Thursday, October 12, 2006
Contingency Plans
For the better part of 5 years, my professional life has revolved around planning and anticipating the moment when something does not happen and having a backup plan waiting and ready to go. I had an epiphany a few nights ago trying to get home from work about complacency.
The usual commute for over the past 2 months or so has been hailing a taxi at the two neighboring hotels from my apartment and work. It is very painless since the bellmen at each speak English and tell the Taxi drivers where to go. (The path is corrected along the way, but the destination is clearly articulated and understood by the driver with little effort by me).
After over an hour wait the other night, an empty taxi was neither available nor appearing at the hotel near the office to take me back to my apartment. Our Mandarin literate colleagues were already home, the cars and drivers were off for the night
In the US, I take for granted that I can get home via my own car. If that is not available, I can call my wife, beg a colleague or take a bus home. For the most part, transportation has always been a non-issue and taken for granted.
So now, it is dark, after 7pm and I am well beyond walking distance from my apartment with no available taxis in sight. So I left the hotel bellman and struck out on my own to hail a cab in the financial district. 20 minutes later, my epiphany occurred. I was still standing on the same street corner trying to hail an empty cab.
There is a scene in the movie the Terminator where the robot is trying to select the best insult to hurl at the landlord knocking at the door – each phrase flashes on the screen and is dismissed in honor of the perfect insult. I went through the same selection process:
1) “I can take a bus”…how much is it, where is it going, where do I get off..Bad Idea
2) “ I can take the subway”...where is it, where do I get off, how much is it..Bad Idea
3) “I can walk”…yeah, right!
This is the moment right before panic sets in when you realize that all of the viable options do not make sense, so you try to hail a cab harder and faster (which I did!). I really did not have a backup plan to get home that night and that frustrated me.
At that moment, an empty cab came to a stop in front of me, the driver understood my lousy Mandarin pronunciation of my complex and off we went home.
I now have figured out that a subway stop is a block away from the office and another one is in my building. It is much cheaper and faster to take the subway than a cab. So my contingency plan is now a cab and my main commute method has changed to the subway.
I miss the Mandarin lessons during the commute and am getting used to being the tallest and only Caucasian on the subway car, with the mandatory stares that come with that. However, my commute is more predictable now and I have a contingency plan for basic existence.
The usual commute for over the past 2 months or so has been hailing a taxi at the two neighboring hotels from my apartment and work. It is very painless since the bellmen at each speak English and tell the Taxi drivers where to go. (The path is corrected along the way, but the destination is clearly articulated and understood by the driver with little effort by me).
After over an hour wait the other night, an empty taxi was neither available nor appearing at the hotel near the office to take me back to my apartment. Our Mandarin literate colleagues were already home, the cars and drivers were off for the night
In the US, I take for granted that I can get home via my own car. If that is not available, I can call my wife, beg a colleague or take a bus home. For the most part, transportation has always been a non-issue and taken for granted.
So now, it is dark, after 7pm and I am well beyond walking distance from my apartment with no available taxis in sight. So I left the hotel bellman and struck out on my own to hail a cab in the financial district. 20 minutes later, my epiphany occurred. I was still standing on the same street corner trying to hail an empty cab.
There is a scene in the movie the Terminator where the robot is trying to select the best insult to hurl at the landlord knocking at the door – each phrase flashes on the screen and is dismissed in honor of the perfect insult. I went through the same selection process:
1) “I can take a bus”…how much is it, where is it going, where do I get off..Bad Idea
2) “ I can take the subway”...where is it, where do I get off, how much is it..Bad Idea
3) “I can walk”…yeah, right!
This is the moment right before panic sets in when you realize that all of the viable options do not make sense, so you try to hail a cab harder and faster (which I did!). I really did not have a backup plan to get home that night and that frustrated me.
At that moment, an empty cab came to a stop in front of me, the driver understood my lousy Mandarin pronunciation of my complex and off we went home.
I now have figured out that a subway stop is a block away from the office and another one is in my building. It is much cheaper and faster to take the subway than a cab. So my contingency plan is now a cab and my main commute method has changed to the subway.
I miss the Mandarin lessons during the commute and am getting used to being the tallest and only Caucasian on the subway car, with the mandatory stares that come with that. However, my commute is more predictable now and I have a contingency plan for basic existence.
