Costco manager grew concerned when a coworker missed his regular shift – then made a life-saving call

In emergency situations, the presence of mind and quick thinking can be the deciding factor that determines if a life is saved or not. It also highlights the importance of mental preparedness and awareness in tackling such situations successfully. Larry Meeks, an employee at Costco, will thank his coworkers for their quick thinking that probably saved his life. It all began when he did not show up at the Mayfield Heights store for his early morning shift at 5 AM.

Jesse Orsborn, the manager of the store, became concerned and decided to call the employee to check in and make sure he was alright. He spoke to News 5 Cleveland, saying, "With the early shift, there's times when we all oversleep. So, usually, we'll give them a phone call — 'You up? You coming in?' That type of thing. That's why the initial contact was made, but then it turned into something a lot more."

Upon calling Meeks, he answered his phone. However, Orsborn could not understand what he was saying. While trying to make sense of what he was saying, the call got dropped. This scared the manager and he called him again to try and make sense of what was going on with him. In the phone calls that followed, all Meeks could do was mumble and groan to whatever queries Orsborn asked him. They were now sure that he was going through some kind of medical energy and needed help urgently.

Their assumptions turned out to be right because Meeks was actually having a stroke when they called. Co-workers kept talking to him on the phone while others called an ambulance and he was soon taken to the hospital. Dave Mackin, Assistant General Manager of the store, spoke about their actions, saying, "We take care of our members. We take care of our employees. They mean the world to us." Meeks is presently on the road to recovery and has been released from the hospital. In a conversation with the publication, Meeks expressed gratitude for having considerate colleagues and said: "I’m very grateful for them reaching out and realizing I needed some help."

Many times, such emergencies arise and people meet them head-on, ready to overcome it all. Sometime back, Elijah Champion, a teen residing in Nederland in Texas, decided to go through a different route to get home and ended up helping a stranger, as reported by KFDM. That day, he walked back to the Market Basket on Nederland Avenue to pick up an application for a job. He usually crossed Nederland Avenue by taking 27th Street, but this time, he opted to go by 25th Street.

Because of his decision, he came across an older man who was lying on the road because his hips had given out. He was not able to walk back to his home, which was almost a mile and a half away. Champion explained how he found him, saying, "When I found him, he was lying on the side of the road with his bottom half in the grass and his top half in the road itself." Many passersby ignored the older man as they went around him.

Champion decided that he would help the old man by procuring a vehicle for him. The youngster went and knocked on roughly 15 doors before he was able to get help. In an interview with the publication, he said, "I felt relieved and surprised at the same time because I knew that if I tried hard enough, I would find someone who would help. It was disappointing just to see how many people wouldn't help another human being."

This article originally appeared 9 months ago.