If you follow us on social media then you’ve already got a pretty good idea of the happenings from our weekend. It. Was. Crazy. After receiving so much positive feedback, I felt like it would be a good time to blog it up over here and let y’all in on all the details! On Friday we came into work like business as usual. There was a voicemail on our office phone which was left by a customer, Allison, stating that she ordered a package on Monday and selected two day shipping but hadn’t received it yet and she needed it by tonight. We started our usual protocol for situations like this: look up the order, check tracking, search our entire building for a rogue package, verify addresses, call our reps…all leads pointed to the package being lost in the holiday hustle & bustle of the shipping world. I called Allison to update her on our findings, apologize, and ultimately offer her a refund. She was understanding but disappointed because she had bought this Alabama candle to give to her friend, David, at dinner that evening. David had recently lost his mother who lived in Alabama, and Allison’s intentions were for him to be able to light the candle and remember his mom. Completely smitten by her kindness, our thoughts were collectively spinning on ways we could somehow get a candle to her, 667 miles away, in a matter of hours.
At this point it was 10:30AM CST. I off-handedly teased our owner, Heather, about checking BNA for a flight…when I turned back around she was on Southwest Airline’s website. There was a flight leaving at 2:55 CST and landing at 5:30 CST to BWI (an hour north of D.C.) that we could put our operations manager, Hannah, on. We could actually do this. To double check our crazy, we called Heather’s husband, Brandon. Brandon said we were nuts but that we could try. Before we booked the ticket, I called my uncle, who is a News Director at a station in Memphis, to see if it would be worth contacting some local news in D.C. and pitching the story. He said to go for it, but more than that, he offered to make a few phone calls on our behalf if I sent him some extra information. We booked Hannah’s ticket. At this point it was 12:30 pm CST. At some point while I was in my office sending an impromptu press release, Hannah and Heather were booking a second ticket for me to tag along. So when I went to take a picture of Hannah pulling out of the parking lot to start our social media coverage, Heather met me at the front door with my ticket confirmation. This. Is. Real. Life. We called Allison on our way to Hannah’s house, 40 minutes from our office, to let her know that she would actually be getting her candle for David tonight and that there would be a camera crew, too! She called us crazy (we agreed) but was beyond excited for our meet-up at David’s apartment in downtown D.C. And then I called my husband to let him know I would not be home for dinner. We made it to Hannah’s home in downtown Nashville by 1:00 and threw together a carry-on suitcase of pajamas, toiletries, and coats for two. Hannah’s fiance let us know about a winter storm that could very well make getting home the next day impossible. What he said obviously didn’t register with us.
Airplane Ready!
We made it to the airport by 2:00, checked in, went through security, and power-walked to our gate just in time to board. By the time we got into our seats all we could do was look at each other and laugh! This was by far the craziest thing we’d ever done. And to put the cherry on top, it was free shipping day. Allison was getting the free shipping deal of the year! We landed at 5:30pm EST. Booked it to the shuttle that took us to the rental car portal. Rented our 2016 Dodge Challenger (seriously!) and ended up at David’s apartment by 7pm.
Claire, Hannah, Allison, DCW50 camera man, and David
Tomorrow we are sharing all about our night in D.C. and our adventure home (SPOILER: Jared was right about that winter storm)! See you then!