Be Kind: Long Island bagel shop clerk drives 7 hours to return customer's car key fob
MIDDLE ISLAND, Long Island (WABC) -- A clerk at a Long Island bagel shop drove seven hours to return a customer's missing car key fob.
"He said, 'I'll drive them to you,'" Ridge resident Diana Chong said about Bagels 101 store manager Vincent Proscia. "No hesitation at all."
On Saturday morning, Chong quickly popped into the Middle Island bagel shop for coffee before getting on the road to Pennsylvania for a Friendsgiving. Her husband was driving their 2016 Kia Sedona, so she just hopped out of the car to go inside.
"I took my keys because I use the Bally Rewards," she said. "I come here every morning on my way to work. And then after that, I got my bagels. I went back in the car and we drove away."
They drove all the way from Middle Island to Honesdale -- 180 miles away -- and that's when she realized she'd left her keys behind.
"I'm just happy we made to our destination," Chong said. "Because if we would have stopped to let out the dog and shut off the car, we would have been stranded."
Proscia said Chong called the shop to let them know that she had left her keys there.
"I said I'll overnight them," Proscia said. "She called back and said that (I) can't overnight them and was like, 'I can't go to work on Monday.' I said I'll be right there. Send me the address, I'll come drop them off."
Overnighting the keys was not an option because there was no Sunday delivery, so the store manager took a road trip he would never forget, nor regret.
"It's just the right thing to do," Proscia said. "If it happened to my wife, I would want someone else to do it for her."
Chong was extremely thankful for his generosity and taking customer service to another level.
"It's the fact that he only knows me from coming in every morning," she said. "And he just, without hesitation came all the way. Drove three-and-a-half hours there, three-and-a-half hours back, got two hours sleep to go to work the next day. I can't ask for anything more."
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