Hackettstown Customer Makes Difference On New Employee's Second Day Of Work

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — Being the new kid on the block in any workplace is rarely easy, with one first day especially hard for a Hackettstown employee who dealt with an irate customer.

That all turned around when another customer learned of the new employee’s angst over the negative exchange and made up for it.

It all started with a social media post from the Philly Pretzel Factory on 150 Mountain Avenue in Hackettstown this past Wednesday, a post from shop owners Erica and Carl Boos, sternly headlined, “Be Nice.”

With a heart-shaped pretzel as an image aptly placed in their post, the couple addressed the unknown customer for yelling at their brand new unnamed employee on his very first day of work there.

“We truly hope that it will not be his last,” they wrote.

In their post they described how their employee “spent the rest of his day feeling badly, wondering if this job is for him;” and that it could possibly have been “not worth getting yelled at for.”

Erica Boos told Patch on Friday that things for the business, which has stayed open throughout the COVID pandemic, have been especially challenging over the last few months.

“Please remember,” they wrote on the business' first social media post, “we are all doing our best each and every day to keep our doors open and provide the pretzels that you know and love,” asking customers to “be kind.”

That post led to the story’s next chapter and post on Thursday, with a customer who came by after seeing the first post, with a card and $15 Dunkin’ gift card for the employee who was yelled at.

“I hope you remember that we all have bad days,” the card read, “but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be great days to follow."

The “Fellow Pretzel Lover” as they signed the card, wished the employee the “best second day,” telling him to never doubt himself. They said they hoped that the gift card and note was a reminder that though the world has been filled with negativity these days, “that it is still a beautiful place to be.”

After sharing the note with Facebook followers, the Boos’ thanked the anonymous pretzel-loving customer for their kindness in giving the employee the cards and encouragement.

Boos told Patch that the employee came in for his third day of work on Friday, with “a large iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and a huge smile on his face.”

“The kindness of this customer has really touched us,” she said. “I don’t know any other way to say it other than it’s been rough.”

“We have to focus on the good or we could never get through the long days,” Boos said.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.