It’s so wonderful to hear about people who will do a little bit extra at the end of the day.

Below is a really special story (one of the many that are happening around the launching of the National Lottery) about some guys who were willing to go the extra mile to help Gareth, our ‘master of disaster’, out:

To the Warehouse Management

This won’t take long. It is Tuesday night and it is the first opportunity I have had to reflect during the last 6 weeks.

I recall one evening at approx 17:45pm when I arrived at the Old Nashua Building. I came to a halt with approx 25 000 training manuals in the back of my VW caddy. The printer had delivered late. The manuals needed to be distributed urgently. The fork lift workers had left. The back of the Caddy was stuffed with boxes. I was alone.

Assembled on the Nashua warehouse dock were approx 20 youths. Most were smoking and relaxing after a hard day. I started to unpack the Caddy. I stacked up my trolley and did a few trips into the warehouse. The guys watched and carried on smoking and laughing.

I could see that the work was too much for me. I wandered over to the workers and asked for help. I stated that I couln’t pay them overtime. It was voluntary. Most just sat there and stared at me. I went back to the work and did another three trips into the warehouse.

Slowly, one by one three guys stepped forward. There was taunting from their mates. We started stacking more trolleys and moving quicker. They helped me clear over 55 boxes of training manuals and empty the Caddy.

I was so impressed by these guys that I took down their names. I want to highlight their names to the warehouse management. Most of the time we are too busy to notice individuals. The warehouse guys are a crowd. Individuals rarely stand out for outstanding work because they are a production line. I would like to suggest that these three guys have something extra to offer. It’s a tiny thing but they stand out in a crowd. Bill, Bilaal, Neil or Jenny if you need to choose someone from the crowd perhaps you could offer an opportunity to one of these guys first .

Their names are:

Patrick Maubane - 072 843 5075
Thabiso Mochela - 083 433 3862
Charles Maleka - 082 880 6901
Regards,

Gareth Lowndes

Ngikwazi Field Research: Logistics