From u/MuseMania, Tales From Retail:

So I work in a hospital as an administration officer/admissions clerk. I know it's not retail, but sometimes it may as well be with the amount of people we interact with. I have a lot of crazy stories from working at reception, but this one is my favourite out of any job I've ever had.

To preface, it was my 21st birthday last Saturday, and my coworkers organised a surprise set of flowers to be delivered while I was at work on Friday. Overwhelmed with emotion, I went out to the front reception to give my colleague a hug to say thank you. The conversation went like this: (M is me, C is colleague and OG is older gentleman)

M: Thanks so much for the flowers!

OG who was standing at the desk: What's the occasion?

C: Oh it's MuseMania's 21st birthday tomorrow!

OG: Well it's not every day that you turn 21, happy birthday! When I was 21, my grandmother bought me a Rolex watch. I never wore it very often because I knew how special it is. Recently I had it valued and it's worth between $5000-$20000!

C and I expressed our amazement and OG left.

Now this was a lovely interaction but I didn't think much of it afterwards until I came back to work the next week.

I was unwell over the weekend so I didn't return to work until the Wednesday. When I arrived back, my colleague told me that OG had been looking for me on Monday and Tuesday, but was discharged so he didn't catch me before he left. However, she led me out the back and showed me a little envelope with a package inside. She beamed and told me to open it. Inside was a brand new watch and a note that said: "I know it's not a Rolex, but happy 21st birthday! From OG."

I'm not going to lie, I stood out there and cried for a good five minutes. Sometimes all it takes is one good customer to make up for every other bad customer you get. I've never been so grateful :)

Here is a photo of it 😊 http://imgur.com/5k6Qp0o

--u/MuseMania