Hungry Howie's Employees Save Frequent Customer From Dying Alone
Every restaurant has its regulars, but few customers order as reliably as a man in Holland, Michigan, who called into his local Hungry Howie's with the same order so often that when he suddenly stopped, the pizza shop worried something might be wrong and sent people to go check on him. It's a good thing they did, too, because the customer was in trouble when they found him.
According to Fox 17, Holland resident Adrian Van Nieuwland had been ordering from the local Hungry Howie's for years, and he always ordered the same thing. Van Nieuwland liked a medium "cheeser pleaser" pizza with a butter cheese crust. Whenever the order came up at the restaurant, everyone at the pizza place always knew it was Van Nieuwland with his favorite order.
In May, though, Van Nieuwland's order did not come in as expected, and the staff at Hungry Howie's were worried. Not ordering his pizza was unlike him, so they tried to call him to make sure he was OK. When nobody answered, a couple employees went to his house to check on him, and they found him unconscious on his floor.
Van Nieuwland had reportedly collapsed at home and couldn't reach his phone, and he was there for about a day before the Hungry Howie's employees showed up. They called emergency services right away, and Van Nieuwland was rushed to the hospital.
Several Hungry Howie's employees reportedly visited Van Nieuwland at the hospital and gave him a gift certificate and said they looked forward to seeing him again. Unfortunately, Van Nieuwland passed away after eight days at the hospital. Still, his family says they are grateful for the pizza shop employees who went to check on him.
"It's tragic and my heart breaks for him. But if anything I'm just happy that we stopped him from dying alone, on the floor of his house," said Hungry Howie's delivery driver Gabbe Raqib.