A Retail Employee Went Beyond to Help My Son; He Felt Seen

My son is a usual creature. Whenever I leave the house, we have to follow the same routine, and he says: “Start, kiss, see you soon when I want.” He still loves his pizza with pepperoni and never with tomato sauce, and he has wore the same shoes every day in the past year.

He is 7 years old and grows like a bad grass. Seeing how his shoes collapsed from so much play and also that they were a little tight, I recently decided to have it shopping in person for new ones.

I did not expect a detail employee to have such an impact on our day.

He wanted exactly the same shoes

We went to the only Vans store near the place where we live in Maine. When we arrived, he ran to the children's section. After being measured (and he was told that he was on the last size shoe of small children before going to adult sizes), he told the employee that he wanted exactly the same shoes, “because I like astronauts.”

The employee smiled at him and then turned to me and told us that the brand no longer brought this impression, but he could help us seek other options.

Although it seems older because of its size and vocabulary, my son is always a small child. I feared that a crisis would come because of bad news.

I have pulled him out of choosing another pair he would like. He was shy, grabbing all the shoes and inspecting them, to end up asking for a pair of red highs, which looked like his beloved pair, less astronauts.

The employee went to the store's back room and I could say that my son was no longer delighted with this shopping experience.

When the employee returned, he transported a few boxes and a big smile. He opened the first box, which had the bright red shoes that we had just asked to try. While my son put them timidly, the employee slowly opened the other box and said: “But I also found them in the back.”

It was exactly what my son wanted – his red shoes, with shiny spacecrafts and astronauts, of its size.

The employee then turned to me and said that as it was the last pair and that they were interrupted, he could give them to us at 50% reduction.

He is so happy every time he puts them

We bought the shoes. My son has been so happy since and asked me to keep the shoes out of his box in his memory box.

I shared our experience on the sonsAnd it has become viral. People shared other stories of workers' employees, and former employees shared their stories by working for the brand.

I contacted Vans to see if my son's experience was common, and Michel Bilodeau, vice-president and managing director of Vans America, told me that retail was very important for the brand, adding that he hoped to “have made a fan of vans” of life. “”

Although I know that he will not be able to obtain the same impression next year, I will remember this act of kindness each time my son puts his new shoes.