Power

I did actually manage to get into work about mid-afternoon yesterday, so that gave me the opportunity to briefly say hello to the new member of my team. I do actually already know her, but have never done overly much work with her before. We’re going to have a proper chat today because she wanted to leave early – and actually my brain was not functioning very well yesterday afternoon, so it was probably for the best.

I went on a work related visit yesterday morning, and although it was not to exactly the sane place, it required making exactly the same journey as I had a couple of weeks ago. When I made the journey a couple of weeks ago, I saw this woman get on the train and spread herself and her bags and other possessions across five seats. She then made a phone call, which went as follows:

“Hi is that Mark?”

[Reply]

“Oh hi Mark, I was wondering who the driver is on the train that leaves Sutton at 9.30 this morning”

[Reply]

“Oh, so it’s you. Well, I’m on a train that arrives at Sutton just before that and I need to get on your train. Can you hold your train a couple of minutes in case mine is running late?”

[Reply]

“Great, see you in a bit then”


I couldn’t decide if I was really impressed that she had so much power that a whole train full of people could be delayed just for her, or if I was aghast at a huge abuse of power. I wonder...