Email notification displays sys_id instead of value for referenced fields

Can anyone assist me with getting the fields to display correctly for non-text fields? It looks like it will display correctly only if the field is text but if it's a reference field or a drop down it's not pulling the displayed value for the variable.

For example (screenshot below)... the Manager/Department/Work Location variable is a lookup from the associates tables. The output is the sys_id of the selected manager/dept/location and not their display name.

template.print("Requested items: <br>");

var gr = new GlideRecord("sc_req_item");
gr.addQuery("request", current.sys_id);
gr.query();
while(gr.next()) {
    var stage = gr.stage.getDisplayValue();
    if (JSUtil.nil(stage))
        stage = gr.stage.getChoiceValue();
    template.print(gr.number + ": " + gr.cat_item.getDisplayValue() + ", Stage: " + stage + "<br>");
    
    // Retrieve and print variables for each requested item
    var variables = new GlideRecord('sc_item_option_mtom');
    variables.addQuery('request_item', gr.sys_id);
	    variables.orderBy("sc_item_option.order");
		variables.query();
    while(variables.next()) {
        var question = variables.sc_item_option.item_option_new.getDisplayValue();
        var answer = variables.sc_item_option.value.getDisplayValue();
        template.print(question + ": " + answer + "<br>");
    }
    template.print("<br>"); // Adds a space between items for better readability
}