Gabriel Mendes
Dept: Guest Services
Nominated By: Shane Gibbons
Gabriel provided truly epic service when, upon encountering a lone injured guest from Brazil who spoke very little English, not only helped her get assistance for her injury (incurred when she fell while taking a lesson) by contacting patrol and later securing some ice (as that was all that could be done for the injury) but also helped her rescue her rental skis which were unable to be located at the time. If that were not enough, later, both he and JW obtained a wheelchair to transport her to her vehicle upon her intent to depart the mountain. Imagine that you are in a country where you don't speak much of the language (if at all) and those people who are with you that you rely upon to help you communicate are nowhere to be seen. Try to envision your own panic and anxiety at that point. How would you view someone who did what Gabriel did? Along comes a fellow countryman who helps you to solve all, yes all, of your immediate problems. That is the ideal to which we should all aspire.
Stephanie Padilla
Dept: Accounting
Nominated By: Jasmyne Crissey and Emily Davis
#1 On 01/19 (payday-a very busy day for the vault) an employee walked down to the vault on his 10-minute break to cash his check and found that they were out doing their rounds for the morning. A couple of hours later, he called down to the vault during his lunch break to confirm that someone was there and did not get an answer. Steph called back upon her return to her office to check in-I told her an employee was just calling earlier to see if someone was down their to cash his check and that I would let him know when I saw him next that someone was back in the vault. Instead of waiting for that employee to come down to her, Stephanie rushed a change bag up to our office so that the employee could cash his check up here. Epic! Beyond this instance, Stephanie has been more than accommodating to the PSS department. She has worked with and been patient about all of our "Out of Balance" requests in helping our office become more efficient on busy days (i.e., printing Paid Parking and Snowmobile Activity tickets in advance), as well as making change for us in the office on our high volume days.
#2 Stephanie has taken it upon herself to bake an amazing treat (or treats) for every K-Facts meeting. She has paid for all the ingredients herself and spends a ton of time on each item she bakes. Steph has really gone above and beyond for our employees. Thank you for being awesome and all the super YUMMY snacks!
Suzy Drummond
Dept: Guest Services
Nominated By: Stephanie Padilla
Suzy received a distressed phone call on Sunday 1/21/18 from a gentleman named Jim representing a visiting group, Athenian school. Jim brought 25 kids up to ski in a bus which had broken down before their departure on Sunday and was trying to figure out how to get them home. Jim had contacted Triple A, who told him they couldn't fix his vehicle, and would have to tow it to South Lake Tahoe. He told Suzy that he wasn't sure who to contact and was reaching out to her department for assistance of any sort, as he was extremely frazzled and had sent the kids off to ski while he tried to find a solution. Suzy, between taking other guest service calls as well as shuttle dispatch calls, attempted to do all possible to help. Figuring they were from South Lake, she tried getting in touch with our transportation department to see if they could dispatch an additional evening shuttle to help the school, but pulled back when she confirmed with Jim and found our they were up from the bay area. Jumping gears, she checked with group sales to see if there was a bus up from the bay area for the day, but alas, there was not. Still undeterred, she gathered information from the All West website to see if the Sacramento office would be able to work with Jim and the school. She gave all information to Jim and told him to continue to keep her in the loop on his situation. Triple A eventually came up and WAS able to fix his vehicle, but he entered the guest service office and thanked Suzy for all her help. Suzy's quick thinking made many options available for the guest, even though he didn't have to use them. Thank you Suzy for delivering EPIC SERVICE!
Alex Lantz
Dept: Lift Maintenance
Nominated By: Kip McCarthy, Jason Fontenot, Art Simis, Boyd Arnold, Kate Meyer
#1 Alex shoveled all Saturday morning to help the resort prepare for a high traffic day. Thanks, Alex!
#2 Alex made the mountain and lift maintenance department proud by going above and beyond the call of duty and made it a personal goal to get the Vista T-Bar open for the season. Alex convinced a few people from lift operations that they could do it without help from snow-cats and without disrupting operational plans, pulled it off!
#3 On 1-27-18 Alex single-handedly led the charge to get the Vista t-bar open for the 1st time on the busiest day of the year with the best conditions of the year. Grooming was unable to put the track in and do the work required up top. Management had already given up on opening it for the day but Alex with a customer 1st mentality would not give up and persevered to lead a team doing all the work by hand.
#4 On 1/27/2018 Alex came into the Lift Ops locker room all amped up to get The Vista lift open. He asked Lift Ops to stock the lift and to be ready to staff it then he headed out to the lift. He asked for help from grooming to smooth out the lower half of the tow path and began hand shoveling the upper half of the tow path. Alex and I hiked to the top of Vista and hand shoveled for a few hours to build a proper break over and unloading area. Alex's initiative and teamwork led to Kirkwood’s first day of having 100% of our Lifts open!
#5 Vista Tow has been closed this season due to low snow levels. It was decided to hold off on opening vista until after our busy weekend but Boyd Arnold and Alex Lantz decided there should be no reason to keep our guests from the experience of a lifetime. They worked with a cat on the bottom of the ramp but when the cat could no longer help them they took matters into their own hands and hand shoveled the upper half, allowing vista to open ahead of schedule, much to the delight of many of our guests. This act was truly an epic display of outstanding customer service, something we have come to expect and admire from both of these employees time and time again.
AND THE WINNER IS . . .
DAN DEEMER!
Dept: Guest Services
Nominated By: Alison Green, James Arrington, The HR Team, Alex Tyler, Natasha Buffo, Clayton Kelley
#1 Dan noticed the KBar umbrella flapping in the wind on Thursday, Jan 18 and took it upon himself to attach rope to the torn end of the wrap. He also lassoed the umbrella super tight, top to bottom, to keep it intact during the severe winds.
#2 Daniel has always put other departments first in his mind to make sure that the daily operations run smoothly. Most recently I assisted him in relocating a project that he had worked on for the Employee Center. Dan fore fronted and paid from his own pocket to give ALL employees another means of having fun on the mountain. The game that he brought to the Center hadn't even been installed for a minute before the first employee began to enjoy it!
#3 Over the course of many months, Dan Deemer spent his time, money and energy designing and putting together an arcade machine for the Kirkwood Employee Center. Dan's commitment to the Kirkwood family and the employee experience is HUGE and we are so grateful for all of his work!
#4 Dan found an old arcade cabinet for sale and spent a couple weeks repairing it, rewiring the guts, and making it look good all on his own dime. He then donated it to our employee center so all the KW employees can enjoy it for free.
#5 Mr. Deemer saw a need - an opportunity to provide an Experience of a Lifetime for our employees - and decided to own it himself, without hesitation, request for monetary support, or even wanting any recognition. He gathered the parts, researched troubleshooting boards online, teamed up with one of our IT experts, and spent every single night working into the late hours on "the project" then getting up early again the next day to run his department. He even drove around two hours away from Kirkwood to pick up the main cabinet. The Kirkwood Arcade has stunned countless employees in the last 48 hours since it has been in the Employee Center. Most importantly, it has brought more people down to enjoy the center, adding to an environment that we have been trying to cultivate this entire season! It has been spectacular to witness both the hard work and commitment he has put into the project, as well as the smiles and appreciation from all the employees.
#6 Dan made the mountain proud with the help from Alex from I.T. by building a free arcade machine that employees are able to use in the employee center. He dedicated his time and finances in creating a lasting project that will provide tons of entertainment for employees for years to come!!! GOOD WORK DAN AND ALEX!
CONGRATS DAN AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO TO MAKE THE MOUNTAIN PROUD!