A Burger King employee who went viral online after he was gifted a 'goodie bag' for 27 years of loyal service, in which he never missed a day of work, has been gifted almost $300,000 by well-wishers who were appalled by the situation.
Kevin Ford, an employee of HMS Host at the Burger King in the Las Vegas McCarren International Airport showed in a social media clip the bag he received. It contained some pens, keychain, some candy and a single movie ticket. Despite Ford being happy that he received anything at all, when the clip went online people were outraged that such loyal service to a large business resulted in such a paltry offering.
He said:
"I'm happy about anything. I'm grateful for anything I get. Believe me, I've been through a lot. So, I'm happy with what I got. But, like most big corporations, they've kind of lost touch with their workers."
The offer of a goodie bag fed into the prevailing zeitgeist that service workers, particularly since and during the pandemic, have been underpaid, overworked, and are not taken care of by corporations raking in billions in profit.
As the clip began getting views, now well over 2 million, the 54-year-old daughter. Seryna, set up a GoFundMe page so that people could if they wanted give Ford a cash donation. She said on the page:
"The man in that video is my father. He has worked at his job for 27 years and yes, he has never missed a day of work. He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago…My dad continues to work here, because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement. In no way are we asking for money or is he expecting any money but if anyone feels like blessing him, he would love to visit his grandchildren."
On receiving the large sum from thousands of donors Ford said:
"I just can't believe this. Thank you, thank you everybody. I just want to tell everybody out there, thank you for every cent. Just the thought of watching the video and just having a reason to smile…I just want to say thank you to everybody. It's just a dream come true. It's just a whirlwind of love. Spread the love, 'cause every day you need it."
[Based on reporting. by: My Modern Met]
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