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Mysticgirl's stories reminded me of what happened at my mall where I was Security (largest in the state) in a small state in New England a dozen years ago. I don't recall posting this before, but may have mentioned it in passing.
I get approached by an older couple who are frantic. Why? They had just gotten off the phone with their son. Apparently, he had gone out on his boat that day on the lake (large body of water, over 3-miles wide, 500ft deep) and his engine had cut-out. He was stranded and also his radio was not working, he didn't know the frequency for the coast guard anyway and his phone was dying. They saw the uniform and wondered if I could contact the coast guard. Ok, I figured I had to try. I called the local police who managed to get me the coast guard number. From their I got the number for the local coast guard station. The couple relayed where their son had launched from and what type of boat he had. Based on landmarks that the son saw, the coast guard sent-out a rescue and had located the son just as his phone died. So, happy ending and I made sure they gave me the frequency for the couple to write-down to give to their son later. I'm sure he got some fines for not having a working radio, but at least he was safe.
Of course, my boss wondered what was up with my report and scolded me a bit when I should have been 'doing my job' and that I should have told the couple to make the calls on their own; well, how would they have relayed the landmark information and such otherwise, as the boat was continuously drifting? I point blank told him that the handbook says our job is to help people and that it never specifically stated what we can and can't help them with, and this couple happened to need help contacting the coast guard!
I get approached by an older couple who are frantic. Why? They had just gotten off the phone with their son. Apparently, he had gone out on his boat that day on the lake (large body of water, over 3-miles wide, 500ft deep) and his engine had cut-out. He was stranded and also his radio was not working, he didn't know the frequency for the coast guard anyway and his phone was dying. They saw the uniform and wondered if I could contact the coast guard. Ok, I figured I had to try. I called the local police who managed to get me the coast guard number. From their I got the number for the local coast guard station. The couple relayed where their son had launched from and what type of boat he had. Based on landmarks that the son saw, the coast guard sent-out a rescue and had located the son just as his phone died. So, happy ending and I made sure they gave me the frequency for the couple to write-down to give to their son later. I'm sure he got some fines for not having a working radio, but at least he was safe.
Of course, my boss wondered what was up with my report and scolded me a bit when I should have been 'doing my job' and that I should have told the couple to make the calls on their own; well, how would they have relayed the landmark information and such otherwise, as the boat was continuously drifting? I point blank told him that the handbook says our job is to help people and that it never specifically stated what we can and can't help them with, and this couple happened to need help contacting the coast guard!
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