he had been saving up money for a while and finally started planning his trip albeit still a few months away. He just wanted something inexpensive for the one trip.

So I pointed him in the right direction, and he told me he was going to look around.

Read on to find out what happened next.

As I walked away another customer waved me down (a younger guy in what looked like a pretty expensive suit) and started asking me some questions about some high end brands.

After about fifteen minutes of talking to this other man, the Haitian man walks over and said something along the lines of “I’m sorry to interrupt but thank you for the help, I’m not ready to buy it yet but I’ll come back in a few months when I have all of my trip money together.”

The man in the suit then asked him what suitcase he was looking at. And the Haitian man pointed to the cheapest one we had in the front of the store for $20.

Suitman said “you don’t want those, they don’t last very long the way the airlines throw stuff around. How about one of these.” and he walks over to a mid-range $70 suitcase.

Then, something out of the ordinary happened.

The Haitian man laughed a little and said “I can’t afford those!” But Suitman blew my mind and said “don’t worry about that I will pay for it.”

The Haitian man kinda laughed it off, thinking it was a joke or something or maybe he misunderstood. Even I was a bit skeptical. But Suitman insisted he was serious, handed me his credit card, and said to let him pick out a color.

The Haitian man reluctantly picked out a suit case and walked over to the desk with me. He practically burst into tears when the credit card went through.

After some handshaking and many thank yous the Haitian man left. Suitman proceeded to buy $600 worth of luggage for himself and his family.

Not only was it one of my biggest sales ever, it was also the biggest random act of kindness I had ever seen in my life. After working in retail hell for so long, this is something I will never forget.

This was a truly beautiful moment and really showcases the kindness of humanity that is often lost in the modern world.

How kind of this wealthy guy to see someone who has worked so hard for their trip back home, and gift them the quality luggage required to get there.

And how fortuitous that these three people were all in the same place at the same time.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

This person was full of praise for Suitman.

While others shared stories of other generous strangers.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a craft store customer who refuses to take no for an answer when it comes to wrapping his purchases for gifts.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had been a generous stranger, and shared their story.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make someone’s day, and for someone who had been saving hard for years to go and see their family back home, a gesture like this can feel like they’ve been visited by a knight in shining armour – except this time their knight was a guy in an expensive suit. But what Suitman perhaps didn’t anticipate was the way in which this situation made the retail worker’s day too – because seeing a random act of kindness happen can be just as touching as actually being the recipient.

And it’s not about making some huge gesture – in fact, anything that makes another person’s day just a little better can be one of the best things you do with your own time. And if you can afford the time or money to help another person every once in a while, it’s a wonderful thing to do – after all, we all have our own struggles in life, and someone being there at your time of need, even in a tiny way, can restore your faith in life and humanity. We could all be a little more Suitman.