TA Hudson Team Member Follows Example, Returns Missing Bag

One night, the TA in Hudson, Wisconsin received a call. A guest had visited the site earlier in the day and had forgotten his personal belongings. Luckily, the bag had been turned into the lost and found. The cashier told him the good news and asked that he call back in the morning to speak to a manager about getting his items returned.

The phone rang the next morning and Assistant Store Manager Amber Gaddy answered. The guest explained to her his situation and asked if she could help. Amber informed the guest that she would send them by UPS that day. He wanted to know how to go about paying for the shipping, but Amber insisted that he allow her to personally pay for it. She simply asked that he “pay it forward” when given the opportunity.

Amber packed up his bag safely to prevent any damage during shipping and took the package to the UPS store in Hudson. She then the guest the tracking information. She was thankful to hear from the guest when he received the package.

“This location went above and beyond to get it [my bag] back to me. It is people like this that matter most… it is greatly appreciated by this driver,” the guest wrote.

Amber credits her good deed to an example set by Michele Bahneman, customer service representative for the fuel desk. Around the time Amber started at TA Hudson, she received a call from a guest requesting Michele. He had forgotten his key ring in the shower room, and had been locked out of his house, garage, personal truck and storage unit. The guest told Amber that Michele had overnighted his keys, paying for the shipping to Canada herself. He wanted to thank her for her kindness.

“Fast forward a little over a year later, and I found myself in a similar situation. When the driver asked me how we could get his personal belongings to him, I remembered what Michele had done, and followed her example,” Amber said.