Certis officer goes beyond call of duty at Changi Terminal 4, helps woman spoon conditioner into travel bottle

SINGAPORE — A woman thanked a security officer at Changi Airport for her thoughtfulness, as well as the help she extended. Ms Yasmine Khater thanked Ms Li Fang Wee “from the Certis team at Changi Terminal 4 for such a wonderful experience” in a Jan 6 LinkedIn post that has received a lot of attention online.

Ms Khater wrote that she had been at the security check with a bag of toiletries that she had, unfortunately, forgotten to check in when the security staff informed her that because the bottles in her bag were over 100ml in size, they needed to be thrown away.

The traveller protested that the bottles were almost empty. But “I forgot it was not about the amount in the bottle. It’s the bottle size. Duh. Human error or side effects of the pandemic.” she wrote.

Ms Khater added that throwing away her sunscreen and soap would not be a problem, but she had special hair care products that she needed. “The wrong shampoo and conditioner will dry my hair out. But I also look like an untamed beast.”

She then asked if she could “at least keep the conditioner,” but this would not be possible as “regulations are regulations.”

However, the staff gave her a way out, with Ms Li telling her, ”Mam, you can go to the pharmacy and buy travel bottles, you have enough time”.

Ms Khater wrote, “I was so grateful for the tip rushed over. Not realizing that filling a tiny shampoo and conditioner is not as easy as it looks.”

Ms Li sprang to her aid and “grabbed a spoon and started filling the conditioner” while she herself transferred her shampoo to the smaller bottle. The moment ended up being a humorous one for them both.

“We laughed together at this situation and if the airport was busier I would suffer alone,” wrote Ms Khater, who added one of her favourite quotes from US writer Dr Maya Angelou.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did,
But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Some LinkedIn users commenting on her post wrote that they had the same experience at Changi.

Changi Airport Group also thanked her for sharing her story.

/TISG

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