Just like Cinderella who rose out of the mire to become the belle of the ball, 18-year-old Timothy Harrison experienced the makeover of a lifetime by the most unlikely crew of helpers. He was about to miss out on a major life milestone, but his boss and co-workers were not about to let that happen.

Timothy, a recent graduate of Woodlawn High School, worked at the Waffle House in Center Point, Alabama. The hard worker and all-around good kid obtained permission from his boss, Cedric Hampton, to have the day of his graduation ceremony off from work.

Missing out on graduation

But Timothy failed to fulfill all of his graduation tasks like getting fitted for his cap and gown. He also didn’t get tickets for his family because he planned to work instead.

Not having a ride across town to the commencement exercises sealed the deal and deterred him from attending graduation. But no one else knew what was going on.

He’s not skipping it

So imagine all of his co-workers’ surprise when he sauntered into work wearing his uniform on graduation day and not the ceremonial cap and gown. His boss instantly asked him what on earth he was doing at the Waffle House and not at his huge milestone, graduation.

“That’s when I said why aren’t you going to graduation?” Cedric asked. “And he said ‘I don’t want to miss work.’ So I was like, you’re going!”

Timothy explained the reasons why he was choosing to not attend graduation, but Cedric and his co-workers weren’t having any of it.

“I thought you were supposed to graduate today?”Shantana asked. “What do we need to do?”

Time for a makeover

Waffle House employee Shantana Blevins snapped to action and drove Timothy over to his high school to pick up his cap and gown.

Cedric and employees Chasadee Brown and Patricia Richardson headed to a nearby clothing store where they bought Timothy new dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie.

Press pause

Without much time to spare, Cedric and Timothy’s fellow employees halted working and focused solely on spiffing up the graduate in preparation for his May 27th graduation ceremony held at Birmingham CrossPlex.

“When I put on clothes, that was a different feeling,” Timothy said. “I don’t even know the words. A million dollars? It was the best feeling.”

Shantana zoomed 20 miles across town with Timothy in town; they arrived just in time for the commencement ceremony. Because she didn’t have a ticket to enter, she patiently waited in the parking lot for the ceremony to end so she could give Timothy a ride.

“I had people want to see me succeed, so it kind of made me excited,” Timothy said.

He did it!

In no time at all, Timothy proudly clutched his high school diploma and was given the night off from work.

“He’s a fine young man,” Hampton said. “He’s a hard worker, very polite. It’s the least we could do for him.”

Timothy will never forget this day and his Waffle House co-workers will always fondly remember it.