My Life… My Thoughts

I have this tendency of putting myself in a situation where helping out does more harm than good.  Due to my penchant for challenges, I always try to solve whatever problems I encounter before I put undue pressure to the ones concerned.  That was what happened to me yesterday.

My company’s reefer truck was parked in the neighbor’s parking lot completely blocking their driveway.  The van from the other building was already back from its route and was ready to enter their lot but couldn’t do so because of our truck.  Seeing the parked truck, the driver of the van then kept honking hoping that we would move our truck.  But with no direct reaction from his desperate attempt for attention, he then went inside our building fuming because of the parked truck.  I tried to calm him down and told him to wait a minute longer while I get someone to move the truck out.  Our driver was already gone for the day, so I went back to our production area to ask the production supervisor to move the truck.  He was busy with something else and told me to wait 10 minutes.  I was thinking; "10 minutes? That’s too long.  Plus, the illegally parked vehicles were already creating a slight traffic jam."  Seeing the dilemma written all over my face, one of the production guys volunteered to move it.  I don’t know what I was thinking, but I gave him authorization to do so.  I even volunteered to guide him.  I guess I must be the worst guide you could ever have.  I now realized that I can never be a traffic cop.  I told him to keep backing out without realizing that he was about to hit another van.  Before I could get him to stop, it was too late.  The truck already hit the van and made a slight dent on its dashboard.  We were both stunned.  But the damage has been done.  When I went to tell my boss about the whole episode, he was infuriated.  First because of the damage done and secondarily because the guy who I authorized to move the truck was not on the truck’s insured drivers list.  The production supervisor was.  All I can do was apologize for my sheer ignorance while he roasted my sorry ass. And it could have been worse.  Since I have been in more "manly" situations like doing a car wash or changing a flat tire, I was seriously contemplating of moving the truck myself.  Imagine how badly it would have gone. 

This has been an eye-opener for me.  There are times when I need to pinch myself to make me realize that I couldn’t solve all the problems that come my way and that waiting 10 minutes is better than repairing a damage.