Lean On Me
It was February — one of the busiest times of the year at Choice Bank in Grafton. As a farming community, this is when farmers are doing renewals and everyone is ramping up for the upcoming season.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic,” Jeanie Smestad, Insurance Manager, explained. “Everyone is constantly on the go, helping customers, zooming around all day.”
For Jeanie, it was a particularly hectic day. The kind of day where you have to-do lists spilling across your desk, and no matter how many little tasks you complete, more keep popping up.
“I had a lot of files, folders, insurance accounts,” Jeanie sighed, just thinking about it. “Oh and a mountain of paperwork to do.”
“Everyone is constantly on the go, helping customers, zooming around all day.”
In the midst of this mounting pile of work, Jeanie paused to check through the mail. She found an envelope addressed to her office in Grafton. But when she opened it up, she realized it was an insurance policy that needed to be sent to Fargo.
“It was like, ‘oh gosh, what do I do,’” she said. “It sat there, and I said, ‘I’ll do it next.’”
Then, the phone rang. A customer needed her help. Someone else stopped in the office with insurance questions. Another phone call.
And just like that, it was 4:15 PM. Every day, at 4:30 PM, a Choice Bank employee runs the mail to the post office before their 5 PM cut off time. If you miss the cut off time, you have to wait until the next day and your mail is delayed.
On this day, it was Rachel Pich, a Client Services Specialist, who decided to collect the mail. She poked her head into Jeanie’s office.
“Any mail to go out today?” she asked.
Jeanie looked up from her stack of paperwork.
“I don’t think so…” she paused. She glanced down and noticed the piece of mail on the corner of her desk. Ah-ha!
“Wait! Yes!” Jeanie handed her the envelope. “I have this insurance policy to mail. It needs to be re-addressed to the Fargo location. Would you mind doing that for me? I completely forgot about it.”
Without hesitation, Rachel took the package. “Of course!”
She got a new envelope, addressed it to the Fargo office, and made sure everything was correct this time. Then she gathered up the mail and delivered it to the post office just in the nick of time.
It was, in her mind, an inconsequential act; something she did without thinking twice. What she didn’t realize was the impact it had on Jeanie after a long, stressful day.
“It was a huge sigh of a relief for me,” she said. “I knew I didn’t miss the mail run, and I knew it had gotten done. She took care of the new label and getting it where it needed to go.”
It was, in her mind, an inconsequential act; something she did without thinking twice. What she didn’t realize was the impact it had on Jeanie after a long, stressful day.
Jeanie thanked her later and described how her help was such a relief in the midst of a hectic day. Because of Rachel’s help, Jeanie was able to finish her work day without any loose ends. Rachel was happy to do so.
“I like to be helpful,” Rachel said. “If I do something to help a coworker feel better, and keep their workflow going, that makes me happy. And it helps our customers, too!”
Both Jeanie and Rachel pointed to the core value “Know when to ask for help, and know when to offer it” with this story.
“Sometimes all you have to do is mention it, and someone takes care of it for you,” Jeanie said.
“We’ve got each other’s backs,” Rachel added with a smile.
Our People First values are at the heart of everything we do. Learn more about our passion for putting People First <strong><a href=”https://bankwithchoice.com/peoplefirst/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>here</a></strong>.