Woman Invites Chick-fil-A Worker To Her Grandma’s Funeral & He Shows Up — ‘She’ll Never Forget Him’
Chick-fil-A holds a great deal of sentimental value for this young woman.
Inside Creative House / Shutterstock.com With a platform typically full of general lifestyle content and food reviews, TikTok creator Sarah Stusek’s recent video shared a more personal and sentimental story from her life — the ritual of eating well-done nuggets from Chick-fil-A with her grandmother.
“My grandmother passed away this weekend, and this woman loved Chick-fil-A,” she started. “Her order was a sweet tea, waffle fries, chicken nuggets, and a Polynesian sauce.”
A woman invited a Chick-fil-A worker to her grandma’s funeral and was overwhelmingly emotional when he actually showed up.
Eating out at Chick-fil-A became a ritual for her grandmother. Each week, she’d make an outing out of her favorite meal, chatting with all the regular workers on their shifts.
Stusek even joined in, sometimes bringing Chick-fil-A to her grandma's home and other times visiting the restaurant with her. One worker stood out dramatically in her grandmother’s stories.
“She loved going to the mall and eating at the mall Chick-fil-A. She would bring a book,” she continued, adding that she “spent a lot of time there and became good friends with someone who worked there — Erick.”
For years, her grandma went to the same Chick-fil-A restaurant and ordered the same meal from a worker named Erick — ‘She loved him.’
During their chat sessions and weekly hangouts, Stusek could never leave the house without another story about Erick — they’d become close friends simply because they were in the same place at the same time each week.
Her grandmother’s connection with Erick was seemingly simple. They’d chat about their week, make small talk, and, of course, recommend their favorite meals to each other.
“He introduced her to well-done nuggets. Now, I always order them well done,” she said. “One time, she took me to the mall to meet Erick, and it was actually someone I went to high school with. I knew who Erick was… I told him that ‘I’d heard so much about [him]’ and that I couldn’t believe it was him.”
Tada Images / Shutterstock.com
As her grandmother’s health quickly went downhill in her last few years, she was adamant about always bringing Chick-fil-A over for their visits. Despite going through the drive-through or stopping at a Chick-fil-A across town, she’d always reassure her grandmother that her well-done nuggets were from Erick himself.
Although Erick and her grandmother lived very different lives and no longer chatted together at the mall, their connection was still incredibly real — it held a significant space in her grandma’s heart, even into her last few months.
During her last few years, when she could no longer leave the house, she’d always ask her granddaughter for Chick-fil-A from Erick.
“In reality, I hadn’t seen Erick in a very long time,” Stusek honestly admitted. “Recently, we had one of our Chick-fil-A dates, and I brought her the well-done nuggets… she said, ‘I think these are too hard for me now.’”
“The very last meal that we had together was regular cooked Chick-fil-A nuggets.”
A staple of convenience for many people, Chick-fil-A meant much more than that to Stusek. Not only was it a reminder of her grandmother’s love for the food, but it allowed her to recall the stories and memories she'd shared about Erick and their weekly ritual throughout the years.
Even in her sickest months, food brought her closer to her grandmother — even if it was regular cooked nuggets.
“When she passed away… I was trying to think of people I know around here that would wanna come to her funeral,” she said. “I thought of Erick. So I messaged him on Facebook… and he showed up.”
While it was a simple and kind gesture, it meant more to Stusek than he could’ve ever imagined it would. “I was really grateful to see him there. I know Betty will always remember Erick and his well-done nuggets.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.