Employees at a coffee shop in Washington are being lauded for their striking act of empathy after quickly coming to the aid of a mourning customer. When Dutch Bros. employee Pierce Dunn noticed that a woman in line on Saturday was crying, he offered her free coffee before asking if he might pray for her. Dunn and his two fellow employees then reached from the drive-thru window to embrace the woman, the Oregonianreports.
"Snapped this picture while waiting in line at the Dutch Bros on 138th avenue today," Facebook user Barbara Danner wrote when sharing a photo of the incident, which quickly went viral before ultimately landing a Mashable co-sign. "Turns out the young lady in line ahead of us lost her 37-year-old husband last night." Jessica Chudek, Dutch Bros. franchise owner, said she was thrilled with the employees' behavior but insisted such acts of kindness were frequent at the Vancouver location and beyond. "We do these kinds of things every day," Chudek told the Oregonian. "Rarely is it caught on camera."
"She could have said she wanted an apple, and I would have gone and planted a tree and grown her an apple," Evan Freeman, one of the other Dutch Bros. workers, said of the experience. "It just happened to be religion that she wanted." Though Freeman does not describe himself as a religious person, Dunn says he "identifies as a Christian."
Isn't empathy great?
