A Retail Employee Went Beyond to Help My Son; He Felt Seen

My son is a creature of habit. Every time I leave the house, we have to follow the same routine, and he says, “Hug, kiss, see you whenever I want.” He likes his pizza always with pepperoni and never with tomato sauce, and he has worn the same shoes every single day for the past year.

He’s 7 and growing like a weed. Seeing how his shoes were falling apart from so much play and also that they were a bit tight on his feet, I recently decided to take him shopping in person for new ones.

I didn’t expect a retail employee to have such an impact on our day.

He wanted the exact same shoes

We went to the only Vans store near where we live in Maine. When we arrived, he ran to the kids section. After being measured (and being told he is on the last little kids’ size shoe before moving to adult sizes), he told the employee that he wanted exactly the same shoes, “because I love astronauts.”

The employee smiled at him and then turned to me and told us that the brand no longer carried that print, but he could help us look for other options.

While he seems older because of his height and vocabulary, my son is still a little kid. I worried a meltdown was coming because of the bad news.

I coaxed him into picking another pair that he’d like. He was timid, grabbing all the shoes and inspecting them, only to end up requesting a pair of red high tops, which looked just like his beloved pair, minus the astronauts.

The employee went into the store’s back room, and I could tell my son was not thrilled about this shopping experience anymore.

When the employee returned, he carried a couple of boxes and a big smile. He opened the first box, which had the bright red shoes we had just asked to try on. As my son was shyly putting them on, the employee slowly opened the other box and said, “But I also found these ones in the back.”

It was exactly what my son wanted — his red shoes, with glow-in-the-dark spaceships and astronauts, in his size.

The employee then turned to me and said that since these were the last pair and they were discontinued, he could give them to us at 50% off.

He’s so happy every time he puts them on

We bought the shoes. My son has been so happy since, and has asked me to keep the outgrown shoes in his memory box.

I shared our experience on Threads, and it went viral. People shared other stories of Vans employees helping them out, and former employees shared their stories working for the brand.

I reached out to Vans to see whether my son’s experience was common, and Michel Bilodeau, the vice president and general manager of Vans Americas, told me that retail was very important for the brand, adding that he hoped “to have made a lifelong fan of Vans.”

While I know he won’t be able to get the same print next year, I’ll remember this act of kindness every time my son puts on his new shoes.