How Did That Happen?

Article by Dr. John E. Kello

I was on a business trip a while back when an interesting and instructive event occurred. I had completed a safety training session with managers and associates in an industrial plant the previous day, and was preparing to head out from my hotel to the airport early in the morning for my flight home. I called the front desk of my hotel to have my rental car brought around. Inveterate planner and experienced traveler that I am, I had left myself plenty of time to get to the airport, drop off my rental car, go through security, and get to my gate with time to spare. Better to wait at the gate than to be rushing and hoping to make the flight. I went down to the lobby, checked out, and waited for my car to be brought around… and waited… and waited…

After about 15 minutes, having observed several fellow travelers show up in the lobby, talk with the valets, and get their cars, it occurred to me that the front desk might not have communicated with the valets. So I approached one of the 3 valets in my most friendly and non-threatening way (psychology training pays off), and inquired as to whether they had been alerted to fetch my car. One of the valets opened a large metal cabinet and commenced to search through a wad of car keys and claim tickets, which appeared to be in no particular order. There were also many sets of keys and tickets hung in rows on the inside door of the cabinet (apparently the wad was overflow), but also in no discernible order. After looking at each and every one of what must have been at least 75 keys, my valet-buddy said “Someone must be bringing it around now, because your key is not here”. OK… all good.

So I waited maybe another 10 minutes as the scene described above kept repeating… more check-outs getting their cars, and driving away.

I went back outside and talked to a different valet. I was still practicing my best friendly, sincere “help a fellow out” behavior. As I started the inquiry process anew, this valet-pal asked me what kind of car it “was”… I told him it was a Nissan Maxima, and he asked “what color?” I told him it was silver. As he began reviewing the wall and wad of keys and tickets, he said “we have a black one and a gray one… are either of those yours?”  I assured him that the rental car company probably would prefer that I return the actual car I rented from them, so I didn’t think I could, say, take a nice black or gray one instead.

Now 30 minutes into what should have been a 5 minute process at best, the lady at the desk came out and said, “The gentleman who has your car just called in, and he is about 20 minutes away, in traffic.”

They had given my rental car away to another… gentleman.

At this point, trained psychologist that I am, my friendly “let’s work on this problem together” strategy was suddenly in the rear-view mirror. I am quite certain that to the folks who just arrived in the lobby, I was “that guy”. Cover your ears, kids…

A Comedy of Errors… An Unlikely Chain of Events

Let’s recap, shall we? I was compelled to turn my car over to their care, I did everything they told me to, and I am verging on missing my flight. My rental car (for which I am liable) is gone, and one of the staff gave it to a stranger, who has been driving it for the last half hour, and who may or may not get it back here to me in time for me to catch my flight.

How in the world did that happen!?

I will end the suspense (I know you are on the edge of your seat) and tell you that a very embarrassed “gentleman” did in fact arrive in my rental car in time for me to (gently) remove his luggage (apparently he was headed to the airport too, and probably only discovered his error when he tried to return my car to his rental company), throw in my luggage, and rush to the airport and ultimately, run to my gate just as they were preparing to close the door.

Once aboard, I started to reflect on the comedy of errors I had just experienced. The scenario was not a sudden, deliberate, single-cause event. It was a chain of events, most of them fairly minor, all of them avoidable, which compounded and resulted in my car going to a stranger (and me going ballistic).

I always park my car myself when I have the option. Nothing against valets, but I like to know where my car is, how it got there, and how quickly I can get to it in the morning. But this downtown hotel did not have the self-park option. Valet parking was mandatory.

Second, I had been told at the desk that the hotel was really busy, and so it would be best to call down maybe 10 or 15 minutes early, so I would not have to wait in the lobby. I usually deal directly with valets when necessary, see them take my keys and ticket and see them bring my (actual) car. But not this time. I did as I was advised.

The other “gentleman” must have arrived in the lobby to get his car sometime after I had called but before I came down. The timing was “perfect”. He must have also called down early, thus expecting his car to be there when he got down. I assume he saw my car waiting, which I assume resembled his car.

I assume the valet did not check claim ticket numbers (violating SOP), and just gave my car to the “gentleman” who said it was his, and who then got in and drove off. I assume my seat and mirror settings were like his, so the car didn’t feel different enough for him to realize this was not his car. I didn’t need to make any seat or mirror adjustments when I drove it off.

What a chain of unlikely events! It could have been preempted or interrupted at any of a half dozen points. But it wasn’t.

Think about a typical accident. In my experience, the vast majority of accidents conform to the same pattern as my frustrating but not injurious comedy of errors. Indeed in the safety training session I had completed the day before, I shared with the class several accident scenarios from a wide variety of industries, each of which fit the same chain-of-events pattern.

It is probably human nature to fear the sudden large-break event. I suspect that people who have a phobic fear of flying fear the sudden massive mechanical failure quite a bit more than they do a chain of minor unlikely miscommunications and/or other errors between pilots. The former, while it does happen, is extremely uncommon; the latter, while infrequent overall, is much more common than the former.

My scenario is a vivid reminder of how accidents actually happen. They are most often the end point of a series of unlikely error-events, not the sudden “large-scale break”.

The key take-away from my absurdly unlikely story? If any of the actors in that drama (especially the valet) had said, “wait a minute” and asked a good question, stopped a mindless act, corrected an error, there would have been no incident.

When things start to look and sound a bit off-normal, or if you are merely doing a routine task mindlessly, that’s the time to stop, step back… and interrupt the chain.