Customer Focus - Ben & Jon Meet Customer Needs in an Unusual Way

One of the PUD’s core values is “Customer Focus.” While that has always been part of the PUD culture and we all do that already in our jobs everyday, Ben Mangeng and Jon Williams demonstrated this value on another level last week with an unusual customer visit. On October 22, Ben and Jon were performing a site visit for a telecom fiber connect in the Highway 108/Hurley Waldrip area when they had an opportunity to don a superhero cape and put their first aid training into practice!

We are very proud of these two for keeping their cool and helping some of our more fragile customers in need…Here’s Ben’s recap of the story:

“When we arrived, we knocked on the door. A few lights were on in the house which gave us hope that indeed, there was someone home. After waiting for a minute, we opted for a more forceful arrival announcement; We rang the doorbell.

Immediately we started hearing noises from inside. The rustling of quick movement and whispers could be heard from outside the building. The door creaked open and a man staired back out at us.

Jon introduced us and said we are here to talk about bringing fiber to his house. A look of confusion.

“You may remember we spoke on the phone yesterday and made an appointment to talk about fiber,” he said... The man inside just stared. As he stared, he slowly started leaning toward the door.

Then, suddenly slow was no longer an option.

His momentum quickly built. He continued falling over and hit the door as his feet slid out from under him. He hit the floor hard.

There was a moment of uncertainty as we were shocked at what we had just witnessed. The lady in the room worriedly pleaded for us to please help him. I rushed over to him as he lay there on the ground. “Sir, are you OK?” I asked.

He appeared to be moving slightly, but he did not respond.

I looked up at the lady and said, “would you please call 911?”.

“Yes, please,” she responded.

“Ma'am would you please call 911!” I restated.

She rushed off to get the phone and called.

“Sir, are you OK?” I repeated.

Another movement, but no response. She came back and said she was not able to get ahold of them.

Quickly, Jon had his phone out and offered to call just as their home phone started to ring again.

“I think this is them calling her back,” I said.

She started talking to the dispatcher saying that they were already here helping, and she was not sure if they needed anyone else. The man on the ground started moving slightly. I asked if he was OK again, and this time he responded with labored breathing, and then finally, a yes.

I asked what I could do to help him while overhearing a conversation with Dispatch that was not going well. Jon rushed into the house to get his walker. I provided support for the gentleman as he slowly lifted himself from the ground.

As Jon held the walker, I assisted him onto it. Hearing that there was still confusion on the phone call, I offered to speak with the dispatcher, when I was promptly handed the phone. I introduced myself and asked if I was speaking to Dispatch. The dispatcher replied yes and asked if we needed an ambulance.

I relayed the inquiry to the man recovering on the walker, to which he responded, “No, no, no.”

I offered him the phone and let him talk to the dispatcher since he did not want them to come out. After he hung up the phone, he said, “it’s tough getting old!””

Ben and Jon completed their site visit with discussion of fiber optic service. Thank you guys for representing the PUD so well and for giving us this shining example of one of our main core values!