Going the extra mile
Three Mossel Bay women have given tourists a truly memorable taste of good South African service.
When Belgian tourist Michèle Simonis realised she had forgotten her handbag at the Engen 1 Stop on the N2 outside Mossel Bay, the family was already 200km away and they believed they would never see the bag again.
But they soon discovered that South African service and attention to detail run deep.
The three staff members at the filling station were determined to go the extra mile to reunite Michèle with her bag, even if the family had already departed the country for home.
Getting the bag back to Belgium was a joint effort. It was discovered by Engen staffers Lynette Josephs, Hazel Matiso and Monique Floors, who then alerted Engen 1 Stop Mossel Bay director, Dirk van Niekerk.
From there, the bag was delivered to the son of the owner of a George guesthouse, who was set to return home to Germany, from where it was couriered to Michèle in Belgium. Her husband Luc Theunissen was astounded: “South African people are really incredible.”
In his first letter to Dirk, Theunissen expressed concern about whether the bag still contained a pair of glasses, his wife’s keys and a USB stick containing pictures of the couple and their daughters on holiday in Oudtshoorn.
Dirk responded: “Looks like everything is still in the handbag - even the money!”
“I am extremely proud of our staff. They turned a situation that could have left a bad taste in the mouths of foreign visitors into a total triumph,” Dirk said.
The three staff members at the filling station were determined to go the extra mile to reunite Michèle with her bag.