Waitress brightens couple's day by treating them to lunch after they escaped Canadian wildfires

(INSIDE EDITION) - A waitress proved that a little kindness can go a long way after she and her manager helped two customers who were directly affected by the wildfires that have devastated northeastern Alberta, Canada.

Jonathon Pickford and his wife were two of the 80,000 people evacuated from the area.

When they stopped for lunch at an Original Joe's restaurant in Edmonton, about a four-and-a-half hour drive from the fires, their waitress said she immediately noticed they were in "a bit of a daze."

Brittany Reynolds, 20, told InsideEdition.com that she remembered asking how their day was, and was thrown off guard when Pickford's wife responded, "It's been a rough day."

"I assumed it had something to do with the evacuation," Reynolds said. "All she had to say to me was 'Fort Mac' and I just knew."

"The wife and I lost almost everything except what she could fit in her car in 5 Mins so today we needed to revamp and try and figure out our next moves," Pickford later posted on Facebook.

Reynolds overheard the couple as they tried to decide what to do next and watched as Pickford excused himself from the table multiple times during their lunch to make phone calls, she said.

"I remember her mentioning 'We're waiting to have the call to go back in, but what is there to go back to? We have nothing, it's all gone,'" she told IE.com.

Heartbroken by the couple's situation, Reynolds immediately brought the situation to the attention of her manager.

"We're such a family there, and everyone has such big hearts. I didn't have to ask (my manager) Tania to cover it -- she had already taken care of it," she said.

When Reynolds brought over the bill at the end of their lunch, she said Pickford's jaw dropped when he saw the restaurant compensated their entire $87.50 bill.

"You could just see the shock on their face," the waitress said. "The wife started to cry, and I gave her a huge hug and said, 'It's the least we could do.'"

"People are amazing," Pickford wrote in the Facebook post that has since gone viral.

"It's amazing how much a small gesture can mean to someone. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to brighten their day despite what they are going through," Reynolds told IE.com. "It reminds everyone that it doesn't take much to make someone's day."

The kindness has proved to be contagious. Reynolds said that during another shift that week, she watched as a table picked up the bill for two women sitting nearby.

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