When Things Don’t go as Planned

As anyone who has lived past the age of about 10 knows, life doesn’t always go as planned. There are so many variables, any one of which can derail even the most prepared. Some of those variables might be in our control. We might have a certain time that we need to leave but I took too long doing other things and made us late, or I forgot to set the alarm, or I hit snooze one too many times. Other events like the weather, mechanical issues or other peoples’ action or inaction are out of our control.

I’ve been at my job for about a year and a half now. According to my Delta app, for 2018 I’ve accumulated 100 segments (I went Platinum today!). That means I’ve flown 100 legs/flights. Most have been on time, some have had slight delays and only a handful have had issues that caused significant changes to my schedule. Last night was one of them.

I’m on my way home from Virginia where I had training (I’m writing this from the airport). Just before I arrived at the airport I got an automated phone message from Delta that my flight is delayed. It was about a 30 minute delay. I usually have at least an hour layover, and usually closer to 2 hours, so a 30 minute delay was not a big deal. When I arrived at the ticket counter to check in and check my bag there were two people in front of me. Each of them had disruptions that they needed to figure out. By the time it was my turn, the clerk seemed like he had dealt with just about everyone. Knowing that it wasn’t his fault that the plane was delayed, I tried to be extra nice and patient. He checked his computer. The delayed flight had been pushed back a little more. It would now be hit or miss whether I could get my connection. He kept me on my original connection and snagged a seat for me on the first flight out the next day just in case. He seemed tired, and a little haggard, but as we chatted, I felt like my relaxed position helped him relax just a little.

Ask anyone who has known me for more than about 6 months and they will tell you that I’m not normally a relaxed fellow. I’m usually pretty wound up. Relaxed is a relatively new state for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a beginner. I still lose my cool far too often. One thing that frequent business travel has taught me is that things happen that are out of your control and there is absolutely nothing you can do except roll with it. There are very few people who can make planes go faster, or fix things that are not working right, or make a storm go away (if you have the latter skill, call me as I have a great business idea for that one).

As I waited at the gate, I was able to catch up on some work so that I wouldn’t have to do it at home, and I walked around the airport. About every 30 minutes the flight was delayed further. Soon there was no way that I would get home that night. I was disappointed. I fly out again early Monday morning, so the delay ate up about 25 percent of the time I had at home between trips. But again, I was certain that there was nothing that anyone could have done to speed things up.

The check-in clerk was also the gate attendant (Charlottesville-Abermarle is a small airport). Passengers flocked to his counter to inquire about connections and figure out new options. I was impressed how much everyone kept their cool. It was impressive given that it was after 7pm by this point and everyone was dealing with missing the last flights of the day.

When the plane arrived, the gate attendant (I should have gotten his name) and his team rushed as fast as I’ve seen anyone process getting people off, bags unloaded and turn the plane around. When it was my turn to board I thanked him for his hard work and told him he did a good job. He looked up from the computer at me and smiled. I hope that I helped make his day a little better.

It can be very frustrating when things don’t go as planned. Most of us avoid disruption in our lives. My limited experience and anecdotal evidence is that when things go pear-shaped because of something out of our control, our reaction is much stronger and negative than when we are at fault. For some reason someone else’s failure is far worse than our own. Hmmmm.

We may not be able to control much in this world. In fact, we control very little. Our attitude however, is always in our control. Instinct and immediate reactions occur from our sub-conscious, but we control whether or not to let that immediate frustration drive our attitude and actions or if we throw that out and decide consciously what our attitude and actions will be. That’s much easier said than done. It takes practice. Like any other skill we need to exercise and prepare so that when situations go awry we are ready. Will I succeed every time? Absolutely not. Will I practice so that I’m constantly improving? Definitely.

I am happy to say that I was successful last night.

P.S. In case anyone cares, I’ve only had four flights that when missed resulted in a delay to the next day. Twice I was put up in a hotel and twice I slept in the airport. Last night was one of the times I slept in the airport.

Also, according to the gate attendant, the delay was due to bathroom “juices” leaking into the cargo hold. As I said to my wife, I appreciate that they’re fixing that problem and not letting it slide.