(UPI) A Chick-fil-A customer who dropped her phone down a storm drain outside the Virginia eatery thanked a dedicated employee who climbed down under the road to retrieve the device.

Shauna Hall came into the Fredericksburg restaurant in a panic and told employees she had dropped her phone down a storm drain while helping her young son out of her van.

"She was nearly in tears when she came in and she was asking for a manager to help," Chick-fil-A worker Seth Ratliff told NBC's Today show. Compassion just took over and I just wanted to help.

Ratliff used a mirror to look down the drain and discovered the phone had disappeared into the dark "abyss" below.

He contacted the city to try to get help, but was unsuccessful. He ended up climbing down a manhole himself to find the phone.

"[The manhole] wasn't even six feet deep. In the photo, I was standing on a concrete floor on bottom and the hole to the side was so small, not even my yorkie poo would have fit through. There was no perceived danger. It all just happened in the moment," Ratliff said.

Hall was grateful for the return of her device.

"I was so thankful I freaking hugged him," Hall said. Not only did he slice his finger and was filthy from laying on the ground and climbing in the hole, I find out he had actually just gotten off shift and was still willing to help me.

Copyright 2019 by United Press International