Johann Thomas, 43, has been working at one of the IHOP restaurants in Illinois for almost 12 years.
And the whole time, Johann has never failed to greet customers with a smile.
He would welcome every customer one by one, and would even remember the usuals and the limitations for each customer.
Not surprisingly, everyone in his community loves him for being so kind. But now, people all over the nation are sharing that same feeling.
And it all happened because one customer noticed something odd yet heartwarming while she was eating at IHOP.
[rsnippet id=”4″ name=”DFP/34009881/Article_1″]
Keshia Dotson is the one who noticed this strange act by Johann. While she was eating with her parents, Keshia noticed that Johann sat down at a table where an elderly couple were eating their breakfast.
As you can see from the photo, Johann picked up the lady’s fork and started to feed her. When Keshia looked closer, she noticed that the lady was disabled and could not control her body to feed herself.
It turned out that this elderly couple had been visiting IHOP for breakfast for a while now. And because his wife suffers from Huntington’s disease, the husband would always sit across from her and feed her. By the time she’s finished eating, his meal would get cold – but he never seemed to care.
But one day, when this couple showed up again, Johann did the unthinkable.
[rsnippet id=”5″ name=”DFP/34009881/Article_2″]
Without any hesitation, he sat down next to the woman after putting down their food on the table. Then, he picked up her fork.
“Sit down, eat your food,” said Johann.
“I got her.”
He had been noticing the couple, and wanted to help out so that the husband could enjoy his meal as well.
From that day on, Johann would always sit down with the couple so that they could have a good time with warm food. And Keshia was simply at the right moment to witness such heartwarming scene.
She was actually so moved by Johann’s act that she decided to take a photo of him and post it on IHOP’s Facebook page, so that the whole company could learn about his good deed.
“Today.. I witnessed a very touching moment involving one of your servers,” wrote Keshia.
“A man and disabled women were dining, and your server sat down with them and proceeded to help feed the disabled woman while her companion enjoyed his food. My faith in humanity has been restored a little today,” added Keshia.
When the post when viral, Stephanie Peterson, IHOP’s spokeswoman, said that the company was extremely proud of Johann.
[rsnippet id=”6″ name=”DFP/34009881/Article_3″]
“While these stories serve as an inspiration to us all, our guests are our top priority and we also want to respect the privacy of the couple pictured as well as maintain the integrity of the relationship they have developed with Joe over the years,” said Peterson.
And when several news media sought to interview Johann, he said that he initially did not want any attention. “At first, I didn’t really want it. But if this would be a way to get a good word out to make people feel better about themselves as they actually sit back to do something.. I’m all good for it,” said Johann to The State Journal-Register.
What an amazing way to help out others in need!