When employees take on a relocation or global assignment, they’re not just starting a new stage of their career, they’re turning a new page in their lives. The personal aspects of the move are woven indelibly into the professional. And stories like this remind us of that.
One of our Senior Household Goods Counselors recently shared an example of Legendary Service that was decades in the making.
It began in 2008 with an assignee returning from Italy to the United States. As the Counselor explains it, “Her shipment consisted of personal effects, including family photos and her father’s ashes. She couldn’t pay the exam fees, didn’t have a place to deliver the shipment to, and couldn’t afford storage.”
The assignee fell off the radar, unreachable by phone or mail, and after a few years, the unclaimed goods were marked for disposal. But the Counselor kept the ashes and photos and stored them in an office closet, hoping that one day they may be returned to their rightful owner.
Years went by. And the Counselor kept trying to locate the assignee to no avail. At one point, the team was moved to a new office, so the personal effects were sent to a storage warehouse for safe keeping.
Another stack of years went by until the Counselor got word that the storage facility was being closed. Determined to save the assignee’s belongings once again, she enlisted her manager and other colleagues to do some detective work.
This time, the efforts paid off. Twelve years after the assignee went radio silent, she was found, and was eventually reunited with her heirlooms. The assignee’s response, which she posted to social media, pushed this story over the top, reminding us that sometimes, even in the most impossible circumstances, happy endings are possible.
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