Solutions Current Issues > Jan.Feb.Mar_2009 > COVER STORY
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HAPPY TO BE HERE
Doing It All With a Smile on Her Face and Garth Brooks in the Glove Box
RL Hudson receptionist Carolyne Som de Cerff is leading
the
company's first-ever campaign to provide holiday
cheer to a local family in need. For more on this
see Rick Hudson's column, "The Right Things Right."
RL Hudson Receptionist Carolyne Som de Cerff is real. You can’t make up someone like her. With her unflagging optimism, her joy for living and the Garth Brooks CD in her glovebox awaiting an autograph, she is one interesting lady.
Carolyne and her husband, Peter, have six children ranging from Olivia, a freshman at the University of Arkansas, to Jason, a nine-year old with special needs. Carolyne decided originally to return to the workforce to help pay for Jason’s medical expenses and for private school tuition for the older children.
When the employment agency sent her to RL Hudson to interview for a receptionist opening, she wasn’t sure it was the position she aspired to — but after the interview her only concern was that the interview seemed too brief to be positive. Carolyne recalls, “When the lady from the agency called, I hoped I’d be asked back for a second interview. I was disappointed when she said that there wouldn’t be another interview. Then she added, ‘But, they want to know if you can start work there next Monday.’”
Since then, Carolyne has enthusiastically embraced the position of receptionist. “Answering the phone and welcoming guests are the most important things I do,” she says, “but I enjoy other parts of my job too.” Since she settled into the position two years ago she has taken on additional tasks that help customers and colleagues. “There are things I can be doing in between calls, plus I found some things that I was passing on to other people — such as faxes looking for part numbers — that I could learn to do myself. That helps us respond quicker to customers.”
She also sets the tone for the customers and vendors who visit RL Hudson’s Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, headquarters. “I treat our visitors as I would guests in my home,” she says. And they really notice. Fred Ebrahimi from JulyInk, a frequent visitor, notes, “Carolyne always makes you feel welcome, and no matter what kind of day you’re having you feel better after just a ‘hello’ from her.”
Carolyne claims that her approach is neither special nor unique. “It’s the RL Hudson Way,” she says. “When a customer has a problem, you find someone who can solve it. If the person a caller is asking for isn’t in, you find someone else who can help. And, no one at Hudson says, ‘That’s not my job.’” Carolyne’s personal motto, found on every email she sends, sums up her attitude: “Happy to be here, easy to work with.”
Off the job, she doesn’t view bringing up a special needs child as any kind of hardship. Since Peter, a consulting engineer, occasionally travels, her mother lives with the family and helps with Jason. “My other children have learned a lot living with a child with needs — suction, oxygen, feeding tubes.”
There have been sacrifices, though. The family has had no vacations since Jason came into the world. That, however, will change in January. “Jason’s doctor referred us to Make-A-Wish and in January the whole family will go with Jason to Disney World,” says Carolyne. “It will be a wonderful time for all of us.”
And that Garth Brooks CD? Since the Oklahoma native’s star shot across the sky, Carolyne has been one of his biggest fans. “He lives near here, and if I ever run into him I want to be ready, so I have a CD in the glove box of my car for him to autograph. I also have a CD by his wife Trisha Yearwood so she can autograph it, in case they’re together.”
Carolyne Som de Cerff — always gracious. And, will this dream ever come true? She smiles, nods and says firmly, “It could happen.” Don’t bet that it won’t.
PLANNING AHEAD: A fan of country superstar Garth Brooks, Carolyne keeps one of his CDs in her glove box. She wants to be ready for an autograph if she ever meets the Tulsa-area resident And just in case he’s with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, Carolyne has one of her CDs too. “I wouldn’t want to offend her” she says.
