Double check your work!

The lady and I often disagree over the level of scrutiny and review each individual thing needs before you make the decision or press the Go button. A case in point is ordering things online, or making reservations.

She: will carefully review each field - date, room category, our address, credit card number, etc. - before hitting Go. If I'm around, I often get asked to double check her work, which frankly I often think is unnecessary. She's pretty careful and hardly ever makes a mistake.

Me: will type the data into the fields as quickly as possible, make a cursory review for accuracy, then hit Go. And I'm a pretty fast typist, either two fingered on the iPad or full-handed on a real keyboard. After all, the vendor will double check much of the data anyway, and I'll get a confirmation email which I can review as well. Of course, I usually file the confirmation without reading it. If she looks over my shoulder while I'm doing any of this, I feel like I'm being back-seat-driven.

The business trip I'm on this week was just planned last week, but I've been down here before and so I knew exactly what flights, what hotel, what rental car I wanted. So making the reservations was efficient and quick. Very quick. I was very pleased.




Well, this week I found out what happens when you make a mistake. After the amusing announcement about carry-on luggage I wrote about, the plane flight down was smooth. The rental car was waiting for me in the assigned stall, ready to go. I found my way to the same hotel I've stayed at the last two times I was here, where the desk clerk took my name, welcomed me back, and let me know that they were expecting me May 17. Not April 17. And they were fully booked. And all the other hotels in the area have been calling them to see if they could accommodate their own overflow.

Luxury accommodations, April 2012  

I must say, the clerk was extremely gracious and helpful. She made about five phone calls and finally found a motel about eight miles away which had some space. I rushed down and checked into the Quality Inn, parking my car right next to the two semi tractors parked in the lot. Walked up to the room, passing the guy drinking a beer out of a paper bag walking down hall. Checked out the fitness room, which was about the same size as my closet at home and had an old treadmill and bike. The room was spacious, clean, only a little shabby and, really, the cigarette odor was pretty faint. Really.


This morning I came down to the included hot buffet breakfast, which was scrambled eggs (greasy), bacon (greasy) and potatoes (greasy) which I believe were cooked up right in back by the night clerk. Passed on that, went and found a box of Go-Lean Crunch at a supermarket on the drive back to the office. Stopped and got a coffee and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the parking lot before going into the office.

Ah, I so miss the glamour of business travel.