Great Customer Service

I would like to take this opportunity to laud two staff members at the Cape Town International Airport, that went out of their way to help a total stranger on a mission. This mission had absolutely nothing to do with the airport or it’s day to day functions, or even anything to do with the work these two individuals do at the airport.

I am an animal activist and a topic very close to my heart is the stopping/closing down of puppy mills. A fellow activist happened to be at the airport on the 21st of March and had come across a poster that had been placed behind one of the doors in a ladies change room cubicle. She had managed to take a photo of the infographic, as it was such an amazing way to get the message of “adopt don’t shop”, across to the general public. The photo unfortunately did not capture the name of the person or organization that designed the poster and, as it was a photostat copy, we knew that this poster was not part of ACSA’s marketing material.

I contacted Cape Town International Airport the next day, Friday, to try and find out if someone could take a better photograph of the poster for me or even let me know who had designed it, or if there was an organization/company name on the poster. I have never been moved around from one department to another as much as I was this particular day. I was directed to practically every department in the airport: Customer Services, Maintenance, Marketing, Switchboard, Advertising, even individuals private extensions and then back through all these departments again. Still, no one could help me. I think I have a list of every extension at CTIA written down on my piece paper. Eventually, after I can’t remember how many phone calls, I was put through to Maintenance AGAIN and this is where my journey of restored faith began ????

A gentleman by the name of Charlston, who I had spoken to earlier that day, recognized my voice and my request, and out of pure disbelief that no-one had managed to help me, offered of his time and service, to assist me in my mission. Charlston arranged that a staff member from one of the cleaning teams, to go and look for the poster I was ranting and raving about. Sadly, at the end of that particular day, the poster was nowhere to be found ???? I had then just assumed that the poster had been removed, as it was not part of authorized marketing material. I had, during the course of the day, asked my friend if she could tell me exactly which cubicle she had seen the poster, and sent this description through to Charlston - (He had very kindly given me his personal contact details).

The next day....... Saturday.....after feeling despondent at the loss of a perfect piece of educational information..... I was blessed with a message from Charlston, wanting to let me know that they had found the poster!!! ????????????????????

Charlston, together with a gentleman by the name of Ebrahim from Corporate Cleaning & Hospitality, had managed to take time to go and look for me again and had found the poster I was looking for, and some. They took photo’s of the two posters that were in the cubicle and sent them on to me ????????????

It is not every day that one finds special people that help you on your personal “missions”.

Neither of these two gentlemen know me from a bar of soap. Neither of them needed to help me, as what I was after had nothing to do with aeroplanes, luggage, travel, flights, voyages or even services offered at the airport..... just some crazy dog lady that was on a mission to find a poster, that would further her own purposes and mission in life.

To Charlston in Maintenance - THANK YOU! Without you, I would still be searching for this enigma.

To Ebrahim from Corporate Cleaning and Hospitality - THANK YOU for taking time to go on a wild goose chase and search expedition to find that needle in a haystack.