Facepalm Tales: The Interview

The young man boarded the EMTA bus and headed to his job interview.

With a new haircut, carefully pressed trousers and shirt, and resume in a crisp manila envelope, he exuded confidence and hope.

“I have a good feeling about this,” he said.

He had a job interview at 1:15p.m. He would get there a little early, which would give him a chance to center himself and make a good entrance.

Although there was plenty of room on the bus he remained standing, perhaps to keep his interview outfit looking nice.

Suddenly his mood changed to panic and he ran up front to the bus driver. “Where are you going???” he asked. “Why didn’t you turn?” He told the driver where his job interview was.

The driver explained that the route had just changed, and it no longer went that way. The driver pulled the bus over to the side of the road so the guy could get off and walk the 1.3 mile to where he had reasonably expected the bus would have taken him.

The man left the bus, very upset. I wished him well, but I knew this was going to trash his attitude and appearance for the interview—if he even still had the interview by the time he arrived.

He would arrive late. The summer heat would make him sweaty and the road construction he’d have to hike through might even add a little dust and dirt to the mix. The dirtiest part of this, though, was the uncaring manner in which the EMTA administration made this change with no more notice than a small typed-up notice taped behind the bus driver.

I had seen other sudden and poorly-announced changes previous to this. I happened to find a letter I wrote to the EMTA in 2002, concerning just that. If you are wondering, I never heard back from the EMTA.

This problem with bad communications with passengers goes back at least 20 years. So one could say it may be a problem with company culture more than of any particular administration or mayor.

I’m wondering what it takes to change that culture.

~~~

Below is 2002 letter to EMTA  expressing concern about the bad effects of sudden and poorly-announced changes. Included to make the point that this is a long-standing problem. Address and addressee information intentionally blurred out. Click on image for better view.