Mr. George Gold Coin Award: Ime Mitchell

As the months go by and seasons change, so will the awesome content we post here at The Publix Checkout. But, like our dedication to offering premier customer service, one section that will never change is our Mr. George Gold Coin Award recipient of the month.

If this is your first time checking out a Mr. George Gold Coin Award story, welcome! You may find this link helpful if you’d like to read about what the Gold Coin Award is and where it all began, or if you’d like to check out other stories like the one you’re about to read here.

This month, we had the pleasure of speaking with Gold Coin Award recipient Ime Mitchell, from Sandy Springs, Georgia. Ime is a pharmacy technician at her local Publix and has been a part of our team since 2012. In the pharmacy, she most enjoys being able to help customers with their medical and prescription questions and says she takes great pride in making sure they understand the directions before leaving the counter.

When her customers come into the store, whether to do their weekly grocery shopping or just to pick up a few things, Ime says that it’s important to make sure they each have an enjoyable, relaxing and stress free shopping experience. She says that she feels Publix’s dedication to providing exceptional customer service aligns perfectly with how she expects a store to run and that is one of the many reasons why she plans to make a lifelong career at Publix. Receiving the Gold Coin Award, she went on to tell us, means that she’s doing her part to uphold the Publix culture of providing premier customer service and she could not be more honored.

In her free time, Ime enjoys participating in obstacle races all over the city, trying daring new cuisines, and dancing. During our interview, we asked her to tell us a fun, random fact about herself and she said that once she tried out to be a female body builder, but after the preliminary screening, realized it wasn’t for her. On a daily basis, her coworkers said they would describe Ime as very caring, cheerful, observant and silly at times.

The Story

The day began just as any other day at Publix would. Customers were strolling up and down the aisles doing their grocery shopping while Ime assisted those picking up their prescriptions in the pharmacy. Around midday, a father and his 11 month old son came into the store to pick up a few scripts that had been called in. While at the counter waiting for Ime to finish up, the young boy began to have a febrile seizure. Up until that moment, he’d never had a seizure before and as you can only imagine, his dad began to panic.

Without hesitation, Ime quickly sprang into action, running around the counter to meet the two up front. She instructed him to quickly put his son up on the counter and to loosen up his clothing and lay him on his side. While doing this she told the father to time the seizures so that he’d be able to relay the information to his doctor once they got him on the phone. During all of this she was able to calmly explain to the boy’s father what was likely happening to him. After about two minutes, they were able to get him relaxed and then over to the proper place for care.

A few weeks later, the man, his wife, and their son returned to the store to say that he was doing well and to personally thank Ime for her support and comfort during their time of need.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re so happy to hear he is doing well and so thankful that Ime was able to help save the day.

Have you ever witnessed an associate truly going above and beyond at your local Publix? Share your story with us on Facebook, Twitter, via our Contact Us page, or give our Customer Care team a call at (800) 242-1227.