Always Do the Right Thing

by DOUG HENSLEY

As any United Family Team Member can testify, it’s always important to pay attention to your surroundings – because you just never know what you might need to do.

Shernika Wilson, service manager at #517 (Market Street, Wichita Falls), recently demonstrated why this is so important. During her shift one day during the early evening hours of May, she was informed by several guests that they could hear a baby’s cries coming from a vehicle in the store’s parking lot. Shernika went out to check and saw an infant who had been left in the car.

“It was like 100-plus degrees,” she said, “and the first thing I thought was, ‘I will deal with the parents when they come out, but I’m taking this baby out of the car.’”

United regularly trains team members to be observant and notice situations that may not look right and react to them by letting others know.

“We definitely spend time talking to our teams about always being aware of their surroundings,” said Allen Smith, Wichita Falls regional vice president. “We talk about that in training – make sure you know the situation and approach it the right way.”

Which is exactly how Shernika handled things.

First, she asked a nearby guest to call 911, then removed the baby from the car seat and made sure the infant was safe until emergency personnel reached the scene. Fortunately, the car was unlocked, so she had no issues accessing the vehicle and reaching the baby.

“As I got close to the car, I could hear the baby cry, and what was going through my mind was why are bystanders just standing around and not taking the baby out of the car,” she said. “I just knew we didn’t need to leave that baby in the car.”

While such heroics are not necessarily all in a day’s work at United, team members understand sometimes they need to do something that falls outside the scope of their day-to-day job duties.

“Shernika had gone on a carry-out and put the basket up when she noticed guests gathered around a vehicle and realized a child was in the car,” Julie Brown, Wichita Falls regional administrative assistant, said. “The guests indicated they had called the police but had not gotten the child out. She just opened the door and got the baby out. No questions asked; she knew she had to do that. Then she stayed and held the baby until the EMT’s arrived.”

For Shernika, who has been with the company for 16 years, it was simply a matter of doing the right thing, which is a guiding principle across all facets of The United Family.

“I just did what I thought was right,” she said. “I did what I hope any other manager would have done in the same situation.”

The decisive actions came as no surprise to Josh Griffin, the store director at #517. “I came into the scenario after everything had taken place, but my thought is once Shernika saw the baby, she just reacted,” he said. “She is a very caring individual. She cares about her fellow team members, and she cares about our guests. And I firmly believe if the car door had not been unlocked, she would have found a way to get it unlocked.”

Shernika was recognized by the store team with an “Ultimate Service” Mission Statement award and a gift basket.

“Our security people at 517 reached out to us and wanted to make sure we knew about the scenario,” Julie said. “Shernika is such a humble person, she would never say anything about what happened. For her, it was just do the right thing and move on.”