Retail Hell Underground

Denver Zoo Lion 'Rian' Begins Never-Before Attempted Chemotherapy Treatments For High-Grade Splenic Lymphoma

  

Huff Po: The Denver Zoo is partnering with veterinarians from Colorado State University to give an elderly lion a never-before attempted cancer treatment.

In mid-March, zookeepers began noticing that Rian, a 15-year-old South African lion, was acting lethargic and immediate tests revealed a large mass in the lion's abdomen. After calling in CSU veterinary surgeon Dr. Dean Hendrickson to perform an exploratory surgery on the lion, it was revealed that Rian was suffering from a type of cancer known as high-grade splenic lymphoma.

During the surgery Rian's spleen was removed and was found to weigh 12 pounds, or nearly 10 times its normal size because it had become infiltrated with the cancer.

Medical oncologist Dr. Douglas Thamm recommended six months of chemotherapy, and a veterinary team decided to begin treatments in May in an effort to kill cancerous cells that had migrated to other parts of Rian's body.

"This treatment approach is a first at a zoo," said Dr. Thamm. "The veterinary team working with Rian is modeling treatment on that used with domestic cats, who often suffer from lymphoma as they age."

The zoo and veterinary team are hoping to both improve the quality of Rian's life as well as explore how chemotherapy treatments could help other zoo lions and large cats.

"Any time we're doing things in wild animals there are few established treatment protocols. So we use what works in domestic animals and adapt it to the best of our knowledge," Thamm said in a statement. "Rian's appetite has been a little better, so I hope that means he's feeling better and the drugs are doing their job."

Rian's first chemotherapy treatment was May 27 and he repeats it each week while the veterinarians monitor his comfort levels and attitude throughout the process.

"I hope we can establish a treatment protocol that can be tolerated by big cats and used as a jumping-off point so next time veterinarians see this they have a place to start," Thamm said.

Rian was born in 1998 at the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee with his brother being his constant companion since birth. Both lions have lived at the Denver Zoo since they were cubs.

According to the zoo, the median life span of zoo lions is 16.8 years, while lions in the wild live about 15 years.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Retail Awesomeness: 5 Year-old Jayden Sink Sets Up Lemonade Stand For Peace Across From Westboro Baptist Church

Kudos to Jayden for not only wanting to have a lemonade stand for Peace, but then setting it up on the front lawn of Equality House across from the Westboro Baptist Church! As you can imagine her lemonade and message were a big hit! Way to go Jayden! RHU applauds you!

Huff Po: What happens when a little girl decides to set up a lemonade stand for peace outside the Westboro Baptist Church headquarters in Kansas? Members of the community step out in droves to show support, even as the hate group tries to quash it.

Five-year-old Jayden, the daughter of Jon Sink, founder of the philanthropic arts group FRESHCASSETTE - Creative Compassion, decided to set up a stand selling pink lemonade at The Equality House on Friday afternoon. The Equality House is a rainbow-colored building directly across the street from Westboro's Topeka compound. The house, which was painted the colors of the pride flag in March, was bought by Aaron Jackson, one of the founders of Planting Peace, a multi-pronged nonprofit set up in 2004 and aimed at spreading goodwill and equality around the globe.

Jayden, who is from Kansas City, decided to set up her stand at the Equality House after her parents explained to her the significance of its construct. After being told that the church across the street had a message of hate, she set a goal of raising money to go towards a message of love and peace.

So she painted a banner for the event reading, "Pink Lemonade for Peace: $1 Suggested Donation." She put the stand in the grass and waited. But the waiting didn't take long. Supporters came in by the droves and $1 turned into hundreds of dollars.

During the day, Westboro sent representatives outside to try and find a way to stop the event. They apparently attempted to call the local police and stooped to yelling profanities when that didn't work, like calling a group of soldiers who rode out on their motorcycles to suport the event "bastards."

Westboro's hate couldn't stop Jayden. She not only raised $400 during the day on Friday, but she has also collected over $1000 with an online campaign set up through Crowd Rise. Some people donated as little as $10 and as much as $230. One person gave $26, dedicating it to every person killed six months ago in the Newtown, Conn., massacre.

"As we all know, the Westboro Baptist Church puts a lot of hate into the world," Jackson told HuffPost in an email Friday. "Since we cannot stop them, the next best thing is to smother it with love. That is what 5-year-old Jayden accomplished today! Jayden set up a lemonade stand in front of the church. Not only did she quench the thirst of a lot of loving supporters, the money she raised was donated to Planting Peace so she could help Planting Peace promote a more peaceful world."

“Jayden represents the natural humanity we are born with," Davis Hammet, Director of Operations at Planting Peace, added. "We come into this world compassionate, caring beings and only become hateful if we are taught to be.”

Click here if you are interested in donating to Jayden's Pink Lemonade Stand for Peace.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

82 Year-old Man Giving Free Haircuts for Hugs at Park Is Evicted and then Allowed Back After Mayor Steps In

What an inspiration this man is. It's too bad the world does not have more "Joe the Barbers." Thankfully the Mayor of Hartford overruled the health department and police eviction and gave him special permission to continue his charitable haircutting.

Huff Po: HARTFORD, Conn. -- An 82-year-old barber who has been giving free haircuts to the homeless in exchange for hugs for 25 years was granted permission by the mayor Thursday to keep working in a city park, despite orders to leave from police and health officials.

Anthony "Joe the Barber" Cymerys has been a fixture every Wednesday for years at Bushnell Park, where he cuts hair and his friends hand out food to the needy.

But shortly after Cymerys set up shop this week, he said, health officials and police confronted him and his friends and told them they had to leave because they didn't have permits.

"I thought it was a drug raid, honest to God," Cymerys said. "It was the peanut gallery on TV where everyone was watching."

City health officials said they ordered Cymerys out of the park Wednesday after unnamed local residents expressed concerns about the "safety and sanitation" of Cymerys' free haircuts to homeless people and his friends' food distribution. They also noted that Cymerys is not a licensed barber.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Pedro Segarra said later Thursday that he granted Cymerys a special dispensation in light of his years of charitable work. The spokeswoman, Maribel La Luz, said the city will help Cymerys obtain a state barber's license if he likes.

Cymerys, who learned how to cut hair growing up and isn't a licensed barber, said he wasn't completely surprised by officials' actions because they've asked him before to leave the park and other areas.

He said he always takes health precautions including soaking his trimmers in alcohol.

"Twenty-five years I've been giving haircuts, and no one died on me," he said.

His friends questioned the city's actions, saying officials kicked him out of the park only a year after honoring

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Police Force Kindness: 300 Phoenix Officers Show Up To Kindergarten Graduation of Fallen Officer's Daughter

Awesome Sales Rep Goes Above And Beyond For Customer

Meow... TechTyger here, with another shout out to a great CS rep. (Don't want to use his real name either, just in case.)

I had a Ferric-sequence Wurl-o-Warcruft Kuh-tack-a-lysm mouse, that after three years, the scroll wheel went wonky. One click at a time, and it would go down, down, down, up ten lines, etc. I emailed their support asking if I could buy the parts necessary to repair it. Got told by the first guy that I was SOL and that it sucked to be me.

So, I buy one of the wireless versions of the same mouse, since they don't make the Cattyclasm one anymore. Hate it. Too small, missing the buttons I used and has extra ones in bad places, keeps losing the wireless connection (but fortunately has the ability to connect directly with the USB cable).

So I email again, asking if there's any way I could trade this one in for the wired one I have. New guy tells me no, they don't have them anymore, but he'll see if he can scrounge up a broken one that he can send me to strip for parts, send him my address. I do.

Couple of weeks later, a package. I open it up, and it's a mouse in full retail packaging. Just for laughs, I plug it in, and it works. I email the guy to tell him he was great and even if this doesn't fix it, I appreciate the service after the other clown told me to STFU and go away.

He replies "Don't take it apart, it's a brand new mouse."

He sent me a 100$ mouse for nothing. If he's reading this, he'll know who he is, and I REALLY appreciate it.

--TechTyger

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Custy Leaves $1000 Tip For Small Town Waitress So She Can Go On Dream Vacation To Italy

From Casualcynic on Tumblr:

So my mom and I have been working the same waitress job for 5-6 years now. She had been waitressing years before, but this is recently. Anyway, about… 15 minutes ago this guy she waited on left and told her to take care. Just that. Prior to this she had talked to him about Italy. Her people are from Florence, this and that, and she said she’s never been. She’s got 8 years of art education and she’s working a waitress job. It’s pretty… Sad and disappointing, I guess. Her and my father divorced 6 years ago and she hasn’t had a real job ever. Just been stuck in a small town she’s not from.

This man who we have never seen before tipped her 1000 dollars for a trip to Italy. Walked out, not another word.

…you know. Just when I start to lose faith in humanity….Hm.

via casualcynic.tumblr.com

Psycho Custy Throws Tantrum Over Potato, Then Comes Back Later And Surprises Staff

Hiya RHU, I'm yet another in a long list of long-time-lurker, first-time-posters. I guess since I worked at a Wendy's, you can just call me Where'sTheBeef.

I have a ridiculous amount of stories fit for RHU (seriously, I've found my people) but this particular one comes from my last few weeks working at a Wendy's. It is sort of long, but I think worth the read. Little bit of background; I was what they refer to as a 'Team Leader', which is basically the last rung on the management ladder. I would get stuck up front with the regular employees while the real (aka salary) managers sat in the office eating, when one of them happened to be on shift with me. Since I was more responsible than some of my fellow Team Leads, I often got left alone to run shifts by myself (which Team Leads were not supposed to do.) This happened while I was on shift alone, as the only manager.

A well dressed man came in and ordered quite a bit of food fairly late in the evening (around 8:30pm). He was more or less polite, and it didn't take us long to get his food together. Seems like a forgettable experience, right?

It was, until nearly an hour later he came in, fuming, ranting, raving and just generally being a complete crusty. He cuts in front of the line of customers (a group of young-ish, built outdoorsy guys) and literally throws an old baked potato at my cashier's face. By the time I make my way from the drive thru (like, 4 feet away) he already has my cashier in tears.

I excuse her to the back to calm down and take over the conversation like the good fast-food robot I am. "I'm sorry sir, I'm the manager on duty. What seems to be the problem?" I ask, politely even though I really want to kick him out for making my sweet cashier (lets just call her Sugar, because she was a total sweetheart) cry.

"I JUST ordered this potato, look at it? Would you eat this? Do you expect me to feed this to my family? This is disgusting! What are you going to do about this!?"

Now, if you've ever been to a Wendy's you may know that they sell baked potatoes. Unlike some places that might microwave their potatoes, Wendy's actually does bake them - and they take a freakin' hour to bake, so we really had to plan the numbers ahead of time. That late at night, we stopped cooking potatoes because they usually just went bad, they didn't sell well at night. So by the time the crusty has come back, we didn't have any left.

Attempting to salvage the situation, I calmly look to the crusty's potato (which is pretty black and nasty, but.. it's been an HOUR!) and say "Well, sir, I'm sorry but we don't have any potatoes left. We don't cook them this late at night. I will, of course, be happy to refund the cost of the potato and get you a different side in place. Would you like french fries?"

Pretty good so far; I've kept my cool and not flown off the handle.

Then it goes from bad to worse, crusty explodes. "What do you mean you don't have any potatoes? I JUST BOUGHT THIS. I DON'T WANT YOUR NASTY FRIES. I AM GOING TO SUE YOU FOR TRYING TO POISON MY FAMILY. I AM GOING TO SUE YOU. I AM GOING TO SUE THIS COMPANY. I WILL OWN YOU."

This is where I start to lose my cool. I grab the receipt that he threw at Sugar with the potato, and hold it up for him to see, and in a very cold tone of voice; "You ordered this an HOUR ago. I'm sorry, but I do not have magical food that will stay good forever. You failed to consume the food in a reasonable amount of time. I cannot be held responsible because you let it go bad. I offered you replacements, and a refund. I don't know what you expect me to do for you."

Cue more ranting and raving about suing me, wanting my name and corporates number. Then crusty crosses my ultimate line. He gets millimeters from my face (leaning over the counter) and yells so vehemently he gets spit on me. That's it for me. "Sir, the door is right there. You have ten seconds to leave my establishment before I call the police and have you arrested. You spit on me, and that is considered assault. I WILL press charges. My name is WHERE'STHEBEEF, the number for corporate can be found on our website - Oh, and by the way, you can't sue me because you let your food go bad. Now. Leave."

Apparently the buff outdoorsy customers behind him thought he was being out of line as well, because when I mentioned the police they cheered and started pelting him with coins. "Really dude? Over a potato? Here's your refund!"

Crusty leaves, they smile at me and are freakin' awesome customers, and the night gets a little better. Seeing that man get hit with change was awazing. So... end of story? Not hardly.

Fast forward 3 weeks, and I am working drive through while an actual salary manager is running the floor. I've put in my 2-weeks notice (because I'm moving, but also because that place was greasy hell) so my give-a-fuck-o-meter is pretty damn low.

Sugar calls over the headset; "Hey Where'sTheBeef... a customer wants you up front.."

She sounds kinda terrified, and all of the other employee's freeze. I walk out front and guess who is standing there? Yeah, you guessed it. Crusty Potato Jerk. I walk up, very cautious and ready for another scene when he shocks me in to utter silence.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior a few weeks ago. It was completely inappropriate, and I feel terrible. I know that my actions were reprehensible and I acted like a spoiled child. I just wanted to say that I am very sorry, I was completely in the wrong." He then offers his hand, for a handshake.

I have absolutely nothing to say at all. Did a crusty just.. apologize? What? Every single employee was just as stunned as I was; most of them had been working the night he'd made his scene. Later on, Sugar tells me he has apologized to her as well, just before she called me to the front. Apparently crustys can see the error of their ways.

--Where'sTheBeef

Cleveland Police: Amanda Berry Is The Real Hero

Amanda Berry, right, hugs her sister Beth Serrano after being reunited in a Cleveland hospital Monday May 6, 2013.

Amanda is a true hero for having the bravery to escape and save the lives of her daughter and the other two women.

Yahoo: Three women missing for about a decade are free today, and police are crediting the bravery of one of them—Amanda Berry, now 27—for escaping the captors and seeking help.

“The real hero here is Amanda,” assistant Cleveland police chief Ed Tomba told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning. “She got this rolling.”

Shortly before 6 p.m. ET Monday, Berry was able to break out of the home in Cleveland's west side neighborhood where she apparently had been held for the past 10 years. She was reported missing on April 21, 2003, Tomba said.

After she called 911, police responded to the home at 5:52 p.m. Two other women, Gina DeJesus, who had been missing since 2004, when she was 14, and Michelle Knight, who had been missing since 2002 when she was 20, were found inside.

When Berry escaped the house, she brought with her a 6-year-old daughter. Police would not say who the father of the child was, but confirmed that the girl is Berry’s daughter.

Police have arrested three brothers in connection to the case: Ariel Castro, 52, the owner of the home, and brothers Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50. They have not been charged. Tomba said the men were taken into custody about 6:30 p.m. and will be charged within 36 hours.

The stories of Berry and DeJesus have captivated the city of Cleveland for a decade. They have been the subject of numerous vigils and city searches. Police have followed leads over the years, including digging up two backyards seeking their remains. On Monday, crowds gathered in the neighborhood where they were found and at the hospital where they were taken later.

“Our prayers have finally been answered—this nightmare is over,” said Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the Cleveland office of the FBI.

While much has been written about Berry and DeJesus, and the efforts to find them, not much has been written about Michelle Knight. "She has been the focus of very few tips," Tomba said. Knight was last seen on Aug. 22, 2002. She was 20 years old at the time, and went missing from the same neighborhood as Berry and DeJesus.

Police said all three women appeared healthy, other than needing a good meal. They were taken to a Cleveland hospital, where they were reunited with their families.

Police said that officers were called to the home of the alleged captor, Ariel Castro, twice, but nothing came of the calls.

In March 2000, Castro reported a fight in the street, and in January 2004, officials from Children and Family Services went to the home to investigate an incident related to his employment as a bus driver. Castro, then a bus driver for the Cleveland schools, had gone to lunch after running his route, despite having one more child still on the bus.

Police say they investigated that incident, but felt there was no criminal wrong-doing and the matter was dropped.

“He was interviewed extensively due to that investigation,” Tomba said.

Mayor Frank Jackson said housing and building records also have been reviewed and no reports of violations were found.

Police declined to provide specific details about the home where the women were kept or its condition upon their arrival on Monday. They said the home is an active crime scene and detectives were processing it through the night.

Asked if they believe the kidnappings were part of a larger operation, police officials said they were looking into every possible angle. It appears that Berry, DeJesus and Knight were the only victims. Officials declined to say if they were sexually abused.

via news.yahoo.com

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Fast Food Worker Dances With Girl Who Was Rejected On Prom

A teen reddit user who works at a burger place posted this: 

"She came into my work crying because her prom date stood her up the night of. She left smiling because I had another customer play music while I asked her to dance in front of everyone."

After commenters accused him of trying to pick her up, he wrote: "Dude, I did it because it was the right thing to do. Not because I'm trying to get into a high school freshman's pants."

RHU Salutes you dude! Kudos!

via www.reddit.com

UK "Next" Retailer CEO Lord Wolfson Gives His $3.7 Million Bonus To Employees

From Huff Po: He could’ve bought a sweet vacation home or at least started saving up for a $52 million cake draped in diamonds, but a British CEO decided instead to give his hefty bonus back to his employees.

Lord Wolfson, CEO of clothing retailer Next, announced in an email that he was giving his 2.4 million pound, or $3.7 million, bonus to his employees, the Telegraph reports. He told his workers that it was a “gesture of thanks and appreciation from the company for the hard work and commitment you have given to Next over the past three years and through some very tough times.”

The 45-year-old businessman had earned the money through a share matching plan, which began in 2010.

But this isn’t the mogul’s first foray into charitable giving.

Wolfson, who became CEO of the company at 33, serves as trustee of the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, an organization that supports a number of initatives, including the Meningitis Research Foundation and the National Osteoporosis Society, according to the Week.

Some have praised the generous move and say they hope other CEOs will follow suit, but some say it’s not enough to curb excessive executive pay.

“We need to see employees elected to boards and remuneration committees to break up the cosy club of directors who set each others' pay,” Deborah Hargreaves wrote in the Guardian on Wednesday. “This is the only way to turn Wolfson's gift into more than a one-off gesture.”

We can think of other a number of other ways Wolfson can raise the charitable bar even further, though. Perhaps by following the examples of some very giving politicians out there.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the 13th richest man in the world, opts to just take home an annual salary of $1. He’s also donated $2.4 billion over the years to a number of causes.

Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay is also on a pretty steady giving spree considering that he donates 90 percent of his salary to charity. He earns $12,500 a month, but only keeps $1, 250 for himself, according to a translation by Univision.

“I do fine with that amount,” Mujica told the paper. “I have to do fine because there are many Uruguayans who live with much less.”

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Super Hero Models At Convention Help Lost Boy

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Ramen Tatsu-ya Custy Leaves Sweet Note

Reddit user Kitchen Confidential posted this pic of an amazing note that a custy left! They said, "We got this today. Gratitude is flowing both ways."

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Walmart Works Finds Custy's Envelope with $20,000 In Cash and Gives It Back

From Huff Po: What would you do if you stumbled upon $20,000 in cash? One Walmart worker, who did exactly just that, never even thought about keeping the money.

“My conscience wouldn’t allow it," Bismark Mensah, the employee, who makes about $9 per hour at a Seattle-area Walmart, told the Seattle Times. "I couldn’t even drive home if I did that."

Mensah found the $20,000 stashed in an envelope after it fell out of a customer’s purse. He ran after her car and returned the money, the Seattle Times reports. Thanks to his good deed, Mensah, a recent immigrant from Ghana, is now the recipient of Walmart’s “Integrity In Action” award.

More people than you might suppose have made the same decision as Mensah in similar circumstances. In the wake of a devastating 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, residents turned over more than $48 million in lost cash to the authorities, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

Then there are the good samaritans turning in newly discovered cash on a smaller scale. An airport worker in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this year returned an iPad he found with $13,000 worth of cash stashed inside it, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported at the time. The airport honored him with a plaque for his good deed.

Such decisions appear to be the gifts that keep on giving. A 2010 Harvard study found that those who perform good deeds are more likely to have better physical endurance. Multiple studies have found it leads to a more satisfying life in various other ways too.

Still, not everyone is so willing to be a do-gooder. An Arkansas woman who found a lottery ticket in the trash turned it in and claimed a $1 million prize, only to have a judge later rule that the original purchaser of the ticket was entitled to the winnings.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Fatburger CEO Does 'Undercover Boss' and Rewards Hard Working Single Mom With $40,000

From Huff Po:

LOS ANGELES -- Now in its fourth season, "Undercover Boss'" formula is familiar.

The CBS show disguises a CEO and places him or her at the lowest rungs of the company. The CEO gets an unvarnished look at daily operations, is humbled by the employees' often backbreaking work and eventually showers a few deserving staffers with money and other rewards to recognize them for their integrity on the job.

Such was Friday night's episode, in which Fatburger CEO Andy Wiederhorn leaves his Beverly Hills mansion and corporate headquarters to infiltrate three franchised restaurants and one third-party supplier. At one store in Reno, Nev., he meets a Fatburger shift leader and mother of three named Lisa who is buried in health care debt following her husband's death.

Lisa explains that she had separated from her husband in January 2012 because of his drug use (video above, at minute 2:40). A few months later, they discovered that his drug addiction was eating away at his heart. He eventually died, only one day after their baby turned 1. Lisa lost her house and car. To make ends meet, she moved her family in with her sister.

"His medical bills alone -- because we didn't have health insurance -- $250,000," Lisa cries to the man she thinks is trainee Myron Leeds. By the end of the episode, Wiederhorn reveals his true identity to Lisa and gifts her three sums of money: $15,000 to cover rent for a year, $10,000 to buy a new car and $15,000 to hire a financial adviser.

"You need to have a fresh start ... to help you resolve all this debt so that you're debt-free," Wiederhorn tells her. "Whether that's bankruptcy or whether that's working it out, I want you to start over debt free."

In a follow-up email to HuffPost, Wiederhorn added this additional take on Lisa's situation: "Medical debt shouldn't require a bankruptcy filing, as it forces a person to go through such a drastic process to shed a very specific debt, which is almost always beyond your control unlike credit card debt."

As a shift leader, it's estimated that Lisa could be earning about $21,000 a year, according to salary aggregator site careerbliss.com. The show doesn't make clear whether Lisa was employed by Fatburger at the time of her husband's death.

Lisa's life may well be transformed by Weiderhorn's generosity. But due to Fatburger's franchise system, Weiderhorn probably won't be able to address health care access problems on a wider scale in his company, he explained in a phone interview with The Huffington Post.

Fatburger, which he described as a "99% franchise model," operates only a handful of restaurants directly. Wiederhorn said he was committed to providing health benefits as Obamacare mandates to the half-dozen or so hamburger stands he controls, but access to benefits for the rest of the company's workers is mostly a franchise responsibility.

"The franchise partners have different health programs for their employees," Wiederhorn told HuffPost. "Generally the managers get coverage automatically, the full-time employees get some sort of coverage and they co-pay for it and the part-time employees can pay for it if they want it."

"We want all of our employees to have [health insurance]," continued Wiederhorn. "And it's a really challenging process to figure out how small business can afford it."

Fatburger isn't the only fast food chain that will be affected by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which will require all small businesses to provide health care to employees working 30 hours or more. Like Fatburger, the changes will have to be implemented at the franchise level by franchise partners.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Custy Proposes To His Girlfriend and Krispy Kreme Workers Give Them a Thousand Free Doughnuts

From Huff Po: Krispy Kreme has made one couple's special day even sweeter.

On Sunday, 25-year-old David Lewis of Centennial, Colo., proposed to his girlfriend of three and a half years, Elly Steinmetz, 24. The pair started dating in 2009. One memorable day together, they ate Krispy Kreme donuts at a scenic overlook near Denver, Steinmetz told The Huffington Post.

The proposal took place at the same spot, so when Steinmetz said "yes," Krispy Kreme seemed like a fitting place to celebrate. The couple asked an employee to take a photo and ordered five donuts. But workers behind the counter surprised them with more -- way more.

"Krispy Kreme gave us a THOUSAND doughnuts for getting engaged and coming here!" Steinmetz wrote on Facebook Sunday.

On Monday, Steinmetz told The Huffington Post that she doesn't know exactly how many donuts they received, but it was more than she's ever seen at one time.

"They came with just bags and bags. And these boxes and boxes of donuts," Steinmetz said.

At the time, employees were cleaning up for the night, she said. Still, they stopped to personally offer their congratulations.

"It was really cool to see how happy they were for us," she said.

The couple posed for a few more photos and stopped by Steinmetz's parents' home in Littleton, where they ate what they could, drank champagne and brainstormed ways to get rid of the remaining donuts. Steinmetz joked that her father ate an entire box.

The others would go to coworkers, friends and lucky neighbors.

“I was going up and down my street giving donuts away,” Steinmetz said.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Chili's Custys Show Appreciation With Loving Note and Tip

The Waitress, The Autistic Girl And The Broken Hamburger

Last Sunday was just an average morning for Anna Kaye MacLean. Her sister, 7-year-old Arianna, had slept over at her house the night before and seemed to have woken up in a good mood - which is not always a given for a child with autism.

After determining that Arianna’s mood was stable enough for a day of fun activities outside the home, MacLean and her husband decided to take Arianna out to lunch, with a bonus visit to the Easter Bunny afterward. They decided to eat lunch at the Chili’s Bar and Grill in Midvale, Utah, where a beautiful thing happened - and went viral.

MacLean requested a booth facing the window, knowing it would allow her sister the freedom to move around, while also keeping her entertained by watching what was going on outside. The hostess happily obliged and said their server would be over to greet them soon. The MacLean party was going to be one of Lauren Wells' last tables of the day, and with a bright smile, she approached the party to introduce herself and take drink orders.

Before she could even say, “Hi, welcome to Chili’s, I’m Lauren and I’ll be your waitress,” Arianna had excitedly rattled off her entire order: chocolate milk, a cheeseburger with pickles and a side of fries.

Wells delivered the food shortly, but as MacLean watched Arianna devour her French fries, she noticed that her sister wasn’t touching her cheeseburger.

“It was really, really bizarre,” MacLean told CNN in a phone interview. “Arianna loves anything in a hamburger bun. She’s obsessed with hamburgers or ‘Krabby Patties,’” an ode to one of Arianna’s favorite cartoon shows, Spongebob Squarepants.

MacLean asked her sister if she was going to eat her cheeseburger. “No, I don’t want it,” Arianna responded. “It’s broked. I need a new one that’s fixed.”

It’s a standard Chili’s policy to cut a child’s burger in half to ensure the meat is fully cooked to 170° degrees, and that's what was "broken."

When Wells returned to the table, she noticed Arianna was crying, and asked what was the matter.

"I know this is going to sound silly, but I need to order another cheeseburger," MacLean told the server. Wells had a concerned look on her face and MacLean was quick to assure her that there was nothing wrong with the food. "No, no, no, this one is fine," she explained, "But it’s cut in half and she thinks it's broke.'”

MacLean quietly told Wells about Arianna’s autism and adamantly said she wanted to pay for the additional burger. But instead of speaking to MacLean, Wells leaned over to the little girl and addressed her directly, saying, “Ohmygosh! I brought you a broken cheeseburger! I’ll go get you a new one.”

Arianna stopped crying shortly after. MacLean, particularly moved by this, said Wells' exchange with her sister was something she had never experienced before.

“I think most people, just out of fear and the unknown, don’t know how to interact with a kid with autism, so people will usually just keep the interaction with me.” When necessary, MacLean explains her sister's condition.

Wells graduated from the University of Utah in May 2012 with a degree in psychology and hopes to do social work with children in the future. She also has an autistic family member, and said that while she thought Arianna might be autistic, she never assumes anything.

“I treated her the same way that [I would] any other kid who would be crying, but in her case, it was something different,” said Wells. She approached her manager Brad Cattermole, who told her they would happily switch out the broken burger for a new one.

Cattermole, too, stopped by the table and knelt down to speak with Arianna at eye level to apologize again. “You know, I heard we brought you a broken cheeseburger and I am so sorry. We’re back there making you a new one, but let me bring you out some french fries while you’re waiting.”

MacLean says one of the main reasons the exchange was so special was Wells' and Cattermole's decision to speak to Arianna directly.

“It was so cool because it was so intimate. [Brad] wasn’t trying to be loud or trying to make his presence know to anybody else. It was just very, very private, very intimate,” said MacLean.

“Our goal is to make guests feel special, so anything we can do to make an experience over the top of special, we give our servers the power to make the decisions to make that happen,” said Cattermole in a phone interview with CNN. “We’re trying to get each server to connect to each table individually and Lauren is amazing at connecting with our guests.”

MacLean noticed that, surprisingly, Arianna wasn’t upset about the cheeseburger. In fact, she was uncharacteristically calm about the entire situation.

“This was so bizarre because usually, that would have just led to a huge meltdown,” MacLean said, adding that a typical meltdown for Arianna could include tantrums, throwing herself on the floor and general screaming - sometimes getting so violent that she could even physically hurt herself. “I think what prevented the meltdown was that Lauren and Brad were talking to her. They weren’t talking to me, they were talking to her.”

Several minutes later, when the new, unbroken cheeseburger arrived, Arianna stared at it for a few moments before exclaiming, “Oh, I missed you!” and kissing the top of the burger bun.

MacLean quickly snapped a picture and showed it to Wells, jokingly telling her “I think we glorified the cheeseburger a little too much.” Wells, lighting up like a Christmas tree and smiling from ear to ear, asked if she could show the picture to her co-workers and manager.

“It was a cute story. I’ve never heard of a broken cheeseburger, or anything else ‘broken’ for that matter,” said Wells, explaining that she wanted to share it with her coworkers because it was such a sincere interaction.

“It was just a really, really touching experience just to see that kind of compassion and professionalism,” said MacLean. “[Lauren] could have easily just been like, ‘Okay...’ and gone to get her a new one. But she went above and beyond and I feel like everybody involved that was working that day from the hostess to the line cook, just everybody, was super, super amazing. It’s just not something that we’re used to when we have situations like that come up.”

MacLean, who works in customer service for an insurance company and recognizes good service when she sees it, decided to share her story on Chili's Facebook page. The story quickly went viral (it has been shared near 160,000 times and liked by more than 667,000 people) touching hearts around the nation.

MacLean hopes it does more than that, though; she hopes it helps people recognize that not every kid screaming in a restaurant is an uncontrollable brat.

“While we’ve never had a personal experience like this, we know people who have been asked to leave restaurants when their kid with autism starts getting out of hand. It’s so heartbreaking,” said MacLean.

While MacLean and Arianna have never been told to leave a restaurant, they have had experiences where Arianna has gotten too overwhelmed or overstimulated at the table. Other people haven't always understood her autism, and MacLean has chosen on her own accord to leave.

Arianna will sometimes growl while she is eating. MacLean believes that it may be a sensory thing that Arianna chooses to do, or that she may like the feel of growling while she eats her food. Fellow patrons haven't always understood. “We’re used to it and it’s fine, but there were some people sitting next to us and they got up and moved clear across to the other side of the restaurant because it was bothering them so bad.”

The lack of understanding can be frustrating, says MacLean. When Arianna is having a meltdown, most people think she’s just being a brat and that she's being babied. The older sister can't deliver a disclaimer about Arianna’s autism everywhere she goes, but if people are interested she will tell them. The tone of the interaction invariably changes - but words are always directed toward MacLean and never Arianna.

This made Wells' and Cattermole's interactions with Arianna all the more special. “It’s so silly," MacLean said, "but I know every person out there that has a kid with autism can relate. That broken cheeseburger can make or break our day and it made our day, and the rest of the day was great.”

MacLean admitted that she never meant for the Facebook post to go viral; rather, she wanted to recognize Wells and Cattermole for their stellar ability to connect with Arianna on a human level. “It’s not so much that we need to bring autism awareness on a customer service level," she said, "but on a normal, typical social human being interaction. Being sensitive to people whether they have autism or they don’t.”

“I think this stuff happens more often than people recognize,” Cattermole said, “but it was Anna going on to spend 15 minutes to recognize a job well done which led to this outpouring of support.”

Wells agreed, saying that while it was definitely a table she wouldn’t forget, she never expected the response MacLean’s story received. She went on to explain that her interaction with the family didn’t seem weird or out of the ordinary to her.

“It makes me so sad that this is [considered] abnormal,” said Wells. “I was just being myself. I didn’t expect any of this; it’s been overwhelming but definitely cool.”

Chili’s parent company Brinker International Restaurants echoed Cattermole's and Wells’ sentiments in an official statement emailed to CNN.

“Moments like the one from Midvale happen in our restaurants every day, at every table, at every Chili’s across the country. We are delighted by the shining examples in Lauren Wells, Brad Cattermole and the Midvale team, and their kind gestures that made Arianna, Anna and Alex [MacLean's husband] feel so incredibly special. This story made our Midvale team members heroes, and we are so proud to have so many local heroes in our restaurants nationwide who make everyday moments like Arianna’s so heartwarming.”

MacLean has since read the hundreds of comment from strangers on her Facebook post, many of whom admitted they have never thought of something like that when encountering a screaming child at a restaurant. Her hope is that the next time they see a kid being a little different they might just think, "Maybe they have autism; maybe there’s something a little more than meets the eye.”

And for the record, Chili's didn’t charge for the new, “unbroken” cheeseburger.

via eatocracy.cnn.com

Random Acts of Kindness at Dunkin Donuts: Custy Leaves Amazing Note On Another Custy's Car

From Huff Po: On Sunday, Samantha Ford, who is romantically involved with a soldier deployed in Afghanistan, shared a photo on Facebook of two $20 bills and a letter from an anonymous veteran.

"I just thought I would share with you all what happened to me today! Came out of Dunkin Donuts and found this under my windshield wiper," the accompanying post reads.

Ford, who lives just outside of Boston, according to TODAY, said the sticker on her car reads "Half my heart is in Afghanistan."

She continued: "There are no words to describe how I'm feeling right now. Tears in my eyes. I just wish I could thank whoever did this! God bless our troops and all of those who stand behind them."

By Monday afternoon, more than one million Facebook users had already "liked" the post. One commenter named Kayla Perrin says Ford is her best friend.

"I can't think of anyone who deserves a random act of kindness more than [Ford] and her boyfriend Albert John DeSimone," Perrin wrote.

TODAY reported that DeSimone is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. The unit is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

A Heavenspawn Warms Science Ninja's Heart

I am afraid I once again have the RHU submitting bug and remembered this story from a while ago, which I thought you may like. Here it is:

So, it's Science Ninja back with another tale to warm even the iciest of slaves hearts.

This happened a couple of months ago. I was working fitting room when a father and daughter (about 7) came up, with 4 baskets full of I swear every item of kids clothing in the store. I braced myself for impact, but they were very polite and accepted when I told them they were only allowed 9 items at a time, and that unfortunately the father wasn't allowed in the fitting room (the Kid's and Women's fitting rooms are the same, and we get complaints when fathers, or even young boys, go in).

So this girl tries on clothes, and skips out to show her dad while I chat along with both of them. This goes along until she is about half way through, when this happens:

Science Ninja: So, where are you going that warrants such a big shopping trip?

Little Girl: My Mummy's coming back from Afghanistan this Wednesday. I used to wear a soldiers uniform but now I am a big girl I need to wear something proper.

Science Ninja: Oh, what's she doing in Afghanistan?

Little Girl: She is a doctor with the Soldiers. I miss her sometimes but then I remember that she is keeping us all safe, and I am happy again.

She then skips back into the fitting room to change her outfit, and I am left biting back tears.

She eventually chose some Khaki Leggings, a khaki jacket and a white blouse, laughing and telling me she was dressing up as a shoulder after all.

Before she left, I wished her a good day back with her mother, and she came to give me a hug! Her Dad shook my hand, and the next day I got a 100% survey handed in.

Just thought that something like would make you smile :3

Hope all your Customers are as sweet as candy,

--The Science Ninja

Customers who restore our faith in humanity

Got some good customer stories for you guys today!

So our customers were recently sent out a set of coupons to use with their CT Mastercard. Today I had a gentleman who wanted to use one of these coupons that gave him $50 off a Ninja professional blender. Now these blenders usually market for anywhere between $100 to $250. However this week, our cheapest model was on sale for $69.99. He came in and on the back of the coupon it said "not valid with discount".

If I had been in a bad mood, or if my manager had been in a bad mood, we easily could have said "a sale is a discount" but the customer was extremely polite and personable so my manager and I agreed to give it to him. This customer received a $100 blender for $24 and change. He was so ecstatic and so pleased with the customer service that he took a card with my name and my managers name and another employee (who talked to him on the phone earlier in the day) and ranted about how great our customer service was. I was telling him about his warranty information and he told me that I was too nice!

Another customer I had yesterday was an elderly lady and (im assuming) her daughter. We sell wheelchairs and this lady had bought one last year. Well the foot pedal rest thing was not working anymore so they came in to use their warranty. We got a new box and opened it up and gave her the spare parts that she needed without any fuss and they were both telling me about how this was the reason why they always shopped at my location as opposed to the one closer to their home. Apparently every time they enter my store they have exemplary customer service so they never go anywhere else.

It may not seem like much, but to have not one but two different customers spend 5 minutes telling you how good the customer service is in your store in one day is just so wonderful. It really makes you feel like you are doing something right.

-Tea Queen