NEED TO KNOW
After hosting a private event at his apartment, Ben Pohl and his friends decided to head to a bar
On the walk over, the night took an unexpected turn when one of the girls, Holly, broke a heel
Not ready to call it quits, and only a few blocks from home, Pohl offered to fix it — and the moment quickly went viral
After hosting a private event at his apartment, Ben Pohl and his friends decided to keep the night going. A few attendees headed to another bar, and Pohl, 32, joined in. But on the walk over, the night took an unexpected turn when one of the girls in his group, Holly, broke a heel.
Not ready to call it quits — and only a few blocks from home — Pohl offered a quick solution: they’d swing by his place so he could fix it. He tells PEOPLE he’s always been the handy friend, the one people call when something needs to be built, hung or fixed. So helping out felt natural.
“I called a taxi, we all piled in, and once we got to my apartment, I got to work,” he recalls to PEOPLE exclusively. “The nails holding the heel were destroyed, so I used some past experience and a screw to patch it back together.”
The impromptu repair worked like a charm. Afterward, the group bar-hopped, grabbed tacos and Holly danced the night away — the fix held perfectly. Eventually, the friends parted ways, thinking the night’s adventure was over.
The next morning, however, Pohl woke up to texts from friends asking if it was him in a video. Someone in the group had captured the moment, and later Holly posted it to TikTok — where it quickly went viral, amassing over five million views.
“I had no idea it was even posted — let alone going viral,” he says. “Watching it climb to five million views was surreal, all from a random Friday night shoe repair. I couldn’t stop laughing — the comments were gold. There was such a fun, positive energy around it, and I’ll admit, I was flattered by a lot of them.”
“My favorites were people calling it a ‘2025 Cinderella story,’ and then DeWalt showing up in the comments,” he adds. “I didn’t have my favorite tool brand flirting with me online on my bingo card.”
Since then, Pohl has received countless DMs from people with closets full of broken heels needing help. “My friends think it’s hilarious and weirdly fitting. My family’s been laughing too. Everyone’s now debating whether I should hang up my day job and become a full-time cobbler content creator.”
Among friends, Pohl is now officially known as “The Cobbler.” He clarifies he’s not a cobbler by trade — just a “broke college kid who didn’t want to throw out good shoes.”
“It’s wild how something so small, a broken heel, can connect millions of people online,” he adds. “It’s a fun reminder that the internet still loves a good, wholesome story.”
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He also shares that he and Holly have become friends and have some mutual acquaintances. While he hasn’t seen her since, he’s sure they’ll bump into each other again soon.
“Life’s full of random moments, so lean into them and help people when you can. Thank you for all the love and positivity,” he says. “This was such a small thing that turned into something bigger than I expected, and it’s been awesome to be part of it.”
Read the original article on People
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.style.yahoo.com ’
