Fort Bragg Recognizes MCS Associate for Helping Grateful Customer With Last-Minute Request
Michael Lee, a Fort Bragg Military Clothing store shift manager, recently went the extra mile to help a customer in need. It’s possible nobody would have known were the customer not so grateful.
The Fort Bragg Military Clothing store received a message that a customer needed help making sure that a Soldier who had passed away received a proper burial, which included a full uniform.
When Lee called the customer back, he learned that the customer had everything but the Army sergeant first class sew-on rank insignia. He had tried four other stores in the area without success. He told Lee that the funeral was the next morning – and the customer lives four hours from Fort Bragg.
Lee said he would send the insignia to the customer. Knowing that it was too late in the day to ship the insignia via Federal Express, he went to the post office across from the Bragg mini mall to send the package via overnight mail—and paid for everything out of his own pocket.
It was 4:30 in the afternoon when Lee talked to the customer. The post office closed at 5.
Fort Bragg Exchange teammates celebrate Michael Lee, Military Clothing store manager, after he received an award for going out of his way to help a customer with a last-minute request.
“When I looked at the receipt, the time said 1655,” Lee said. “The packaged arrived at 8:30 the next morning. I don’t know how they did that so quickly but I’m glad the customer received the package.”
The customer offered to pay Lee back. He declined.
“That was all Michael,” Dave Dingwell, Fort Bragg Military Clothing store manager, told the Express Post during this week’s Military Clothing Conference. “Nobody knew what he did until the customer called the general manager’s office. He’s just a very modest guy.”
The customer called to praise Lee, a 20-year Army Veteran who has been with the Exchange since 2011 and been at the MCS since 2016. General Manager Thomas Kuttamperoor presented Lee with a “Sharing and Caring” certificate in a ceremony attended by Bragg team members.
For Lee, though, this was all in a day’s work.
“It was taking care of a Soldier,” Lee said. “That was one of the reasons I wanted to work in a Military Clothing store.”
