Life lessons are something we all acquire over time. As we get older, we tend to collect more and, sometimes, greater life lessons resulting from experience and general exposure to more living. They really do just come with the territory.
One of my favorite life lessons came through something that actually happened to my dad. It was a very funny story, especially if you knew him and his occasionally explosive personality. Although it was humorous, beneath the humor lay a genuinely meaningful and practical life lesson.
The story begins with my dad arriving at Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland after a long and uncomfortable transatlantic journey. His plane arrived very early in the morning, around 5:00 AM, which was somewhat common for flights coming in from the east coast of the US.
Tired and grumpy, my dad arrived at the rental car hut located a few minutes from the airport itself. My dad exited the shuttle bus dragging his luggage and golf clubs behind him. It was still dark out and quite cold and all he wanted was to pick up the minivan he booked months ago and get to the hotel where he would meet up with the rest of his fellow golfers.
As he enters the hut, he sees he is the only one there. The door was open and the lights were on but there was no attendant. Knowing my dad, I sense that his patience was starting to be replaced by annoyance. Anyway, he waited for a little while when the rental car agent finally arrived with a cup of coffee in hand. She said hello and apologized for being late. My dad described her as looking like she just rolled out of bed or came straight from the pub. She was clearly hung over and a little worse for wear.
After logging on to the computer, she asked for my dad’s name and other related details. My dad obliged but soon became suspicious when the agent seemed to struggle finding the reservation. A few more minutes went by before the young lady finally had to admit to my now seething dad that there was no minivan for him and he would have to settle for something else. My dad was not having it. He explained he reserved the minivan a long time ago and it was the only vehicle that would work carrying him and his three golfing buddies with their clubs and gear. My dad by then was beyond annoyed and with a raised voice demanded the agent sort it out.
At this point, the agent could have responded to the escalating situation in a number of ways. She could have rambled off some corporate policy of “no guarantees.” She could have thrown up her hands and said there was nothing she could do and call for her supervisor. She didn’t do any of those things nor did she try to shift the blame or make excuses. She simply looked up from her computer screen and with watery blood shot eyes simply said to my dad, “you always have to plan for the occasional screw up.” To be honest,
she didn’t exactly use the work “screw” but you get the picture. My dad now could not help himself. His anger and frustration immediately transformed into hilarity. He started laughing and shaking his head in delight that the moment itself transformed into a life lesson. My dad realized that this was not an issue that would ruin his day or his trip with friends. It actually became a story to tell his buddies who would all laugh along right with him. It actually set a tone of lightheartedness that lasted throughout the trip and gave my dad some new perspective that even the best laid plans can sometimes get screwed up.
We all experience “screw ups” in our life. Even with technology to help us, sometimes things just go unexpectedly wrong. Many of us felt the bite of a lost dinner reservation to a fancy restaurant on a special occasion or getting into your car late for an appointment only to find the car nearly out of gas. I personally have experienced my luggage getting lost on my way to an important meeting leaving me without a suit hours before the scheduled starting time. Recently, I sent a round of drinks to a celebrity’s table that I admired only to have the celebrity get up and thank the wrong people and proceed to take selfies with them without being told he was mistaken.
Obviously, we all experience these screw ups. Sometimes they are self-induced like forgetting to set an alarm to wake up in time for an important Zoom call or sometimes they result from someone else’s mistakes. And there are those times when no one in particular to blame and it simply comes down to “stuff happens.”
In any case the life lesson is not really about what happened to us but more about how we responded. My dad could have exploded and made a huge fuss about his minivan. In some ways I am surprised he didn’t but the fact is, the disarming and good-natured response from the agent caused my dad to just see the humor in the situation. The entertainment term, “situational comedy” is completely based on this idea. Don’t make mountains out of molehills and let small things ruin your day. Focus on what is really important and try to find the humor in the situation.
There is a lot to learn from this life lesson including how it applies to college life. Faculty and staff are not infallible and do make mistakes. Technology is not always a sure thing. Friends and classmates can let you down occasionally. Just remember, you need to plan for those occasional screw ups because we all know, they will happen. When they do, step back and find the humor in the situation and you will let go of the rage. As one of my favorite song writers once wrote, “breath-in-breathe out-move-on!”