A coffee shop employee is broke and depressed, but a customer gives him money for a car: "You saved me"
Very often we tend to spend time lamenting the things that we lack and without paying attention to the good fortune we actually do have. A Tiktokker has decided to tackle this bad habit by organizing to surprise a randomly selected stranger, also documenting the event in order to inspire and motivate other people to do the same thing. In the video we see Tiktokker Perri Saenz going to place an order at Starbucks - a well-known American coffee chain - with a friend of hers. However, instead of ordering, she asks the employee a question at the counter.
via TikTok / charlie
"What do you wish for right now in your life?" Perri asks the bartender. The bartender, whose name tag says "Manny", replies that he is trying to buy a car of his own. Perri asks him what the cost of the car he would like to buy is and he replies "$ 1,000 dollars".
"Do you have any other problems?" asks Perri. At this point, Manny decides to confide in the woman by saying that he is struggling with depression. "I have depression and I'm really struggling with it," he says. The young woman is struck by the openess with which the young man decides to trust her and she takes her leave by saying: "Well, we might see each other around".
Soon afterwards, the video footage shows Perri and her friend going to a shop to prepare a surprise for Manny: they buy a wooden box, a bouquet of red roses and a model of a car (similar to the one that Manny said he wanted to buy).
The video continues with Perri going back to the coffee shop and telling Manny, "We were really inspired by your story and wanted to give you something." Then she gives the young man the bouquet of roses and he replies with a big smile: "Thank you very much. I have never been given flowers before."
Then, the young woman takes out the wooden box and, as she hands it to Manny, she says to the bartender: "There's more." Manny opens the box and finds the model car sitting on top of a wad of money. "That's a thousand dollars", says Perri, "so you can buy the car you want".
At this point, the young man bursts into tears and emotionally thanks the young woman, confiding a very intimate secret to them: "This morning I wanted to end it. I didn't even want to wake up". The young woman encouraged him with the following very sweet words: "This is a sign from God. He is telling you that you are meant to stay here and that you are very loved. His light will shine on your face again."
The clip went viral immediately and got over 40.6 million views, as well as thousands of comments full of support and admiration for this altruistic gesture. "You just saved a life. Kindness is key guys," commented one user.
Perri was able to put this surprise into action with the help of Charlie Rocket, an influencer who runs the Dream Machine Foundation (which is a charity). After the donation of the thousand dollars, the group went on to organize a fundraiser to allow Manny to buy an even better car than the one he just bought. The campaign raised over $ 38,572, surpassing the initial goal of $ 15,000.
We can never know what the person who has just served us coffee at the bar is going through. Neither can we know much about our colleague who sits next to us every day to work; everyone has a story, made up of happy and sad moments, and we should always remember that even a small gesture can make a big difference in someone's life.
