Touching moment! IHOP worker feeds disabled customer breakfast so her husband can eat his while it’s warm.
A server at an IHOP in Springfield, Illinois is being recognized for his grace and compassion after he helped a disabled customer eat her meal.
On Saturday, customer Keisha Dotson snapped a photo of server Joe Thomas, 43, helping a diner who was sat across from her husband.
She watched as Thomas would take a napkin and lightly dab the woman’s mouth after feeding her.
She then posted it to IHOP’S Facebook page, and it has since gone viral.
‘Today…I witnessed a very touching moment involving one of your servers,’ Dotson wrote. ‘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.’
Thomas said the woman has trouble eating because of her Huntington’s Disease, which causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
Her husband usually steps in to help her eat, but on this occasion Thomas wanted the couple to enjoy their meal together.
‘I always see him stop eating to feed her and I was like “heck if I’m not doing anything why don’t I go feed her so he can eat and everyone can be happy?”
Thomas told CBS that he decided to sit down and started cutting up her eggs, while allowing her husband to eat his food while it was still warm.
‘I didn’t really offer. I just started doing it,’ Thomas told CBS. ‘I told the gentleman “Sit down, eat your food. I got her.”
‘It felt good, but at the same time I was like I really don’t care for the recognition to much because it’s just something that should automatically be done regardless,’ said Thomas.
‘I am out there to help anyone if I can, don’t really look for anything in return just have a good day and that’s it,’ he added.
Thomas said that since the photo was posted, he’s been offered the opportunity to become a nurse.