THIS is the heartwarming moment a supermarket worker is thrown a surprise party after reaching a staggering milestone of 40 years with the company.
Marks & Spencers worker Simon Simwogerere was surprised as he walked in the door of the store at Victoria Cardinal Place, London last Monday.
The 68-year-old was expecting to walk in and start his shift as usual, the veteran employee was instead greeted with a guard of honour by his colleagues to mark him hitting four decades in the job.
Video shows Simon opening a door and walking into the store’s corridor, seemingly completely unaware of the gesture awaiting him.
The operations team member is met with cheers and applause from all of his M&S colleagues, who line the walls of the corridor in tribute to him.
Taken aback, Simon smiles whilst joining the line of people in clapping, humbly believing they are applauding the filming employee following him in the door – but is soon corrected.
Seemingly staggered by the surprise, Simon is then greeted with a letter congratulating him for his service as well as a decorative pin which was added to his uniform to celebrate the landmark milestone.
An emotional Simon begins to cry as he gently says “Thank you” to all his colleagues.
He is then pictured cutting a cake which has the number 40 on top of it, commemorating his lengthy stint and lasting loyalty to the company.
The video was uploaded to social media by M&S on Sunday with the caption: “Celebrating 40 years of service at M&S.”
The clip has since received more than 450,000 likes and over 5,000 comments from users left touched by Simon’s reaction.
One user wrote: “The way he stood to the side not expecting the applause to be for him. An angel.”
Another commented: “The most humble man right here, you can see that because at the start he didn’t think it was for him. Protect my brother.”
A third said: “The genuine happiness from this man is amazing.”
Another wrote: “I hope M&S paid for a holiday for this man. What a long service.”
A fifth replied: “This is the cutest thing ever.”
Speaking today Salim Dhimi, Store Manager at M&S Victoria Cardinal Place, said: “Simon is such an amazing colleague that we wanted to make his long service celebration as special as possible and really surprise him.
“He’s been a much loved member of the Victoria team for over 15 of his 40 years at M&S, and always has a smile on his face.
“I’ve been overwhelmed with comments from colleagues about how fantastic Simon is to work with and his speech at the event had us all welling up.
“He’ll continue to be an integral member of the team and I can’t wait to celebrate his next anniversary.”
