Social media was furious on behalf of Kevin Ford, a food service employee, who recently posted an Instagram video unwrapping of a thank you gift he received for 27 years of perfect attendance on the job.
Seeing how it contained a reusable Starbucks cup, a bunch of candy, a pen, and a single movie ticket, they decided to give Ford their own gift for his exemplary service—$270,000 in personal donations for the man so near to retirement.
The original unwrapping video was viewed 2 million times, though not everyone was as happy and understanding as Kevin, who said thank you for every item he received.
“Did they really only give him ONE movie ticket tho??” one person wrote on the TikTok version of the video.
“And he’s so humble and kind about it. This pisses me off so much. He deserves so much more,” another person commented on Reddit.
Ford’s daughter Seryna, set up a GoFundMe in the aftermath, writing that indeed, he had never missed a scheduled shift.
“The man in that video is my father. He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago,” Seryna added. “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.”
In just over a week, this delicate call for mutual appreciation of a good man who works at the Burger King at Las Vegas McCarren International Airport amassed a quarter-million dollars, including $5,000 from writer and comedian David Spade.
In a pair of statements, Burger King, the restaurant Mr. Ford works in, and HMSHost, the staffing company that mans it, explained the gift was a peer-to-peer recognition, and not a franchise award for 27 years of immaculate service.
“For all those years, you feel unappreciated, but you get up just like everybody else. You do your job, and for somebody to show this appreciation is just overwhelming,” Ford told TODAY in an interview. “It’s like I’ve been in a dream for almost two days now. It’s just so beautiful and awesome.”
