One of the defining characteristics of my career with Risk Management Magazine is that I commute about two hours each way, from my home in coastal New Jersey to my office in midtown Manhattan. It's a long trip made bearable by two things: 1) I really enjoy my job and 2) the lion's share of my time between home and work is spent on a train, where I can read, listen to music, watch stockbrokers play poker ... whatever. Compared to folks who spend 90 minutes driving into the city, I can't help but think that I am getting the better end of the deal.
It doesn't always go smoothly, though. I am writing this particular editorial on a dead train that is just one of many affected by a massive electrical outage has knocked out rail service from Queens to Washington, D.C. Immediately, thoughts of the big blackout a few summers ago come to mind, especially when the conductors' estimates of our delay stretch from "just a few minutes" to "a little while" to "we're stuck here too, you know." So much for getting to work on time, I think. Until now, I was actually running ahead of schedule.
We lost power a few hundred feet short of the platform in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Because we are not actually at a station, the crew forbids us from leaving the train, citing safety reasons. I can buy that, but if the crew thinks they'll keep everybody on board on the strength of "safety reasons," they're sorely mistaken.
Lo and behold, it doesn't take long for somebody on the train to require some sort of medical attention, Bets fly fast and furiously over whether she simply had a panic attack or if she twisted her ankle trying to force her way off the train. fake rolex Personally, I lean toward a little of column A and a little of column B. Either way, an army of medics and police usher her from the train. Soon afterward, other people get the itch to leave, and the conductors open the doors and start helping folks to a maintenance walkway that runs alongside the track. Even though there are no buses or alternate modes of transport waiting for them, most of the people on the train just want off.
A few of us talk about our choice to make. Do we stick it out and hope that power will return in enough time for us to get to Manhattan and do a little work? Or do we ditch the train and hope a few transit buses will pick us up? I've done the alternate transit thing before, and let me tell you, it's never pleasant. So I stay put, as do a few other fellow commuters. Moments later, one of them checks her horoscope and learns that today she would have "an endless supply of time." That bodes ill.
As it turns out, we made the right decision to stay on board, as power came back about 30 minutes later. We still had to switch trains and jump through hoops to get to our final destinations, Dimmable LED Down Light K1004 - 3x1W / 3x3W and by the time I arrived at work, I had just enough time to eat lunch, edit a single story and head back home.
All in all, the day turned out to be a big waste. I got to work, but to what end? Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of simply bagging the day early on, since I had a magazine to put out. Forced with a mandate to get into the city, I got stuck with a no-win situation that cost me about a day of work. It reminded me that sometimes, despite your best efforts, you are going to get stuck in a bad situation. Sometimes you luck out of it. And sometimes you take one on the chin. The question is, what measures do you have in place to fall back on when all else fails? We all have them, especially those in the business of managing risk. Anybody who has suddenly had an overwhelming gratitude for their insurance policy can attest to that. But do we have every reasonable contingency covered? Do we have them covered sufficiently? And do we have an updated notion of what constitutes a "reasonable contingency?"
Such were the thoughts that carried me through the hours of my really bad commute. They came as small comfort, but it was better than nothing. At least I wasn't on the only one who got stuck, though. Thousands of commuters suffered a fate virtually identical to mine, and in a dark way, I found that to be strangely comforting. If nothing else, it proved that misery really does love company. Especially on a train to nowhere.
--Bill Coffin, Editor in Chief
