"He Broke Down": Canada Woman's Post About Covid Crisis In Delhi Is Viral

As India battles a devastating second wave of coronavirus, a Canada woman's post urging people to show kindness in tough times is going viral. In her LinkedIn post, Sarah Bezanson said she called tech support and ended up on the phone with an employee from India.

"I had to call for some tech support yesterday. While we waited for a diagnostic program to load, the gentleman on the phone made some small talk. Asked me where I was," the Toronto-based senior manager said in her post.

Ms Bezanson answered his question and asked him the same thing. "His voice caught," she said in her post.

The tech support employee told Ms Bezanson that he was from New Delhi. She paused, then asked him how he was doing - and the man on the other side of the phone broke down. "He wept," Ms Bezanson said in her post.

"I'm so sorry. It's really bad here. I've lost someone every day for 10 days," the employee from Delhi told Ms Bezanson.

Delhi reported close to 400 deaths every day when infections peaked and the capital and surrounding areas suffered shortages of oxygen, hospital beds and medicines.

In her post, Sarah Bezanson said she tried to offer some comfort and told the tech support employee that she was available to talk.

"Told him to forget the issue I'd called about. That he had nothing to be sorry for," she wrote. "That we could talk if he needed to or just leave the line open in silence so he could take a break from the phones and hold space for his grief."

They stayed on the phone for over an hour, she said.

Ms Bezanson concluded her post by asking her readers to show patience and empathy - especially when calling up a support centre or a toll free line.

"There's a person on the other end and they may be valiantly showing up and doing their best while they are living through absolute hell," she said. "Please be kind."

Her LinkedIn post, shared two weeks ago, has received thousands of comments and reactions. It was re-posted on Twitter yesterday, where it is being shared widely.

This. ???? ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0ThEgSXAgl

— Karthik (@beastoftraal) May 10, 2021

The post has clocked more than 3,000 'likes' and a ton of comments on the microblogging platform. In the comments section, some praised Ms Bezanson while others shared instances of similar happenings.

I have a similar experience when I contacted Norton customer service and it turned out she was in India and also affected. I do hope international companies with staff in India are supporting them and not holding them to the usual KPI s

— Pritam (@pritamghosh60) May 10, 2021

Thank you for sharing. It's real and heartbreaking. The person who gave me my second dose responded to my how are you by saying I wonder why I am alive. I sat with her longer pretending that i needed it. Small gestures.

— Tibetan Moon☯️ (Chandra) (@chand2308) May 10, 2021

This is simultaneously heartbreaking and beautiful... https://t.co/D2eaYL8z9P

— Sharad Narayan (@Grouseo_Marx) May 11, 2021

Amid the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic across the world, several small acts of kindness have captured hearts. Read about some of them here.