PETALING JAYA, Sept 30 — When was the last time you said thanks to a cleaner in your building?

A Malaysian university student decided to take it upon himself to cheer up a cleaner at university after learning that her watch was broken.

The cleaning lady needed a new watch after her RM30 watch, bought at a buy-one-get-one-free deal became faulty and was stuck at 8.30 after it got wet when she was cleaning the college restrooms.

Tweeting under the handle @madermn, the student simply known as Mahathir said as a result, the cleaner would often miss her ride home.

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“She told me she really wants a water-resistant watch because she cleans the toilets.

“She always asked about my watch because other students have recommended it but she can’t afford since she’s a single mum,” wrote @madermn.

Mahathir explained he wanted to gift the cleaning lady a new watch but lacked the budget as he was in his final year.

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The kind-hearted student then proposed a donation drive to his Twitter followers in order to buy a new watch for her.

“I rarely do collections like this but this aunty is like a mother figure, taking care of the students so I consider her as my university mum,” he said.

After sharing details for members of the public to contribute a donation, Mahathir managed to raise more than RM600 a day later.

After finishing his morning class, Mahathir passed the new watch to the cleaning lady who declined the gift at first but finally accepted it after much persuasion.

 

He even wrote a card to thank the cleaner whom he said always greeted students.

The cleaner, whose identity was kept anonymous out of respect, told Mahathir she was touched as it was the first time she received a watch as a gift.

 

Mahathir ended his post by showing kitchen supplies bought with the balance of the donated money, which included rice, instant noodles, cooking oil, flour and sugar for the lady.

 

The clip has been watched more than 17,000 times and his initial tweet has been retweeted more than 6,500 times.