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Things that drive a
With all the seemingly illogical occurrences that have happened to me during the past year, it makes me wonder if the world has suddenly taken leave of its senses. I cite three examples. Item: We bought a round-trip plane ticket last summer from San Diego to Madison, Wisconsin, changing planes in Chicago, to attend the wedding of one of my grandsons. It was a special fare, presumably to increase traffic to Madison. At any rate, the trip east was uneventful and we attended the wedding as planned. (I have since become a great-grandfather.) Afterward, since my son was driving back to Chicago, he invited us to ride with him. We visited for a few days in Chicago, then I called the airline to confirm our tickets. During the conversation, I mentioned that we were already in Chicago and therefore would not be using the Madison-Chicago portion of the flight, so the airline was free to resell our seats. The agent informed me that we could not board the Chicago-San Diego leg unless we returned to Madison and flew back to Chicago. I protested on the basis that it made no sense to send us back to Madison (extra cost and time) in order to return to Chicago where we already were. He was adamant. So I called a vice president of the airline and told him the story; he confirmed the agent's requirement by telling me I'd purchased a round-trip ticket to Madison and was therefore obliged to use all of it. My pleadings were to no avail. Item: I rented a car a while ago, saying I'd probably need it for a week at most, perhaps less. The agent filled out the form for a week's rental and I went happily on my way. It turned out that the trip took less time than anticipated, and I returned the car after five days. The agent said the weekly rate no longer applied and the daily rate would be used. When I pointed out that he'd have the car available for rental two days earlier, even though I would have paid for a week, he said it made no difference. Again, my pleadings fell on deaf ears. Item: In looking over my income tax forms, I noticed a substantial penalty had been assessed for underpayment of quarterly taxes. Responding to my question about this, my accountant said he was required by law to assess it in spite of the fact that I had not underpaid in any quarter. Rather, I'd sold some bonds in the fourth quarter and increased my fourth quarterly payment to cover the sale. I was told that the law makes no distinction as to when the greater tax liability was incurred; that payment had to be spread more or less evenly over the four quarters, even though I had no intention of selling the bonds earlier in the year. Evidently one has to be prescient. Once again, my pleadings were to no avail. One last item: This one did not happen to me, nor is it of the same genre as the previous items, but it is an interesting example of computer dependence in place of brains. The mother of a friend suddenly had a stroke and her daughter took her to the emergency room of a local hospital. There was a locked door into the emergency room proper. The daughter rapped on the door to get the attention of three or four women grouped around a computer. They looked up and told the daughter through the locked door that they would not open the door to admit any more emergency patients because the computer was down. After the daughter threatened to call 911 and the local paper, they were reluctantly let in. Meanwhile, others were patiently (no pun) waiting in the emergency room, one with a broken arm, presumably until the computer was fixed. Conclusion: The Peter Principle is alive and well. Brage Golding, past president of SDSU, is the father of San Diego’s mayor. |
