I’m really angry at myself today. Every now then then life brings past you the opportunity to step outside the box and do the right thing – sometimes this requires a little thinking, sometimes it requires to you step outside the group-think. Today I failed that test, and I’m disappointed and annoyed at myself.
Let me explain.
I’m in the middle of a Los Angeles layover, and as I often do caught the crew bus from the Long Beach Hotel our airline stays at to South Coast Shopping Plaza this morning. The bus leaves the hotel at 10am and usually leaves the shopping center at 2pm to return.
This day the bus was extremely full (over full in fact) with crew reading, chatting and listening to music on the way. As we pulled into the shopping center, Miguel the bus driver asked us about the pickup time. Since I was behind him in the second row I asked Miguel what the options were. He said One or Two o’Clock. I called back to the Crew in the bus “Guys – pickup time : One or Two O’clock.” The response was overwhelming One.
Kath one of our FM’s in the front row next to Miguel was listening to her iPod and didn’t hear the question, her ears full of the rock music that was so loud we’d commented on it during the ride – despite the noise of the bus and the crew, in the row behind her we could hear her music. I leaned forward and said to her “Kath – One or Two o’clock pickup?” - and got no response. Someone commented “Well, I guess that makes it One O’Clock Then!” and we laughed. We all got out of the bus and dispersed into the shopping center. I don’t think any of us noted that Kath never really heard the change of pickup time. Miguel, sitting next to her, didn’t realise this either and later on was sure he’d mentioned it to her directly. Apparently not.
Well you can guess what happened later on. The bus came at one and we were all there except Kath. We quickly realised what had happened waited fifteen minutes to see if she was going to turn up.
Thinking back, at this point we a couple of very good options.
- We could have waited until 2pm. None of us had planned on the early pickup, so One shouldn’t have been onerous.
- We could have a taken collection (as it turns out about $6 each) and left someone behind to wait for Kath and ride back in a taxi with her.
Miguel advised he had the afternoon free, but didn’t commit to another pickup – despite our assumption to the contrary. And so off we went. Thinking about it – it was one of those group-think decisions where everyone else seems set on invading Poland, so we should probably just go along with it. At no time did someone say “Do we really want to abandon our crew member to an expensive taxi ride, rather than _____ or _____ ?” I suspect had any of us really stopped to analyse what was about to happen, we would have done something different. We didn’t, we just sort of … left.
Conversely, had I personally have taken the lead that I should have (I was “Senior” on the bus as a Captain in the airline) then for very little individual cost (time or money) the result would have been an overwhelmingly positive one – All the crew on the bus putting themselves out for another crew member. Another day at V.
One reason I am so annoyed at myself, is that in the past I have always tried to extend my role as the leader of a team on the plane to the fullest of it’s logical extent on a layover, including supporting crew who are down route but not on my flight. This role naturally devolves to the Flight Manager, but I have always considered myself responsible as well for my crew down route. In the past this has meant taking crew to Doctors and Hospitals and staying with them until they’re sorted, chasing up paperwork and ensuring company involvement and ongoing crew support handover in such situations, sorting out tickets and rosters when family tragedy has struck while crew are away. I’ve always been pleased and proud of my involvement in these situations in the past.
Instead …
I bumped into Kath in the foyer this afternoon. She was extremely upset, to the point of being tearful. The Hotel had refused any possibility of collecting her; the taxi fare had cost her $75, although I think much of her distress was at being abandoned by her colleagues. I comforted her as best I could, we had a sit and a chat. After I left her I went away to think about things, and wrote her a note of apology, along with a contribution to the cost of her taxi fare, and slipped it under her door. I’m fairly confident that when the crew find out that she was forced to take a taxi they will also contribute. None of those on the bus today were bad people, just … leaderless.
Ken
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About Ken
Ken what an admirable sentiment. Certainly food for thought and adds a whole new perspective to the way I think about some things.
I don’t want to sound too utilitarianistic, but ‘the needs of the many (sometimes?) outweigh the needs of the few’ (despite what John Stuart Mill fans might say, we can credit Spock with those little words of wisdom). As somebody that was there, I *did* suggest staying – and I almost had myself thrown off the bus (staying wasn’t an option anyhow since the bus driver had further bookings). Even if we had we pushed to stay, we were always going to be a minority. Had we chosen to remain behind, there were no assurances the girl that was MIA was going to return. A lot of clever people overlooked the potential consequences. In the end, though, we did all we could have and should have done given the circumstances. If the response wasn’t negative, would you still be beating yourself up?
The lesson remains the same, though. A ‘Lost Opportunity’ is a lesson learned. I’ll certainly be more mindful of similar situations in the future. I would have happily held off on a Corona for a ride home on the bus with a pretty girl – I’m angry that I didn’t.
In situations like these – and in the absence of any logical thought process applied at the time – it’s funny how ‘structured’ in-flight decision making models may have helped on the ground.
Raises another question: How much responsibility *should* a Captain have in such a situation? When does your command finish – if ever? When does your duty of care end?
Interesting. If we could go back in time+space onto that bus, I believe it would be a relatively simple task to have convinced the rest of the crew on the bus to go for one of the two above solutions – wait or pay. Either logic or guilt would have convinced them. Something to assail the “group think”.
Because of my awareness of Aspergers, my wife and I are continually assessing our kids with respect to appropriate social behavior, teaching them to think their way through situations, rather than rely on instinct and assumption which can let you down. That process is not something you can turn off, so my own behavior comes under scrutiny as well (both by Meg and myself). In this instance, it fell down.
My previous company’s Operations Manual specified that the crew were under the delegation of the Captain during a layover. I always took this to be a two way street. If I could in some form or another delegate a task to a crew member on a layover then I was also in some way responsible for their well being down route – clearly this is a tenuous link, only aimed at company related duties and crew sickness procedures.
In this previous company, when crew were to leave the hotel for extended periods (such as overnight), they were to advise both the FM and Captain. While I was of course willing to have the FM or other responsible crew member oversee the medical/admin needs of a crew member sick down route – when there was no immediate option I had no problems stepping up. I’ve done this for Cabin Crew and Flight Deck crew – including those not part of my own operating crew.
Apart from anything else – it is an important part of a corporate culture. I can’t find anything in our Ops Manual to this effect, which doesn’t surprise me really.
In essence – it’s the “right thing to do”, which is enough for me.
Ken
I feel kind of silly having this discussion with you online… but, anyhow…
I’ve had time to think about the situation and – although I’m yet to (and unlikely to) form any opinion on what conduct would have been right or wrong – I’m certainly inclined to believe that we should have stayed, or at least formulated some kind of workable plan. It was the ethical, moral and professional thing to do.
You have just
forcedhad me read Blink (a book about behavioral economics on the adaptive unconscious). Basically, the book suggests that spontaneous decisions often have a better outcome than those decisions that are planned or well researched (something – funnily enough – that is generally frowned upon in the Airline industry but likely encouraged and perhaps even acknowledged in the military). If we consider our initial reaction – it was to wait. It wasn’t a fleeting or transient decision either. It was just that – a firm decision. It wasn’t until we sat waiting for an additional 10 minutes that the group convinced themselves that we had best go. I should have waited. I knew that was the right thing to do.Those that can do something have a responsibility to do something. We didn’t do enough. In the light of recent tragic events at work, I feel that there’s every need to consider security and the well-being of our colleagues above convenience.
I think you’re right. I’m now feeling as cranky as you are over the whole thing.
Hopefully somebody else jumps in and makes us feel a little less lonely.
Blink also discusses at length the limitations inherent in the instantaneous decision, often subject as it is to the distorted focus our own experiences and focus gives to them. This would be a good discussion for Mike Malherbe to jump into (I got him to buy Blink the other day).
Hi Ken, I would like to throw my three cents into the debate…Ken, have you thought about what your reaction would be if Kath had been a male? He probably would have come back pretty annoyed to be left behind, But Im guessing that you could have apologised, explained the situation and then taken him to the bar where all would be sorted over a few beers. Women attach emotion to everything and men often feel the need to protect them. I think in this situation, it was wonderful and appropriate for you to talk to her about how things played out. I don’t think it was your ‘responsibility’ to send her another note of apology or pay for any of her taxi. (This just shows that you are a very decent person!). I think the main thing for you work wise (as a Captain), is to assess the safety concerns. Didn’t anyone have a mobile number for her? Not even the hotel where you all stay? Could a buddy system be set up when you go out, where you make sure one person knows where you are? What about a sign in sheet at the hotel, with a contact number? Life does teach us lessons everyday But it is much better to solve the problem than to sit around feeling guilty about it. :)
Hey Kyles.
Interesting comment. If you want to talk gender, then let’s talk other roles as well.
Had it been a pilot – would I have behaved the same? In that case I would have had a contact mobile, but let’s leave that aside for the moment. I believe that were we contemplating leaving one of my fellow pilots behind, I would have been more likely to seek a solution. At the time I was more willing to surrender to group think because Marty and I were the only pilots on the bus, the individual concerned was Cabin Crew and since the consensus seemed to be to leave …
I suspect Kath had worked herself up into a state on the way back, and that’s when I encountered her. As such her emotions were running high, rightly or wrongly. My wife will tell you I am less likely to be unduly influenced by the emotions of others, far more likely to react strongly to my personal perceptions of right/wrong …
As for safety concerns – I have been voicing those to management since day one. My previous company operated layover flights to all sorts of dodgey destinations, crew security on layovers with a reporting system was much better. Roll on Johannesburg …
Ken
So you’re saying that the whole thing bothers you because you perceive yourself to have ‘failed’ as the head-honcho – not because of the right or wrong of it? Still, it’s the emotional response of K that determined whether our action was appropriate or not – not the action itself.
A taxi meter has the same effect on me.
Perhaps a “never leave a man behind” clause somewhere in our 18’000 page operations manual. Somewhere in the middle will do just dandy.
I’ll test out Mrs K’s theory on my next trip. I’m not overly enthusiastic about going back to the Plaza, but in the interests of science I’ll tag along and make an effort to ensure we leave a male behind.