This Might Be the Most Generous, Empowering Customer Service Rep in the World
Looking for your feel-good story of the day? Here it is.
Christina Grady was having a really bad day. Her fiancé had broken up with her, and she’d already endured the heart-wrenching experience of having to move out of their shared home, according to Cosmopolitan. On this particular day, to add insult to injury, Capital One decided to shut down Grady’s credit card. The newly single behavioral therapist had been buying new furniture to be delivered to her new home when the company flagged the purchases as “suspicious activity.” Now Grady had to face another potential nightmare: dealing with customer service.
But things were about to turn around in a miraculous way, thanks to the kindness of one particularly empathetic customer service representative, known as Tonya KYY905. After hearing Grady tell her story, the rep did what any amazing girlfriend who happens to work at Capital One would do: She gave her a pep talk — and 4,500 free miles. According to a post on Grady’s Facebook, it actually went down like this: Tonya said, “Girl, I am giving you 4,500 free miles. Go on vacation. Take so many pictures of yourself all happy and post them all over that Instagram.”
Five days later, according to the post, Grady’s ex texted to tell her that someone had sent her flowers to the home the couple once shared. “I open the card, Tonya KYY905 Capital One!!! She sent me flowers! To my ex fiancé’s house in a sealed card!!!!!!” Grady wrote. With the flowers was a note from Tonya that read, “I’m glad we had the chance to speak recently. Please know that you are in my thoughts and I hope that these can brighten your day! Best wishes, Tonya KYY905, Capital One.” Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty!
Grady’s post, which is public, has been shared more than 1,400 times and has inspired hundreds of comments that range from stunned to congratulatory to heartwarming. “Karma, baby, karma!” wrote one enthralled commenter. “Every woman on earth should call Capital One and request a raise for Tonya KYY905!” wrote another, half-jokingly. “This is the greatest thing I have read all year,” commented a third user, echoing how we are probably all feeling.
Of course, Grady never expected such a grand gesture and was simply commiserating with Tonya in a lighthearted way, but it obviously struck a chord for the rep. “I actually was just joking around and saying to her, ‘I need furniture in my apartment to invite people over,‘” said Grady to Cosmopolitan. “We kind of got to joking; she actually told me the times she worked [at Capital One] so I could call her back if I needed to.'” Grady called back later in the week to thank Tonya for her incredible gesture. “[Tonya] was so excited and said, ‘I just felt a special connection with you,'” said Grady, according to Cosmo.
Now Grady is so inspired by Tonya that she has taken on a sort of “What would Tonya do?” attitude whenever she faces some kind of adversity. “A man backed into my car today and last-week me would’ve cried, but today I’m like, ‘What would Tonya KYY905 do?!’ and I’m good,” Grady joked to Cosmopolitan.
She also wanted to clear the air for anyone who thinks the whole scenario might be a publicity stunt. She asks any skeptics to call the company and ask for “Tonya KYY905” (Tonya was not allowed to give her last name) to find out for themselves that Tonya is genuine. Though Grady adds that she found out other reps had performed similarly sweet gestures, and said, “I do think they [Capital One] want other people to tag their posts and say ‘It’s so nice!’ [but] the [rep] herself has to be nice too,'” according to Cosmo.
Grady feels Tonya deserves all the accolades coming her way. “TONYA KYY905, you are a genius and a role model to women looking out for women.
#TONYAKYY905ISMYHERO PLEASE share, the whole world should know how awesome Tonya KYY905 is!!!!” Grady wrote on Facebook.
As for the 4,500 free miles, Grady knows exactly how she’s going to use them: to fly solo to Belize, where she was set to marry her fiancé before the split. “I’m going to go, put on my wedding dress and take pictures of me ‘marrying’ pizza!,” she told Cosmo. “I’m going to think about Tonya and how she taught me to be an independent woman.”
So … what’s in your wallet?
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