To summarize my day, I…

• Got up excessively early for work
• Hit a pothole in the dark and blew out two tires
• Threw my entire day in the trash before 5am, stranded for 13 hours in a McDonalds
• Did WAY too much walking in bitter cold with a suit on…(not exactly warm clothing)
• Spent $1,200 I didn’t expect, on something no one wants to spend money on
• Had a great day

Something in that list doesn’t fit the rest… and thank goodness, because otherwise it would’ve probably been a pretty stressful and frustrating day.

What made the day wonderful was the luck and many reminders that there is hope and an excess of humanity under otherwise adverse conditions… (but I’ve gotten ahead of myself)… from the minute things ‘got interesting’ on Wednesday morning, I thought it would be worth chronicling the sequence of events as it occurred… because it’s good to have reminders that good people are out there, and they rise to the opportunity to make a difference.

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It was a day like any other where I head downtown, with a couple exceptions: I expected some conflict in the morning and, as a result, had trouble sleeping and was up a little earlier than normal (3:30am instead of 4:30am).  Despite my best efforts to reclaim the sleep, eventually I just gave in, got up, got ready, and left a little earlier than normal, hitting the road at 4:30am.  It was bitterly cold, with the temp below zero and the wind chills in the -20+ range somewhere.  To be honest, after you get past “holy crap, it’s cold”, I honestly don’t think anyone should measure the wind chill.  It’s cold.  Stay inside.  Point made.

In any event, heading into the first 10 miles of city street driving on the 40 mile trek downtown, it was pitch black out, and the roads were as empty as you’d expect.  That is, after all, the point of leaving so early… to avoid the headache that would be an additional hour at least of driving if I left an hour later in the day.  Once the world wakes up, the drive takes a ton longer, and I don’t enjoy sitting in a car going nowhere that much.  Fifteen minutes into the ride, about a half mile from the expressway entrance, it happened…. BOOOM!!!  I hit a pothole in the dark at 50 mph or so that felt a little like the Grand Canyon.  The jolt was pretty substantial and it didn’t take long to realize something had happened.  With no one on the road, I was able to pull into the left turn lane at the nearby intersection, stop, get out, and take a look at the left front tire, where I assumed the problem existed… oh crap.  It was clearly flat and, making matters worse, it was really cold out… even stepping out of the car it hit me quickly, given I was in a suit and my topcoat isn’t exactly intended for a day at the North Pole. Warm: yes.  Thermally insulated: Not so much.

Worth noting that I knew I was going to need help immediately because, even though I have a full-size spare, I had just used it to replace another flat tire not even a month earlier.  There was no spare anymore.  I now needed two tires.  Lovely.  At 4:45am… in the arctic.

Having taken a quick look around, I tried to figure out what to do and decided to head to the gas station in the next block that happened to be open.  First stroke of good fortune, I was within a block of a gas station that was actually open before 5am.  Going in, the attendant was an older man who provided the first sign of the day to come.  I told him what happened, expressed my despair at the time of day (and cold), and asked if there were any tire repair places around.  As luck would have it, he pointed out the gas station on the opposing side of the intersection had a service station.  They weren’t open until 7am, but they probably could help.  Second blessing of the morning, I also had the flat right at an intersection with a service station.  What are the odds of that?  Pretty infinitesimal, and I realized right away that I was pretty lucky that this happened where it did.  Anywhere else, and I’d probably have been stranded for quite a while.

While the attendant could’ve just pointed across the street, he went a step farther, dug out his phone book (yes, they still make those apparently), and started digging through it, saying that there might be a 24-hour towing place about a mile over from where we were… while he was checking, I looked around for other signs of life and noticed a car in the drive thru of the McDonalds next door.  “Are they actually open?”  I didn’t think McDonalds opened until around 6am, but there was someone getting something at the window.  Third stroke of luck already, there was a 24-hour McDonalds right at the same spot.  They have wi-fi… I can hang out there, get connected, have some coffee, and wait it out.  What are the odds of that?  I thanked the attendant for his help, told him he didn’t need to worry about the towing, because I’d just drive my car across to the service station, walk back over, and kill the next couple hours at McDs.  He didn’t have to go through the extra step to try and find a place for me (technically I guess I could’ve done some looking on my cell phone, but that thought honestly never occurred to me at the time), but I thought it was a nice show of kindness from a stranger when he really didn’t have to do anything.

Taking my car across the street, I parked at the service station, grabbed my laptop and started the short walk (probably less than a block) back to the McDs.  It’s worth noting another stroke of luck at this point.  Even though I shouldn’t technically need them when I drive downtown, given I go straight from my garage to an indoor parking facility, I always bring my topcoat, warmer gloves, scarf, and hat, just in case some kind of emergency happens.  On this day, it ended up that I needed them.  All of us hear that kind of stuff on the news or weather channel and thank God I had them.  That one block walk was brutal and extremely uncomfortable.

Arriving at McDonald’s things returned to a degree of normalcy, because I ordered a coffee, found a spot (the entire restaurant was empty), got connected, and started adjusting the day.  Between a quick call to London and the normal flow of things that come overnight from offshore, the next couple hours passed quickly.

Like Tom Hanks in the movie Terminal, I was clearly going to be around a while and might as well settle in.  The odd thing about being stuck in a McDs for a period of hours is the cross section of people who converge on it over the course of a day. In the morning, there was a single mom with her two teenage kids who settled in near my new makeshift office.  I ended up wishing I could bring the woman around with me just to dispense good advice.  She had a great way of putting things in perspective as her kids were talking about things they were dealing with at school in their relationships.  At one point, her son said a classmate was bothering him, to which she responded “How tall is he? (made a gesture with her hand at about 4 feet tall)  This tall?”  “Yeah.”  She raised her hand up about a foot.  “You’re this tall.  Are you kidding?  You’d have to pick him up a foot off the ground for him to be in your face.”  I couldn’t help but let out a laugh and she and I exchanged a smile before she went back to telling him (and then ultimately his sister) the importance of being who you are, having self-respect, faith (which came in at one point), and not letting others drag you down because of their own insecurities and issues… wow, I love this woman.  Come hang out with me for a while, I have use of your uplifting spirit… it’s empowering, and it was another moment in the morning where I felt like maybe the day was meant to take a left turn to help me hear a different message than the ones I’d been hearing for the many days before it.

In any event, 7am rolled around, I packed up my stuff, bundled back up, and walked back to the service station.  Another journey across the arctic tundra… only one block, pretty awful.  It’s odd that if I was walking from the train station a few blocks to work on a normal day, I don’t know if it would’ve phased me so much, but somehow the gut punch of the morning just made it a lot more taxing.

A lot more traffic at the intersection at this hour than when it was 5am.  Arriving the service station, the attendant told me that they could help, the mechanic wouldn’t arrive until 8:15am (lovely, more wasted time), but he could order the tire in the meantime.  Like 99% of the world population, I had no idea what size tires I had on my car, so we went outside to check.  At this point, the next shoe dropped.  BOTH of the left tires had been blown out, I just never thought to look at the rear tire once I saw the left front was flat…that pothole really took a toll. Ok then, now I guess I have to replace three tires.  We went back inside and I commented on how lucky I was that this all happened in the right location, but what a day for it.  After giving him my number (so he could call with updates), the attendant asked if I wanted to sit down for a while, warm up, and catch my breath before going back outside… another one of those small moments where I thought “well, that’s an awfully nice thing to say/offer.”  I’m sure I had to sound frustrated, but he didn’t have to really give a darn, he just did, and it felt nice to see another person trying to help.  With the new found energy, I thanked him, and decided to get back over to my office away from home to get some more work done.

After a couple more hours passed, 10am rolled around and the call came from the service station.  It would make more sense to get a full set of tires than order three… yeah, I saw that coming, and agreed it made sense.  No point in replacing three tires.  Now, the good news.  $1,200.  Good morning.  Today’s highlight will be an opportunity to pass a kidney stone.  Making it slightly more interesting, they needed some cash because they’re a small garage, can’t use a charge, the supplier works a certain way, etc.  Ok then… I’ll go over to the bank branch across the street and hit an ATM for whatever I can (knowing there might be a limit).  Oh yeah, lucky break number 4, the other corner of that intersection had a bank, not mine, but a bank… and at this point, we just need an ATM.  I drag myself over there and go inside… “Where is your ATM?” “We only have the one outside.”  “What?”  Seriously, who doesn’t have an ATM inside?… It’s still about 20 below out… and it’s not like I want to be outside screwing around with an ATM machine.  No choice apparently, so I go back out and walk toward the drive thru.  As luck would have it, that’s exactly when a woman in a van pulls up to the machine.  You have to be kidding, right?  I’m going to end up waiting in the cold for someone else, who probably has six deposits and a couple account transfers to do…right?  I’m walking towards her as the woman sees me.  She waves to me, backs her car up, and let’s me go first.  What just happened?  No one let’s another person go before them at an ATM machine… that’s like a shark backing off the chum and letting others have the first shot.  Unheard of, and yet another person does something incredibly helpful and considerate under the circumstances.  I realize maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but believe me, when it’s 20 below out and you’re standing outside in a suit freezing your butt off, she might as well have given me a million dollars.  I hit up the machine for what I could get, which unfortunately wasn’t much given it was another bank, and walked back to the service station.

It’s not enough.  Can I go to my actual bank and get a couple hundred more, so we can work this out?  Um, well, there’s a bit of problem with that, because you see… God didn’t drop my bank at this intersection.  I’ve been incredibly lucky at this point, but there are still some real world constraints in play.  The attendant then decides to blow me away, “Look, I want to help you out… take my car.”  What?  He’s giving me his car?  Who does that?  I thought we lived in a world where it’s every man for himself and screw everyone else… I thought I’ve heard that somewhere, quite a lot actually.  Apparently this guy didn’t get the memo, or he doesn’t watch the news.  Sure, why not.  I’m desperate and that’s a great solution.  He also happened to know where my bank had a branch about a mile away, so I didn’t have to do any searching online to find one.

I jumped in his car, immediately noticing that he had that amount of gas below a quarter tank that isn’t quite approaching the E, but you don’t have a lot in the car.  Made me wonder…is he one of those people who doesn’t make a lot of money and rations himself on gas, given it’s expensive and you’d rather get a quarter or half tank than splurge and get yourself a full tank.  This situation was getting addressed… one good turn deserves another, and I definitely believe in paying it forward.

I set off and drove the mile down the road, found the branch and went inside.  One person working in the lobby, and she was busy attending to the cars.  No one else in sight for a couple minutes until the branch manager strolled out into the lobby and said “Good morning, how is your day going?”  Well, funny you should ask that question…lol.  Pretty freaking awful, but at this point, I am so blown away by all the people who’ve already done something to help me out, that I really feel quite good about it.  Upon hearing the situation, he goes back behind the counter, opens the door to the back, “Joe, leave that for a minute, come out here and help this gentlemen right now.”  Ok then, another minor act that takes a little of load off.  Honestly, if getting that cash meant I was going to have my car back, I really didn’t feel like being patient on the drive thru person eventually paying attention to me… and this was helpful.

Leaving the bank, I took a quick detour and filled the attendant’s gas tank, feeling another surge of positive energy for having done a little to pay back the big favor.  I spent the few minutes on the drive back trying to decide whether to tell him or not.  Honestly, I love the idea of doing things without saying anything about it and let the act itself provide it’s reward. I don’t really seek out thanks.  It’s enough to know you made things a little better for someone who might just need it.  In this case, though, I decided to tell him given I wanted to be able to show my thanks in a tangible way for the gesture he made himself.  Upon giving him the cash, and telling him that I filled his tank, the reaction was priceless.  For a second, it was like the guy was about to cry… I have no idea what the heck was going on there, but I can only expect his situation wasn’t so good either and maybe just that little bit of a random act of kindness was a surprise he needed too.  It was a cool moment.  He told me the car would be ready between 4:30-5:00pm and then proceeded to offer to drive me anywhere I needed to go, get me a cab, a rental car… anything.  Holy cow.  It’s all good.  I elected to just go back across the street and wait it out, figuring there’s always a chance that it could be done sooner, and he’d already done his bit to help me.  Twice.

The next eight hours went by much faster, in hindsight, than I would’ve expected. In practice, I could’ve gotten back home, but decided to ride out the day on my fast food island.  The driving back and forth would’ve burned 45 minutes of the time alone, and I’d made it that far.  There was plenty of work to do, I talked Kathy into coming over to have lunch with me, and there was more people-watching in store.

At one point, the Golden Girls took a table next to me for what I would guess was a periodic get together for coffee and some friendly catch up.  When they were winding down and getting ready to leave, I decided to say hello and tell them the story of how I ended up there.  Not something I would normally do, but it was a crazy situation regardless, so why not?  What I found out in the process was that each of them had a story to tell too… of some unexpected situation where they also were in need of assistance, and a random stranger came up to help them.  The day had become even more positive, through the sharing of the stories, and I’m glad I gave it a shot.  People are more connected than you’d sometimes believe… we just need to have our eyes open to look for things we might otherwise be distracted from seeing.

Since I haven’t made mention since the opening, I should share that the challenging day I expected at work played out quite differently as well.  Things went much better than expected, through another unexpected twist of fate (beyond my situation).  We finished the workday with two projects we’ve been trying to win for many months both receiving a go ahead at almost the same time from completely different client teams in different locations.  That will pick you up, even in a McDonalds after a very long, strange day.

As 5:30pm rolled around, I still didn’t have my car and decided to head over to the station to see what was going on.  The garage was now closed, they had taken the car around for a quick test drive to make sure everything was ok.  The attendant had stayed late (his shift was supposed to end at 4:30pm) to make sure I got my car back.  He thanked me again (twice) for filling his tank.  If only it were so easy to lift people up every day… it’s a really small price to pay, isn’t it?

I paid the balance of my bill, thanked them for the help, and set out, back into the dark in which the day began, time to go back home… I effectively drove 20 miles, got nowhere, and accomplished everything.  I got my work done, but more importantly found a sense of hope and kindness that was both unexpected and very refreshing.

In hindsight, what could’ve been a pretty awful day, turned into an amazing experience and I’m glad to have had it.  I needed the reminder.  There is a fundamental good in people.  There are a lot of good people out there too… far more than you’d expect.  We just have to make those little efforts that matter… and the world becomes a better place, even under circumstances that otherwise could be unpleasant.  People can make a difference… and this week, for me they did.

-CJG 03/01/2014