Taking "Customer Service" To a Whole New Level

TACOMA, Washington (CNN) -- At a time when she really needed a miracle, Annamarie Ausnes found one in an unusual place.

Last fall, Ausnes, 55, was one of nearly 75,000 Americans in need of a kidney. Today, she is recovering from a successful kidney transplant -- thanks to her local Starbucks barista.

Sandra Andersen only knew Ausnes as her upbeat morning customer who always ordered a short cup of coffee. What Andersen didn't know was that Ausnes suffers from a genetic kidney disease called polycystic kidney disease. When both of her kidneys began failing, she was placed on a kidney transplant waiting list.

"I was kinda losing a little hope," said Ausnes. Her next step would be dialysis.

"I'd read the statistics. People have been waiting on dialysis for many, many years before a donor comes forth. I felt like the control was being taken away from me," Ausnes said. "But I did have control over one thing, and I knew how to pray. And I just started praying for someone; for God to please send me an angel."

Andersen recalls one particular morning last October when her customer's normally cheerful demeanor had changed.

"I could tell that she just wasn't feeling real well," said Andersen. "So I asked her what was wrong."

Across the counter, Ausnes confided in her barista: Her kidneys were failing rapidly and no one in her family was a match. Without hesitation, Andersen said she would test for her.

Ausnes remembers the moment vividly.

"She threw her hands up in the air. She said, 'I'm testing. I'm going to test for you.' And it was a complete shock to me."

Even more so because Andersen didn't even know Ausnes' name. Andersen can't explain it either.

"I just knew in my heart, I can't tell you why. I knew I had to find out as much info as possible," recalls Andersen. Watch Ausnes recall how she met her "miracle donor." »

After getting her blood tested, she signed a release to become an organ donor and began an interview process to move forward. Then the day came when she was able to break the good news to Ausnes.

"She walked in to get her short cup of coffee. I said, 'I'm a match,' and we both just stood there and bawled," said Andersen. "From that day forward we knew this was gonna happen."

On March 11, Andersen and Ausnes underwent a kidney transplant at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The surgery was successful.

"We are doing well!" Ausnes said Monday night. "We're moving slower but we feel good. I talk to Sandie every day, and sometimes I sit here and bawl because of what she's gone through for me."Watch how Andersen's gift became 'A kidney named Rose.' »

Andersen says her kidney started working faster in Ausnes than the hospital expected.

"Annamarie is doing better than me! I'm just trying to do too much," laughs Andersen, explaining why she's tired. "We're just excited to get together for lunch sometime soon!" Watch Andersen and Ausnes describe the best kind of donor »

Would You Like A Diploma With That?

In Britain, the Government is pushing the boundaries of traditional education.

Fast food chain McDonald's will now be able to award high school diplomas for courses it conducts in-house, and companies like budget airlines will be able to provide the equivalent of university degrees to their workers.

By some measures, as many as four in five jobs in Britain are in the service sector, so it is perhaps not that much of a surprise that the Government would look to McDonald's and the planes packed with budget holiday-makers as the training colleges of the future.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says a skills deficit, particularly amongst low-income workers, is the biggest barrier to full employment in Britain now and in the future.

McDonald's already has a basic shift manager course. A staff member learns all there is to learn about running an outlet, including marketing, customer service and stock control. With government approval, that course will now have the same status as school A-levels, the equivalent of the HSC (Higher School Certificate) in Australia.

The chairman of budget airline Flybe, Jim French, says his company will go a step further, offering a course equivalent under British law to a bachelor's degree. "So many people think of cabin crew, 'Oh, they're just trolley dollies'," he said. "Think of the people who were evacuated from that aircraft last week at Heathrow. They weren't evacuated in seconds by accident. "They were evacuated after the result of years of training, of management expertise and management development."

And it gets even better with Network Rail, the company that owns the nation's railway tracks and signal boxes. The training it gives some of its track engineers will give them a qualification equal to a PhD. Mr French says that industry and universities need to do more together.

"We recently interviewed 150 engineers. Only 30 per cent were appropriate, ie. they had the right skills for the job," he said. "Rather than people spending seven years and come out and be unemployable, they actually spend four years coming out with an engineering qualification, a foundation degree and skill that you can go straight into a job."

Academic critics say the qualifications will raise false hopes among those who receive them because other companies will not value them. They also say it will cheapen traditional academic and vocational qualifications.