‘I would’ve caught feelings’: DoorDasher and client go from strangers to besties in seconds when a dog intervenes in delivery

We’ve all heard the story before; a delivery driver — wandering the downtowns and suburbs of the world with a wistful indifference — strolls up to a house, intent on dropping off the next item in their never-ending rotation and then getting on with their life. All of a sudden, they’re greeted by the world’s most adorable dog, and within the perfect storm of its slobbery tongue and sweet little eyes, the delivery driver remembers that the world cannot be anything less than amazing.

Well, this is not one of those stories, but TikTok‘s @nolanloomis may just have captured an even better one.

Over the course of the 34-second video, our delivery driver nonchalantly steps up to the front door of a lovely house with a spacious yard, IHOP bag in hand, and waits patiently for the customer, Nolan, to answer the door. He eventually shows up, the handoff is made, and she (the delivery driver) begins down the steps.

By this point, however, Nolan’s dog has caught wind of the visitation, and is a bit too ecstatic at the opportunity to make a new friend, rotating all the way around the yard to the path leading to the front door, cutting off the delivery driver in the process.

The delivery driver, as it turns out, is the world’s biggest cynophobe (cynophobia is fear of canines), because she instinctively turns tail and leaps into Nolan’s arms for protection, Scooby-Doo style. It’s an adorable reaction just on its own, but Nolan’s calm and comforting handling of it all — patiently holding the delivery driver while reassuring her that his pooch is nothing to be afraid of — adds an extra heft of sweetness to the ordeal.

Commenters were largely convinced that this was ground zero for the latest iteration of true love. “I would’ve asked him what we are after that,” read one. “Might as well go inside and eat the food together,” said another. Others couldn’t stop fawning over Nolan’s response to the delivery driver’s fear response, and others still wanted to know what happened afterwards; was she carried back to the car? Did she overcome her fear of pooches that day? Did the pup apologize for coming on too strong? The people demanded a denouement, and sure enough, they got one:

As you can see, the delivery driver exited the encounter with her fear of dogs still very much intact. Indeed, if your fear is so great that you jump into a stranger’s arms at the sight of one and risk damage to their IHOP order, it’s probably not going to be solved in one encounter. Nevertheless, she’s hardly alone in her condition; according to Cleveland Clinic, approximately nine percent of adults in the United States have a specific phobia disorder, and of those who have a specific phobia of animals, one in every three suffers specifically from cynophobia.

And yes, “suffers” is the right word here, because can you imagine missing out on dogs? As a recovered cynophobe, there is profound relief in being able to freely dish out belly scratches, head pats, and vague-if-overwhelming approval of any dog’s existence. Best of luck, delivery driver; it’s a ruff road ahead, but I believe in you.