I left the Rio with an exhausted sigh yesterday. It had been a long day. A long week, really. While the first week of the World Series of Poker tends to be a slow rollout for the players, but for the staff there are always hiccups, setup problems, and a slew of tiny, but frustrating issues that keep things from running smoothly.

Between this onslaught of small catastrophes and the general complaining you encounter when running something like the @WSOP Twitter account, you can get a little worn down.  Add in some under the weather health and, yesterday, I found myself already completely worn out just ten days into the summer.

I found myself thrilled to be stopping at a Target, as running errands are something I don’t get to do much of in June and July. I thought stocking up on ponytail holders would be the highlight of my evening.

Then I got home and an email came through from an incredibly kind man name Sam. It thanked me for the time and effort I put into my job and even included an incredibly thoughtful token of appreciation that is sincerely one of the nicest gifts anyone ever thought to get me.

What the gift is is not important. I write this not to brag or to encourage gift giving (writing about poker is not a gig that merits tips or gifts, thoughtful as that may be), but to say that I am grateful for the man who took time out of his day to say something nice about what I do.  He couldn’t have timed it better, I couldn’t have needed it more–Thank you, Sam, for your random act of kindness. I will pay it forward.