An American couple arrived at the US Embassy in Athens on Friday 17 June 2011 at about ten minutes to five in the afternoon.
They were supposed to embark on a cruise this morning, Saturday, and somewhere, at some point, during the day, they had lost one of their passports.
No passport? No cruise...
He was shaking, she was crying....
In they came, and we were able to process a new passport and get them on their way in an hour or so.
They were, of course very grateful and thanked us.
I told them that while we can't always fix things, when we can, we do. It is our job.
Here is the good part: when they first realized they had lost the passport, they went to the front desk of their hotel.
The hotel called every single museum, shop, restaurant, etc., that they had visited that day to ask if anyone had found the passport.
No luck.
Then the hotel called the embassy to see if it was still open.
Then, they got them a cab. When they arrived at the embassy, the cab driver offered to wait for them, to see if they could get in.
When they got the OK from the Embassy and went back out to pay the fare, the driver refused to accept any money from them.
He would not let them pay.
The couple told the offficer that they would always remember the day that the wonderful people of Athens saved their vacation of a lifetime.
So, on their behalf,
Thank you Athens. Greece's legendary hospitality is alive and well!
"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted!"
We agree 100%!
We are so glad to see that despite the economic crisis Greece retains its legenday hospitality and its sense of values.
Please feel free to share this great little story. We loved it and thank the US Embassy officer for telling it and Sharon C for passing it on...
Wish we knew the name of the hotel and the taxi driver too...
