Christena Dillon. You should remember that name. If you fly in, out or through the "Jet"port in Portland, Maine be sure to go to the gift shop inside the secure area and ask to speak to Christena Dillon. If she's there you will be able to speak to a truly honest, good person and a great customer service expert. She is what makes a good business a good business; truly honest, good people.
On Saturday morning I was flying from Portland, ME to Dallas for a long overdue visit with my parents. My friend, Barbara, dropped me off at the airport and in the rush to get checked in and through security I forgot to give her my keys. It wasn't until I had jumped through all the hoops and finally settled inside the secure area that I realized this.
I went into the airport gift shop thinking they may have a mailing service and, therefore, mailing the keys to Portland from Portland would get them to Barbara by Monday or Tuesday. After waiting my turn I asked the cashier if they could mail the keys for me and she told me they wouldn't go out until Tuesday; meaning that with the holiday on Thursday, the keys wouldn't likely get to Barbara until Friday.
Oh, what to do; what to do? The cashier, Christena Dillon, asked where I lived. I told her South Portland, near Willard Beach. She said she lived in Gorham and wouldn't mind dropping the keys in my mailbox for me.
"REALLY?", I asked. "Not a problem at all.", she said. Great! I wrote down my address for her, gave her my keys and walked to my gate.
My sister called me a couple of minutes later checking on the status of my flight. After chit chatting I told her about my key fairy, Christena Dillon.
"Are you kidding?" she said to me. "What if she goes into the house and ..... what if she gets copies of your keys made and comes back to...."
Arghhh. Oh, no. I thought about the risks ... You must give trust to get trust. ...but now...was I being stupid??
No... I wasn't being stupid. I was trusting that one human being would be generous enough to help another ... just because.
After the chat with my sister I went back into the gift shop and asked Christena, "Are you sure you don't mind dropping my keys off? It's out of your way."
"No, really" she replied. "I would want someone to help me if I were stuck like this."
"Thank you very, very much." I said, and went and boarded my plane.
Any company would be lucky to have an employee like Christena Dillon. Dropping keys off in customers' mail boxes is certainly over and above the call of duty. But, given her attitude towards her work, just think how great the normal, run-of-the-mill service would be?? Were that gift shop not behind the secure area of the airport, I would consider shopping there for nik-nak gifts if the need arose. THAT is good business.
Thank you Christena Dillon. Good job. I want you on my team.
BTW, the next day Barbara called to tell me she found my keys in the mailbox, my car was still in the driveway and all looked in-place in the house.
