A cafe owner in Busan who gave free croissants to elementary school students who could not afford bread was left smiling after receiving an unexpectedly heartfelt thank-you.
According to a post shared on Threads on Saturday, a cafe owner identified only as A, who runs a cafe in Nam-gu, Busan, shared closed-circuit television footage from Thursday along with the story of how the young customers paid their respects with a deep traditional bow.
"I don't usually like posting CCTV footage, but this was too adorable not to share," A wrote. "The little ones were about to give up on the bread because they didn't have enough money, so I gave them croissants on the house. They ran upstairs so excitedly, finished every last bite, came back down and gave me a deep bow before leaving."
The footage shows four children, who appear to be elementary school students, standing side by side in front of the cafe counter. They exchanged glances before dropping into a deep bow toward the staff all at once.
As they left, the children continued to bow repeatedly in the doorway to express their gratitude. The staff laughed and waved them off.
When one commenter asked how much strategizing the children must have done before pulling off the gesture, A replied that a staff member had gone upstairs to check on the floor and overheard them "plotting something" — and later laughed when she realized that was what it had been.
The post drew wide attention online, surpassing 380,000 views and collecting around 10,000 likes, with warm reactions continuing to pour in.
Commenters responded with remarks such as "Children are a mirror of their parents — this is why family upbringing matters," "Seeing kids like that makes giving something away for free feel rewarding," "The children are so lovely and the owner is wonderful too," and "It's a scene you rarely see these days — it's genuinely moving."
betterj@heraldcorp.com
