At the January Leadership Forum meeting, Curtis Popp, Vice President, Customer Operations, announced the winners of the 2021 fourth quarter and annual Customer Champion Awards.
Fourth Quarter Customer Champion
Our fourth quarter Customer Champion is a team of employees from Gas Distribution Operations. Dan Wiggins, Tyler Morris, Jonathan Tinkle, and Cameron Warren were recognized for their response to a gas leak affecting a downtown restaurant.
In early December, a gas leak was discovered that affected service to the Buca di Beppo on Illinois Street.
First, they challenged the process. The normal procedure for gas leaks is to shut off the service until repairs can be made. The crew of Dan, Tyler, Jonathan, and Cameron identified an unvoiced need—they knew the struggles our downtown business partners have experienced during the pandemic, as well as how important the upcoming weekend would be for this restaurant with thousands of visitors downtown for the Big Ten football championship game.
The employees made it personal by talking with the manager, and they learned the restaurant was expecting to serve around 500 meals the next evening due to the tournament. Instead of turning off service until a complete repair could be made the next day, the crew acted with urgency to temporarily fix the problem and then stayed on site to monitor it through the restaurant’s business hours that evening so they could continue serving customers.
They collaborated with other Citizens employees so the problem could be permanently fixed the next morning by another crew in time for the restaurant to open for lunch. The restaurant manager was very appreciative of how adaptable our employees were in this situation.
Congratulations to Dan, Tyler, Jonathan, and Cameron on earning a Customer Champion Award. We appreciate your dedication to serving our customers and for going above and beyond.
Left to right: Jonathan Tinkle, Tyler Morris, and Dan Wiggins; (Cameron Warren not pictured)
Annual Customer Champion
Our annual winner for 2021 is Utility Service Specialist Jay Tucker. Jay was our second-quarter winner who demonstrated many best practices during an emergency.
While en route to complete an order for a customer, Jay came upon a building fire. He noticed someone welding outside the building who seemed to have no idea the building was on fire!
Jay acted with urgency by pulling into the driveway of the business and identifying an unvoiced need by alerting the individual of the fire. Jay demonstrated that he knew the business by putting into practice skills he had learned through Citizens’ fire safety training, and he collaborated with Dispatcher Panika Allen, who supported him throughout the emergency and relayed pertinent information to the fire department. Jay made it personal by retrieving the fire extinguisher from his van and fighting the fire until the fire department arrived and finished extinguishing the fire.
The business owner expressed his gratitude to Jay for alerting him about the fire and helping save his building and his life!
Congratulations, Jay! Thank you for demonstrating the best practices of owning the customer experience.
