Travelling sue to the loss of a loved one can place extra stress on a person, and when a problematic situation arose for one such passenger, she was very grateful that one of our Omni-Serv airport team members offered to help her in a way she did not expect. As she noted to us:

“My mother died suddenly and I was returning from her funeral. We had to move everything out of her apartment in just a few days, and mom’s letter opener was hurriedly scuttled along with her desktop papers into my briefcase. As her executrix, I needed to take all of the legal documents with me in our drive from FL to the Northeast to deliver some of her furnishings to family members. We turned in our rental car for our flight back to FL from Newark, where a TSA agent discovered this antique letter opener in the bottom of my computer carry-on. I was completely surprised with this discovery, as I was overwhelmed with all of the details of having her body shipped back, the funeral and reception, and my responsibilities to manage her estate. None of these things weighed more heavily on my mind than the loss of my mother. She was my best friend, so lively and vibrant, we expected her to live 2 more decades, but a dissected aorta took her from us instantly. In any case, I recognized that the letter opener was a sharp object and could not be allowed. I thought I remembered where there was a shipping store in airports for just such events, but was told they no longer existed. This was very upsetting as this small trinket was dear to my mother and one of few belongings I could keep, as I live on a boat. One of the Omni-Serv agents told me to go down to the baggage couter to see if they could put it in my checked bag. When I got to baggage, the office was locked and there were several others waiting for service. I approached the Omni-Serv employee and asked if she knew when they’d be back. She knew they’d been gone over 20 minutes and should be back any minute. She even went to a break room to see if she could find them, but no one was there either. As time was passing, I was concerned I would miss my flight, but the thought of just discarding the treasure was inconceivable. The Omni-Serv agent saw my distress and asked how she could help. Upon hearing my story, first of all she shared her heart felt sympathy for the loss of my mother and said this was the anniversary of the loss of her own mother, and she knew how devastating it was to lose your mother. She too, remembered that there used to be shipping stations in airports, but no more. She apologized for not being able to help and returned to her station. My thoughts were racing how I could possibly save the letter opener and agonized over throwing it away. Just then, the same Omni-Serv agent returned and offered to mail the item to me. This was such an unexpected act of kindness from a complete stranger, my eyes welled-up with tears and I gave her a big hug. You are my angel I told her! We hugged again, then I ran off to the gate, turning back to give her a final wave. She is a beautiful human being. Her name is Maria Long. Maria has many great qualities as a person. But I hope you will reward her professionalism in my case. She knew exactly what was going on in her area, how long the baggage folks were on break and where to find them. She took stock of the situation and came up with solutions. When nothing worked, she created another solution and solved the problem. A true leader. She is smart, compassionate and a natural problem solver. She is a special soul. I went shopping for an appropriate gift for her and found an angel pendant for a necklace. She will always be my little angel. I will never forget the good that happened because of Maria Long, as I pray the good will always outweigh the bad. Thank you so much.”

Maria, thanks for being such a great member of our team and an inspiration to us all!