Stony Brook Compliments stepped out of the Facebook world and into the real one on Feb. 1, 2013, to thank and recognize Zamir, a dedicated and loved Dunkin Donuts worker, on behalf of Stony Brook students.
The founder of the popular Stony Brook Compliments page, who wished to stay anonymous, created the page during finals week and now the page and its admins are doing more than just posting compliments.
“I have a plan for Compliments to take it beyond Facebook,”the founder said in a previous interview. This is exactly what they did with this thank you.
Most students found out about the event through Facebook. This “Epic Thank You,” as the event was called, was intended to highlight an extraordinary community member and allow students to show their gratitude.
“Zamir is always doing things for everyone else,” Tobin George, a sophomore undecided major, said. “When I saw the post about him on the compliments page I made sure to like it and decided that I definitely had to go to the thank you event.”
When the time came for operation “Epic Thank You for Zamir,” the name according to the Facebook event page, students met at the train station at 10 p.m. and walked over together with signs and cards to surprise Zamir.
“Overall the attendance was wonderful,” the SBU Compliments founder said. “We were able to have the amount of people I wanted and we were able to execute the plan perfectly.”
The plan that night was for the founder of the Compliments page to go in first and hand Zamir a card that said “On behalf of the Stony Brook University community, dhonnobad Zamir Bhai,” which means thank you in Bengali, Zamir’s native language. Then, in pairs of two, students went into Dunkin Donuts to personally thank him, shake his hand, and give him homemade cards.
“He was a little startled at first and then he saw the cameras, so he was a little startled,” the founder of the page said. “But, once he saw the people coming in, it just hit him.”
Zamir was filled with emotion and his smile never left his face as students showed their appreciation.
“I feel very good,” Zamir said. “I love all Stony Brook students and everyone loves me.”
He has been described as a “kind Bengali man” who always gives a little more, according to numerous students at the event.
“My life is Dunkin, I love Dunkin, I run on Dunkin,” Zamir said.
Zamir works at the Dunkin Donuts right off campus on 25A, where some Stony Brook students stop before classes or go to study during exam weeks.
“Every time I come to Dunkin, Zamir is there,” George said. “I would sometimes come to just see him.”
Many students say that Zamir’s generosity and friendly personality are what keeps them coming back.
“I always come to Dunkin Donuts and Zamir is always so friendly,” Mariah Geritano, junior biology major, said. “He is always throwing in something extra and I wanted to thank him.”
While the event was filled with those who couldn’t resist the opportunity to express their gratitude, there were a few people who didn’t know him, but wanted to be involved.
“I didn’t know who Zamir was at first,” Alessandra Vittormi, a senior math and Italian double major, said. “But now that I know about him, I want to come back and get to know him better.”
The founder of the Stony Brook Compliments page expressed how successful this thank you was and plans on doing more of them in the near future, but only if the student body is willing.
“Overall the night was a huge success and I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out,” the founder said. “Thank you to everyone who came and made this event possible. It was a huge success and we will definitely be doing more of these types of events in the near future. Kindness is something that keeps coming back. I thank Zamir for teaching me this lesson which I did not find in any of my textbooks.”
