Not many of us really appreciate our work and jobs. While a majority of us feel that it is tiresome and hectic there are others who feel that their jobs have caused the never-desired monotony in their life. Yet, we sometimes even enjoy meeting new people in form of customers and colleagues.
Imagine that someday you end up doing something unexpected in one of your customer's life? And if the cards turned against you, your boss could probably even fire you for the same. When this Domino's Pizza Delivery woman bonded with one of her regular customer's she didn't know what was coming along. After delivering the pizza at his doorsteps for nearly every weekend, she didn't expect that she would find something this strange inside his trailer.
She had been visiting this trailer nearly every Saturday. It was her regular customer's home. He would order a particular pizza every weekend and would often wait outside his house in the wait of his favorite cheese crust pizza. That day too he did the same, but Angela Nguyen and Sarah Hughes didn't hope to find a thing this unusual inside his trailer.
Angela knew that she had to instantly do something for this customer. What was the discovery or maybe a mishappening that needed immediate action? Well, before getting to that let's start from the very beginning of this tale to understand exactly what happened that day. Angela Nguyen is a resident of Minnesota. She lives near Ham Lake, that is a small city therein.
Angela started working with the Domino's chain since the year 2013. She would deliver pizza to her customers and loved seeing their happy faces on receiving the meals. However, this was not her very first job. Before this, she was working for Minnesota Visiting Nurses, but a tragedy struck her so bad that she had to switch her job. This tragedy somewhere played a role when she found the unbelievable in that customer's trailer.
While Angela worked as a housekeeper for the patients with HIV-Aids under her department at Minnesota Visiting Nurses, she lost her daughter when she was at work. Somewhere her work commitments stole her precious gift. Since then, she wanted to spend more and more time with her family, and the part-time job of the pizza delivery girl was something that fetched her the same.
It took quite long for Angela to get over the grief caused by her daughter's demise. But, after a few months, Angela got her job at this Pizza House. Her eldest daughter Sarah looked after her children while Angela was away and while Sarah would be working, Angela would look after her grandchildren. Life was normal until the day a customer stepped into their lives.
Meeting new customers every day was a part of Angela's job. One day here and another day there, she would come across numerous faces on a daily basis. But she never thought that she would ever have to interfere in one of her customer's personal life. She never knew that she would be compelled to cross the line and meddle in this customer's living. Who was this customer?
Angela was trying to settle with her new job and routine. She and her other colleagues often shared their personal experiences with their customers. They would often laugh over how much of the tip the customers would give them and at times were even irritated with some of the customers who would often probe them. And then Angela told them about one of her male customer's...
Angela told them that there is a particular customer she addressed as "The Saturday Guy". Though his name was Lee Haase, as he ordered Pizza every weekend, she called her so. He was living on the outskirts of Anoka County, Minnesota. While nothing seemed to attract anyone to this customer yet, there was one strange thing about him which made everyone interested in his story.
While speaking about this man in an interview later, Angela recalls that this guy would call the restaurant at every Saturday at sharp 10:15 AM. He never got late even by a second. Probably he was a pizza lover which made him this punctual about placing his orders. It was Angela who delivered the pizza to this guy every time. Things were working well until the day she got to know about the harsh past of this customer.
Lee was around 70 years old. In the year 2015, he was struck with an unfortunate tragedy. The poor elderly's house was devastated by a tremendous storm. The storm was so harsh and huge that it took with it whatever came in its way. And Lee's house was one of those things that were severely damaged. His house wasn't even a condition that could be repaired. Rather, he had to move to another place. That wasn't all.
Sadly, this elderly man had to face a lot more of hardships in this age. Things did not end up at his house getting destroyed but he also lost his beloved son in an accident. While on a snowmobile, his son hits the approaching tree and eventually lost his control and died. The old man wasn't left with anything to look up to in life. He didn't know that there was more to it.
When everything seemed to go against this old man and life was on the verge of its cruelty, Lee had no other choice than shifting into a new trailer. He shifted into a small and old trailer which was near his old house. However, he would have never thought that a pizza delivery woman would impact his life in such a manner. Nor did Angela would have wondered what this old man would compel her to do something like the way she did after peeping into his trailer.
Lee definitely had no work at this age. He was retired due to his growing old age. As the winters were approaching living in that trailer was a challenging thing he had to face. Though he was living a peaceful life with the little money he had, people say that he was living on a fixed social security income. There are others who even say that the poor soul fed himself just once a week. In this ongoing vicious cycle, how did he manage to order pizzas?
How did the poor guy manage to pay for his pizzas is an unsolved mystery! But his decision to order the pizzas ended up in his meeting the pizza woman Angela. Had he not ordered the pizzas, he would have never come across her and had he not come across her, his life would have been miserable beyond imagination. Though it is quite frightening, things were getting worse for this old man.
And another Saturday came and as usual Angela had the order from Lee, right at 10:15 AM of the hour. She drives to his place and what she found was something she wasn't prepared for. That day Lee wasn't standing outside his caravan in wait of his pizza. This was an unusual sight. The man who was always right there in wait of his pizza couldn't be located anywhere.
This was an unusual sight for Angela. The customer who was this punctual could not get late for his order. After calling out the name "Lee Sir" many a time, Angela could not find the old man. She was scared now. She knocked at the door but none turned out. Where did the old man go? Was he even alright?
Angela had weird thoughts running through her mind. As the man was quite old, it was natural for Angela to be scared. She was thinking whether the man was alright or not? Did he injure himself somewhere? Or has he suffered some illness? And a thought which Angela did not want to think of was, "Is he even alive"?
Angela did not let all these inappropriate thoughts bother her anymore. She quickly keeps aside the pizza box and decides to peep inside the old man's caravan. Angela was not expecting to find what she saw inside. She never dreamt that the elderly man would be facing such a tough time. And it was then she knew she had to immediately do something.
On peeping inside the house, Angela located the old man sleeping in a corner. She breathed a sigh of relief to find him alright. But what she saw inside bothered her more than the health of the 76 years aged man. Angela realized that the trailer which looked quite old from the exterior was even terrible from inside. The living conditions she encountered baffled her completely.
Lee already had suffered a terrible past and the living conditions were adding to his hardships. The caravan had no ventilation. There were no working windows, no plumbing system and nor was there any heat. It was a very cold environment inside, and Angela was frightened with the thought of how cold it would be inside when the winters would be at their best.
Angela was herself a mother and caring was in her nature. Seeing the old man living in such disgusting conditions, tore her heart. She felt extremely sad for this old man. Due to lack of a proper sewage system, there was waste in the entire house and no air made the place smell foul. And with the age in which Lee was, one couldn't expect him to keep the place all tidy. Angela then took a call which changed this man's life forever.
Nursing was once her profession, but her dedication towards her profession had instilled that helping nature in her bloodstreams. Angela decided that she would do something for this man. Even if nothing great she wanted to provide him a warm place to sleep in the winters. She bought him a heater that could help him in keeping his surroundings warm. And after that, she did an even more incredible thing.
After having a closer look at the man, she realized that as he was old, his health had been degrading. He wasn't in a condition to go and fetch himself vegetables and then cook his meals. That was the reason he would prefer surviving on Pizza. Out of generosity, Angela did a little more for this man. She not only started getting him pizza but also carried some fruit and vegetable for him. She at times would even treat him with donuts and hot coffee...
Angela's kindness and generosity did not stop here. Rather it won't be wrong to say that it was all a mere beginning. She desperately wanted to help Lee. She says that no man can survive in such a condition where there is no air and water and all that there lies is, is claustrophobia. After seeing Lee living such a miserable life, Angela somehow wanted to provide him with the best. And the least she could do was get him a decent living space.
Angela herself could not raise enough money to help her customer. So she was clicked by the idea of setting up a GoFundMe page for Lee. And with this page, people from all over the world stepped forward to help her and Lee. Within two months, she could raise quite a huge amount for helping Lee. Not only this, people were ready to help Lee in all the generous ways possible...
It appeared as if people were just waiting for Lee's page. The community as a whole started donated in numbers. While a majority of people helped financially, there were others who donated food and clothes. Surprisingly, plumbers, electricians, and even painters contacted Angela to help out Lee. While everyone did so much, how can Domino's stay behind ?Domino's Pizza donated a huge amount of $2000.
GoFund Me Page could help Angela raise nearly $32,000. With such a huge amount in her hands, Angela did the most beautiful gesture. She bought Lee a brand new house. A mere pizza delivery woman did the unbelievable for this man. However, she wasn't the only one to help, but the community helped her furnish that house. Lee could never be thankful enough to Angela.
When Angela presented Lee with his new house, he initially could not believe it. He had absolutely nothing to thank Angela for what she did for him. As Christmas was also around the corner, Angela along with help of Sarah decorated the new house with bells and candies and a beautiful Christmas Tree. Lee was emotional and happy and all he had were the tears of joy.
Lee was overwhelmed by Angela's kindness. He had never expected that someone, someday would do something this beautiful for him and that too without hoping for anything in return. And with the purest heart and in simple words he said, "It’s wonderful". Angela took him through the entire house and even showed him his new bedroom.
Angela made sure that Lee's new bedroom is the one similar to what he had been living in inside the caravan. The new room was exactly the same size as the old one and gave the same feeling of coziness and comfort. It even had words, ‘Joy, hope, love, peace, believe.’ on the wall. Lee was touched. Angela also placed a sufficient amount of food in the kitchen, so that the old man doesn't have to bother about anything from now on.
Later in the day, Angela and Lee along with the other volunteers who helped her design her home celebrated the day. They sang Christmas carols and even had a Karaoke session. Angela recalls that everyone enjoyed to their fullest that night. And more than anyone else it was Lee who had a great time. That night Angela had something more to say.
While everything was appearing to be a happy ending, Angela wanted to make it even happier one. She right then decides that she won't stop with her good deeds here. She would take it forward. And the best way to do this was by helping some of her Domino's customers who needed some immediate help and attention. It won't be wrong to say that good deeds give you immense satisfaction. A satisfaction you crave more and more for.
Angela gave Lee, not just a new home, but she gifted him an altogether new life. Living in a suffocating and small, clumsy surrounding, Lee had lost hope in life. This house provided him with fresh air to breathe and live in. At the same time, it gave him a reason to look up to the next day and live a harmonious and active lifestyle.
Lee was no more Angela's regular customer now. He was a former one. Since earlier he had no resources to cook his food, he was surviving on pizzas. But with this fully-furnished home comprising of a kitchen stove, microwave, a refrigerator; he prepared his meals. He was getting back to a healthy routine.
Though Lee and Angela do not meet regularly now, the bond they shared was the one that knew no boundaries. Distance could never affect their love and care for each other. While all of us somewhere talk of kindness and showcasing generosity, but not many of us really have the courage to show some. Angela has definitely done an incredible thing. Something only a person with a pure heart could do.
For Angela, her job as a Pizza Delivery Woman was never limited to the mere delivery of the pizza. It was beyond saying, "It costs $17.95, Sir". Her job made her meet people belonging to different strata of society. She often came across happy families, but then there were some like Lee too. When Angela first had a talk with him, she realized that space, where Lee was living, was barely 12-foot.
After battling with a bad phase in life, Lee never asked anyone for helping him out. He lost his son who lest would have taken care of him in his nearing old age. Instead of struggling he happily accepted the worn out trailer to live in. While anyone else in his place would have given up hope, Lee did not lose hope.
Practically seeing, Lee was just another customer to Angela. And a customer typically meant that to her he was no less than a stranger. One really needs to appreciate and praise her for doing something this great. Rarely one gets to make a change in someone's life, and when Angela got that chance, she did her best.
Angela was definitely a woman of her words. After making sure that Lee was settled and doing good in life, she continued with her generosity. She then helps one of her other customers who was a woman. She tells that, the woman had a daughter who had to undergo a surgery for Crohn's disease. And to fund her surgery she again starts a campaign.
Just like this story had its happy ending, we hope that Angela tastes success in her new mission of helping her other customer. Also, we hope that the nation continues to come across such helpful souls who want to serve mankind in name of humanity.