Every day as he left work to go home 62-year-old meat process worker Sione Mavae would go to his boss, shake his hand and say: "Thanks for the job, you have a good rest of the day."
His words always touched business owner Graham McGregor. "We're not used to that," he says. "Sione is humble, hard-working and always thinking of others."
So when Mavae suffered a chilling accident at work last October - the latest in a series of misfortunes to strike him and his family - McGregor's heart went out to his employee in a big way.
As Mavae tried to stop a bandsaw he was operating, workmates watched in horror as the blade ripped through Mavae's flesh and bone, almost completely severing four fingers on his left hand.
McGregor recalls the moment: "I was in the office and heard this scream. By the time I got there Sione was just standing in shock looking at his hand; I'm sure anyone else would have been on the floor."
Rushed to Middlemore Hospital, Mavae underwent surgery for over nine hours, a procedure successful in reattaching his fingers.
But it was then McGregor, owner/operator of Clevedon Fields export meat processing plant in south Auckland, learned the accident was not the only tragedy to strike the Mavae family: "I found out his wife was not only on dialysis following complications from a kidney transplant but had been diagnosed with breast cancer (she has since had a mastectomy to remove a breast).
"Life is indeed very tough for Sione and his family (he has two teenage children living at home in Mangere East). He is the sole breadwinner and of all people he doesn't deserve this," he says.
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McGregor was so moved by Mavae's plight - off work on ACC since the accident - he nominated him for an ASB Good as Gold award, the bank giving him $10,000 to help the family get back on their feet financially.
"Sione is a hardworking, humble man whose family has endured hardship due to his accident and his wife's illnesses," says ASB Counties regional manager Mark Hayward. "We are happy to help such a deserving man and hopefully this will take a little bit of the pressure off him and his family."
At the time of the accident Mavae had been working at Clevedon Fields for about six months. Fully trained in the use of the bandsaw - and having been put through refresher courses - McGregor says the accident should never have happened.
"He's not a silly person, but he did a silly thing, he made a stupid decision in what you could say was a moment of madness," he says. "He opened the door of the bandsaw before the blade had stopped turning and tried to slow the wheel - the consequences were sadly very bad.
"What he did is an absolute no-no and he knew not to do it, this has never happened here before. We were in shock, we are a small company, we're all like family and friends here, it was a terrible thing."
McGregor says Mavae had pushed the stop button and luckily the machine had almost slowed altogether when his fingers got caught. But as it was, two of them were cut to the bone and were only hanging on by the skin.
"But at no stage did he complain or scream in pain. As I rushed him to hospital he kept saying how sorry he was, that he didn't want to get me in trouble. The next day he was sitting up in the hospital bed saying he was good to go - he's unbelievable."
Mavae says he tried to stop the saw because he didn't want to walk away from it while it was still turning. "It keeps running (for about 30 seconds) after you press the stop button; I know it wasn't supposed to happen, I didn't mean to do it but somehow my fingers got caught.
"It wasn't even really painful as I was in a bit of shock I think and I was worried I was going to lose them."
Mavae says his accident, together with his wife's illnesses, has been a really tough time for the family. "Fumaki (his wife) has been sick with kidney problems for about three years and now she has had to have her left breast removed."
After months of rehabilitation, Mavae returned to work for the first time earlier this month. McGregor has him on light duties over part-time hours and the pair are not sure when he will return fulltime: "My fingers are still a bit sore, but I'm going to the physio and things are coming along," says Mavae.
McGregor says Mavae remains typically humble: "On his first day back he was worried he was late. He wasn't, he arrived at 8.50am but wasn't due until nine.
"And when told he had been awarded $10,000 to help the family recover financially, his first thought was how much money he should give away to others. I had to tell him he needed to keep it for his family."