Several Postal Service employees joined forces last week to save Valentine’s Day for a desperate customer in Illinois.
When John Gherardini realized he wouldn’t receive his renewed passport in time for a Feb. 14 flight to Australia with his wife, he contacted Centralia, IL, Customer Services Supervisor Sherri Andrews, who enlisted the help of Capital Metro Area Sr. Business Services Network Specialist Sharon Bayly.
“The Department of State is one of the accounts I service, so I had a good idea of where to start fixing this problem,” Bayly said.
After contacting the department, Bayly discovered the quickest solution was to cancel Gherardini’s renewal application and process a new one.
But Bayly still had to get the passport to Gherardini in time for his flight.
Knowing he would have a layover at Los Angeles International Airport, Bayly arranged for Los Angeles Customer Services Operations Analyst Awjanae Johnson to pick up the passport from the State Department and deliver it to the airport.
There was no margin for error.
“I didn’t get much sleep the night before [Gherardini’s flight]. I just laid there wondering if there was anything else I could do,” Bayly said.
Indeed, Johnson reached Gherardini in the nick of time.
“Once he saw me waiting curbside for him in a government vehicle with everything but a flag flying from it, he became greatly overjoyed with excitement and appreciation for all the effort and attention the Postal Service placed upon him,” Johnson said.