2009 AWARD WINNERS

Summaries of 2009 E-Awards category winners’ stories

HONOR OF DISTINCTION

JENNIFER WILSON, a security guard with the Lee County Port Authority Police Department

“My nominee was working in the area when a woman started yelling for help. It turns out she was an Alzheimer patient and was with her husband of 51 years, but my nominee didn’t know that when she rushed over as the lady screamed that her husband was hurting her. My nominee asked the husband if everything was all right and he quickly showed my nominee the bracelet on his wife’s arm identifying her as an alzheimers patient. My nominee called for a police officer, who offered medical assistance, which the husband denied. Things calmed down so the police officer left but my nominee stayed with the couple. She spoke softly to the woman to reassure her that no one was going to harm her. She kept the lady calm and walked to the parking garage with them to help get their car, gently assisting the woman inside. A few minutes later they drove up to pick up their passenger and the lady saw my nominee and jumped out of the car to hug her. As her husband came around the car, the woman remembered he was her husband, smiled and kissed him, and held his hand. They both were beaming, the husband almost in tears. But then the lady became afraid and clutched at my nominee, who continued to soothe her. The lady told everyone, even strangers passing by on the sidewalk, that my nominee was her best friend. But the best ending are in the words of the husband, who told me, “I can honestly say she has restored my faith in human kindness, caring and compassion. In my opinion it is very rare to see people with these kinds of outstanding qualities. Thank you for having her at a place and time she was needed the most. We will never forget her and your airport.” My nominee extended the kind of customer service that we look up in the service industry and we hope you think so too.- Yes we do.

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ACCOMMODATIONS

ANTHONY ALMEIDA, with the Inn at the Springs

The nominator wrote from Massachusetts , “We specifically stay at this resort because of our nominee. He is never without a smile, does things to make your stay more than pleasant, and makes time during his busy day to speak to us and other guests.
He overheard that my husband wanted an item from a store in town and personally went to buy it for him, then delivered it to our room—what a surprise! He becomes a part of “you” when you’re a guest and we feel special because of him.”
But perhaps the following story really shows why this nominee is a winner. The nominator said, “We had a gentleman check in and when we asked for his credit card he reached into his jacket and realized he had taken the wrong jacket from the overhead bin on the airplane. To say this gentleman was hysterical is an understatement. My nominee calmed him down and found another wallet in the jacket pocket. Inside was the owner’s name and phone number. He called and it luckily turned out to be a local number, so he left a message. Within the hour the man called back and my nominee explained the situation. He then made arrangements to exchange wallets and on his own time—as by now it was after his work day had ended—and drove to Cape Coral to switch jackets and wallets. He then drove back to the resort to personally deliver the wallet to our guest. I didn’t find this out until the next day but can tell you this is normal behavior for my nominee, who does more than expected every day for our guests.” -This is great service.

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ATTRACTIONS

BARBARA PRATER, with the Edison & Ford Estates

The nominator said, “My nominee greets each and every visitor as if they are the first guest of the day. Just recently a blind man and his companion came in. The companion needed to sit and rest, so my nominee asked if the blind gentleman wanted a tour, which he did. They moved room to room, discussing the history and describing what was seen. He even felt the items which she explained in great detail, describing colors and what the artist did. The gentleman and his friend were very grateful for the personal assistance.
Often my nominee also gently asks our elderly guests, if they appear to be tired, if they would like a ride back to the parking lot—our guests are constantly amazed by her caring attitude.”
Another nominator from Massachusetts said, “our 13-year old son was on a quest to find a mail able coconut postcard, which he found in your store. He placed the postcard in our car, then we went on tour. At the end of the tour our son saw another coconut postcard with a different greeting and asked if he could exchange coconuts. My nominee didn’t blink, even though the first coconut was in our car. She gave him the new one and said to just drop off the old coconut at the front gate, thus saving us several trips. But what she did was not only treat a young man with respect but also showed him courtesy, a valuable lesson. We hope she will not be reprimanded for taking this chance over a $15 coconut, but we feel she should give others on your staff lessons in customer service. She demonstrated to our son that there still is trust and faith in this world and we thank her for that.”

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GOOD SAMARITAN

Dr.s P.J. DEITSCHEL and AMBER MCNAMARA, veterinarians with CROW (Care and Rehabilitation of Wildlife)

The nominator sent the following story to illustrate the commitment to excellence the nominee makes day after day:
“It’s barely 6 am and still pitch dark when the first car drives up on Sanibel. By 6:05 am 4-5 staff and many volunteers are hard at work. It’s nearly the end of “baby bird” season and into “baby squirrel” season. The countertops in the back are laden with boxes of all shapes and sizes, placed on heating pads, covered with towels. Each contains 1-4 squirrel babies—mostly eyes closed, some without fur, some with bite marks, some with broken legs, and so on. Most have fallen 15-20 feet when a tree is trimmed, others are victims of predator attacks. In addition there are 8 metal cages, all containing 4-6 bigger babies.
Daily rounds are at 8 am. Before this each baby must be fed, checked, cleaned, and medicated if needed. Weaning babies get fresh milk and biscuits. Every patient has different needs. Upstairs are 15 baby opossums and a spotted skunk needing fresh food. The hurt gulls need fresh fish, as does the eagle and osprey patients. The doves need clean cages and fresh seed. And all the mammals outside –normally 150-200 a day--need to be fed. So at the rounds my nominee checks what needs to be done—not counting what hasn’t been done already—and prioritizes the work of the day. Preparing diets, examining critical care animals, are the wounded birds able to fly, and so on. Also cleaning cages, 40 inside and 30 outside. Around noon in come new, hurt, animals—usually 2 to 15 at a time—to be checked, admitted, examined, and cared for. And what about the walk-in’s, those new patients brought in by concerned visitors strolling our beaches who find pelican’s with hooks in their beaks or more broken bird legs or crushed wings. On it goes, all day, all with special needs. And what about the alligator found in the middle of the road, not moving? This scenario is repeated 365 days a year, 6 am to sundown, with the nominee organizing and leading and caring for it all with love and patience.My nominees provide leadership and dedication and do everything from cleaning cages to diagnosing to going home with bleach stained clothes because there is no time to change. They do everything everyone else does, from volunteers to staff, and ask no one to do anything which they do not do themselves. We think the animals smile with us when we say these nominees are shining stars.”

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OTHER BUSINESSES/SERVICES

JOHN BRADFIELD, Johnny Myers Discount Tires

Businesses today have to be more than order takers, processors of product, sales people and paper pushers. They have to constantly think, ‘What will help my customer?’, ‘How does this make it better for my guest?’ This nominator said it succinctly about his nominee – “My nominee has kindness, something unusual in today’s tough times. When customers do not have enough money, I’ve seen him help them out any way he can. He has given away his product and services free of charge because the person was in real need. He donates to local social service groups and will never turn away a person in terrible need. He really does work 6 days a week, never complaining, and just tries to make each day better than the one before. He is fantastic, and exemplifies what a great business person should be—focused on service first.”

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RESTAURANTS

JOSE CERECEDA, with Carraba’s Italian Grill in Bonita Springs

“My husband, son and daughter and I went out to dinner earlier this year. I know having two young children at a table is not the ideal table for a waiter, but even more non-ideal is the fact that we were celebrating my daughter’s completion of chemotherapy. She is 9 years old and is quite self-conscious about her appearance, but loves the pizza at this restaurant. My nominee took an ordinary dinner and made it an occasion for us. He brought my daughter pizza dough and told her she could be the ‘chef’ tonight for the restaurant. She and her 5-year old brother played with it for some time before he returned to collect it to “go cook it”. With a playful wink he let me know that they would not be cooking the dough that was played with. He then brought them out their pizzas and they went crazy over them! With a watchful eye, he noticed when they began to get restless and then brought out more dough and said some customers had seen the pizzas they made and specially requested them. He got down to their eye level and pleaded for them to just make one more special pizza for these guests. Of course the kids were thrilled and, after making their pies, he took them back to be cooked. As he was delivering the other table’s pizzas to them, he intentionally walked by our table so that our daughter could see her ‘special pizzas’ being delivered. At the end of our meal, he came back and took paper napkins and made our kids each a beautiful rose out of them. He said ‘this is your payment for working with me tonight’.
It has been months since we had that meal and still the kids talk ‘getting to work at this restaurant’ and ‘our magic waiter’ who was able to turn a blob of dough into a wonderful pizza and a napkin into a rose. As I told friends about our experience with him, they would go to this restaurant and ask for him, so they too could see what I meant. He is a shining example of excellence and truly touched our hearts. To me, the definition of hospitality is generosity of spirit. He didn’t know what our family had faced over the last year, or what our little girl had been through. He just chose to make our evening sensational because he could. That to me is an extraordinary example of hospitality.

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TRANSPORTATION

EDWARD BROWN, the third shift supervisor with Standard Parking

This story is significant because the nominator did NOT find out what his nominee did until a visitor wrote a letter of thanks for such great service. You see, the nominee just thought he was doing his job and that he didn’t need any thanks for doing the right thing. It took a letter to his boss for everyone to hear what a good thing he did. So here’s the story—A customer arrived after a late flight, was shuttled to her car, got in and drove home. It wasn’t till she got home that she realized one of her bags was missing. Frantic because the bag contained her medicine, camera, and $300 worth of gift cards, she returned to the airport in panic. She contacted my nominee—and remember this is VERY late at night by this time—who immediately contacted all the drivers to look for the bag. It was nowhere to be found on any of the buses. He then called Lost & Found and waited on the phone with the customer while the duty agents looked. No bag. The lady was wringing her hands, almost in tears. So then he did the next thing he could think of. He got a flashlight and proceeded to search every single bus in the lot, one by one, behind every seat and peeking into every nook and cranny. He found the bag, which had slipped into a dark corner where it couldn’t easily be seen. The lady couldn’t believe it when he appeared back in the office to give it to her. She left, happy. Weeks later I received her letter and was not surprised to hear about the good work my nominee did to help her, as he does stuff like this regularly and never tells anyone. He deserves to be nominated, as his service is always the best. I often wonder how many other good deeds he has done that I never hear about.”