They've even given Doug their phone numbers, so if there's ever day he can't make it over, they deliver his order to the retirement home where he lives.
For the past three years, there has hardly been a day when a 98-year-old World War II veteran Doug Parker, known as "Mr. Doug," hasn't either stopped by his local Arby's in Chandler, Arizona for lunch or had it delivered to him..
His order? A roast-beef slider with Swiss cheese and a senior drink... Coke with no ice.
Doug eats the same thing for lunch every day because it's one of the few meals that doesn't make him sick.
"This is the only place I can get a sandwich or get something to anything else to eat that doesn't hurt my stomach," Doug told Fox 10 Phoenix.
"He comes in with a walker, as soon as we see him come to the doors, we try [to] grab the doors for him," Arby's manager Christina Gamage said. Gamage says that he's gone through a lot as a veteran and he doesn't have any family.
So the crew at Arby's have taken him in as one of their own. The employees help Doug open the doors and be seated when he enters the restaurant. They've even given Doug their phone numbers, so if there's ever day he can't make it over, they deliver his order to the retirement home where he lives.
For Christmas 2018, the employees chipped in and presented Doug with a $200 gift card. "He was shocked, hardly had anything to say," an Arby's manager said.
Daniel Maloney, who was eating at the restaurant with his mother that day, noticed the kindness of the Arby's employees and posted about it on Facebook where the story went viral.
"We really enjoy you here and we always want you to come back," the manager said while presenting the gift certificate to Doug, according to Maloney.
The veteran cracked a joke, saying, "I never know if I'll be here the next day, but thank you so much for this," Maloney continued.
"There are so many good people in the world," Maloney wrote. "These employees selflessly put in their own money, so a elderly (sic) man could come in and enjoy dinner on what he never knew could be his last."
After Fox 10 Phoenix picked up the story and it went viral, Arby's decided to give Doug free food for life.
"Let's give him Arby's for life, I have no problem with that," Gamage told ABC News. "We try to go above and beyond for him because he needs the extra love," said Gamage, store manager.
How wonderful would this world be if everyone who deserved "the extra love" got it?
This article originally appeared on 12.12.19
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