Women, We Have A New Hero And Her Name Is Tonya

Hero Capital One employee shows all of us ladies what it’s like to have each other’s back

Everyone has those times in their lives when the best way to describe what’s going on is “What. The. Hell. World.” Christine Grady had one of those moments recently. And her savior came in the form of a Captial One credit card employee. Stay with me here, because I promise this is the best story you’ve heard in a while.

After Christina Grady’s fiancé broke up with her, she needed furniture for her new abode. She was in the midst of setting up her new fiancé-free life when her Capital One card was shut off for suspicious activity. She called Capital One, which will henceforth be known as “Where Tonya Works.”

“I called and explained to this awesome woman, Tonya that my fiancé had broken up with me and I’d moved,” Grady explains. She was having a bunch of furniture sent to her new apartment, in a completely different neighborhood, which probably set off some alarms for her credit card company. So she had to call and explain all the events in her life that got her to that point, and ended up meeting Tonya on the other end of the line — a sympathetic ear. “She was like, ‘Girl, I am giving you 4,500 free miles. Go on vacation. Take so many pictures of yourself all happy and post them all over that Instagram.'” In case you’re wondering, 4500 miles isn’t anything crazy, it probably works out to $45 — so it’s not like Tonya was doing anything wrong by offering the miles. Just being an awesome woman. But the story gets better.

Christina was putting her new house together, and had just returned from a particularly depressing trip to Home Depot, where the customer service could basically be summed up as, “You’re a woman, we are going to be assholes.” Christina left feeling like crap, since her fiancé dabbles in custom furniture making, and would normally be the one dealing with things like trips to Home Depot. She told Scary Mommy, “I left the store in tears. I was feeling like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t do this on my own. I even need some guy to go to Home Depot with me.'” You know the feeling — we’ve all been there. The post break-up blues.

Very soon after that, Christina gets a text from her ex: “Someone sent you flowers to my house.” She thinks, “Who would be so bold?” She went to pick them up while her ex was at work, and inside the sealed card was the message, “Best Wishes, TONYA KYY905 Capital One.” TONYA SENT HER FLOWERS TO HER EX-FIANCE’S HOUSE IN A SEALED CARD.

“She sent me flowers! To my ex fiancé’s house in a sealed card!!!!!! TONYA KYY905, you are a genius and a role model to women looking out for women. #TONYAKYY905ISMYHERO PLEASE share, the whole world should know how awesome Tonya KYY905 is!!!!”

Everyone who has seen this post is loving it, and it’s going viral as we speak. Christina explains more in the comments under her story:

YES, TONYA. We should all strive to be Tonya. Tonya is an adjective now, and it means “woman who has your back.”

Christina told Scary Mommy that she’s since talked to Tonya on the phone by getting patched through to her at work, and Tonya was just as excited to hear from her. She wants to show Tonya her post, but for obvious reasons Tonya can’t give out her last name or connect to customers in any kind of personal way. Christina promised, “Tonya, I’m going to get this post to you somehow.”

So in honor of Tonya today, call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Tell a total stranger she looks amazing. Buy coffee for that woman in line behind you. Let’s keep this awesomeness going, in honor of Tonya KYY9o5, our new personal hero.

Christina says, “Whenever something tough comes up for me now I’m going to think, ‘What would Tonya say?'” And the answer, Christina thinks, is

“You got this, girl.”