My wife and I received a text from our children’s school district on Jan. 29 before 2 p.m. that the high school was in lockdown due to a suspected gun threat.

I was having an excellent meeting with my Babcox coworkers on Microsoft Teams. My wife came in and out of my office twice in 10 minutes, which was very odd. The second time her face looked worried and then she said, “The high school is in lockdown.” Your mind, heart and time stops. I could barely get the words out to my coworkers that I had to go.

I prayed to God to keep my kids safe and to watch over them until we heard from both of our children. Texts from each kid arrived, 20 minutes apart, saying they were okay. Prayers answered.

After picking my children up from a local church where they were bussed to out of caution, I noticed that they were slightly shaken, but overall they were fine. It was an unimaginable two-and-a-half hours that you don’t ever expect to happen to your family because you see it on TV happening someplace else. News has come out that this might have been a hoax, and the police are still investigating.

While I hope none of you will ever have to experience this, remember that we’re in the collision industry and car accidents can be equally as anxiety-ridden, stressful or – to the extreme – deadly.

Your approach to your customer is something that needs to be considered just like any other traumatic event. I’m thankful for the police who responded quickly to my children’s school, just as I’m thankful that we have superior safety features in today’s cars to keep individuals safe so in case there is an accident, the only damage done is to the vehicle.

Unexpected events happen every day, so be sure to give your customers patience, attention and support. The circumstances that have brought them to your shop hopefully means that prayers were answered.