Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
On our internal employee website, there is an amazing story of a Cisco colleague based in El Salvador, Rafael Cobos. Rafael is a systems engineer and was on a flight to Honduras in horrible weather when, upon an obviously rough landing, his plane “crashed through a fence before spilling out into the street amid traffic and pedestrians. Cobos’ face slammed into the seat in front of him, injuring his nose. The plane broke into two sections before grinding to a halt in the side of a hill. At least two vehicles were trapped beneath the fuselage.”
Not a good start to the day for Rafael, to be sure. What makes this even more incredible is that Rafael, after helping fellow passengers exit the plane, (tragically, two passengers, the pilot, and two bystanders lost their lives) then realized he needed to get his passport stamped, so he went back into the airport and asked to go through immigration, broken nose and all. He was in Honduras to present to a customer, so after a visit to the hospital he went to the customer site and made his presentation. Clearly, above and beyond the call of duty, but one more example of (Cisco plug alert!!!) how important our customers are to us.
And, the lesson in all of this comes from Rafael who says, ”(w)hat they say is true: When you live through something like this, you appreciate what you have more.”
So, make sure you take the time this weekend to count your blessings and maybe give your wife/husband/kids/moms/dads/brothers/sisters /aunts/uncles/friends an extra hug…or e-mail or facebook message of appreciation.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 12:49PM PST
Carlo Di Fiore Jul 27, 2008
John, I totally agree with you. Sometime, or often, we lose sense to what are the best things to consider.
Carlo