Mac's Safety Space Extra: You gotta get in to get out

For those of you who were not tasked with traveling over Thanksgiving, but may be coming face to face with it over the next week or so (particularly if it involves air travel), please make sure you have a more than ample supply of time and patience. While your immediate vicinity may “look” like things are normalizing, the business decisions that truly mark a return to normalcy are not exactly over-managing expectations.

With the foreboding countenance of COVID spikes all over the place, you will likely find longer lines and less options. Just today, an individual was sobbing to one of the rental car folks (I’m not exactly sure what had happened, but it appears to have involved waiting in line for a long time and being saddled with not their vehicle of choice ). As I jokingly say whenever I embark on a journey, if the travel gods are smiling, then I will get where I’m going when I’m scheduled to get there, and if they’re not smiling, then I won’t – and there isn’t a thing that I can do to change that.

The “other” side of that coin is that, while customer service representatives are duty-bound to assist, pitching a fit is not going make the process move along any more quickly. In fact, fits may very well slow the process (and yes, in the moment, it hardly seems possible that the process could move any more ssssllllooowwwllllyyyy…)

If there ever was a time in modern history in which grace under pressure or in the face of adversity is the gift that keeps on giving, it’s right about now.

I wish you safe and uneventful travels!

About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is also a contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.