Deaf woman’s co-worker secretly learns her native sign language — but saves the reveal for her birthday

A true bond of friendship forms only when there is love, trust and respect between two individuals. It’s one of the most precious aspects of the human experience, often filling the voids left by other types of relationships. Embracing this spirit, an individual decided to surprise their deaf co-worker and friend—who's originally from the Philippines—in the most heartwarming way. In a Reddit post, u/Successful_Unit8203, who works at a bakery, shared how their wholesome surprise meant a lot to their colleague.

In their post, the individual revealed that the small bakery hired a woman named Sarah about eight months ago. Sarah, who has a hearing disability, communicates by writing notes or through the American Sign Language (ASL) with those who understand its basics. However, the employee noticed their Filipina friend using a different sign language when video-calling her family back home.

Upon further inquiry, they learned that Sarah used Filipino Sign Language (FSL) as her first language. That was when the coworker decided to plan something special for her and secretly started learning FSL. They watched YouTube tutorials during their office break time and took online classes after work. "I used to practice in front of my bathroom mirror every night. It's been incredibly hard keeping it from her because we work closely together. But I wanted to wait until I was somewhat decent at it," they wrote.

They finally decided to surprise Sarah on her birthday. “Today was her birthday, and when she came in for her shift, I signed ‘Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day’ in FSL,” they added. The post revealed that Sarah was momentarily stunned when she first saw her co-worker trying to interact in her native sign language. “The look on her face... She literally dropped her bag,” the coworker revealed, adding that she started rapidly signing back to them with the “biggest smile.” The excited co-worker had to awkwardly sign, "Sorry, please slow down, I'm still learning!" In response, she laughed hard and had tears in her eyes.

“We spent our entire lunch break with her teaching me more signs and telling me about growing up in the Philippines. She said she hasn't been able to properly talk to anyone at work in her native language since moving here, and while she loves ASL, FSL just feels like ‘home,’” they wrote. Later, Sarah texted her co-worker, saying she had called her mom to share what had happened at the bakery. Her mom’s reaction was equally priceless, as she too was moved to tears by the coworker's act of kindness.

The “happy” coworker concluded with a message: “It's amazing how something that took just a few hours a week could mean so much to someone. And now I have a new friend who's promised to help me get better at signing!” The post received 17k upvotes, along with numerous positive reactions from people who felt uplifted by the coworker’s kindness. u/Skygreencloud remarked, “That is so incredibly touching! What a beautiful thing to bring her home to her current life far from home.” “I’m having a difficult night. Indeed, it restored my faith in humanity,” u/charityarv shared.