Cascading Failure
The other day we had one - a sort of cascading failure*, that is. Which means it was a pretty typical day in the Beatty house.
So we rented a couple movies and some video games for the girls** and Elie gets a couple games that she doesn't like. Okay. No big deal. They're due back the next day - but, hey, we did the half price thing so I'm okay with it - we're getting our money's worth this month, trust me.
Anyway, it's chaos when we go to take them back - and we return a game without its case - not sure how we got it back - my guess is that we put two games into one case - but who knows? We got it back nonetheless. That was the beginning... AND - we didn't even know it at the time... Ignorance is bliss. Went to bed feeling warm and happy.
The next morning, though, is when it really all came to pieces. 6:15 AM - go to start ye old Ford Focus. Clickity-Click... nope. Not gonna start. Lori needs to leave for work in 15 minutes and I need a car today because I have to take some stuff to a church in Warren today - and return another game we rented, since I'll be in town anyway. So we'll swap cars. Uh-oh, the Flex is almost out of gas. Well, Lori can stop, she'll just have time - just let me jump the Focus. Wait, I can't see well enough in the dark to tell - is this positive or negative? I don't have time to go get a flashlight... I'll just send Lori off to work and I'll get somebody to jump start the car. How old is this battery anyway? 07? Really. Dang, I need a new battery, too... mumble, grumble, stupid car, grumble...
Okay - I get the car jump started - let it idle like half an hour*** and finish up some work at the office. Now I need the car the next day to do some running around for work - and Lori needs the other car to go to Erie the next day - so I HAVE to get a new battery, we can't let this happen again**** so I figure I'll gather the stuff together and run into Warren and get a new battery put in. Shouldn't be gone more than 2 hours, tops. Right?
Ahhh, but that's not how it ever happens around here. I look for the game that has to be returned. Not at the house. Neither is Elie's Nintendo. She must have it at school. Wait, there's a case, that must be for the game. I drive to her school, go to her class and she says, "No, daddy, I left the game, and the case [emphasis mine] in the new car, in the pocket in the back seat." Um...okay, then what is this case I have sitting in the old car right now? Oh, it's for a Wii game we rented the day before? So... not only can't I return the game that's due, but we have a late game. Great. I drive back home and hit eject on the Wii. Nothing comes out. Man I think the Wii's broken, too. But it's not. There's nothing in it. I check the pile of Wii games (not in their cases...which drives me crazy). Nothing. I look behind the Wii, under the entertainment center, all over the house, frankly, wondering where they could have put this stupid disc, getting more frustrated and, frankly, angry by the minute. Finally, after nearly an hour (from first leaving to "get a new battery") I call the video store and ask if a game got returned without a case. Of course they don't track that information - but I finally ask if I have a late game on my account. No. If a game comes back without a case, this nice lady informs me, they just make a new case and put it out on the shelf. Okay. So I'll return the empty case, but I have to make sure I tell whoever is behind the counter what is going on or it will really mess up their records...
Okay - so, I drop stuff off at the church, at the video store, get a new battery...Three hours...sigh...
Here's the Cascading Failure. It's maybe not what you think.
Yeah, there's a lot of little things that went wrong there, and you can probably figure out what effect they had on me - though I was not a raving lunatic by the end of it all*****.
How it affected me was just a part of it. Lori had to go out of her way coming home from work.
There was a very confused worker at the video store the day before, I heard from an employee in a conversation later, when a game was returned without a case - who then had to log that it was returned without a case and make a new case.
Then there was another very confused employee who got a call about a game being returned who had no way of tracking whether or not it was returned sans case and didn't know what to do, she offered to go see if it was on the shelf, til I asked if I had a late game on my account.
And there's Elie - whose fault none of this really is, I'm not sure she really even DID anything. Yet, I'm kind of holding it against her. I know I shouldn't, and I'm trying not to...but I am. And that's the greatest failure of all this - mine. I'm not angry, or bitter, or whatever. But I know that when she asks to get a game next time I'm going to remember all this...will I let her?
*Don't know what that is? Yeah, Here it is...sort of...you know, more or less...
**Which is NOT such a typical thing in the Beatty house - though I'm liking the rent it and see if they like it before we buy it on the video game front - it's gonna save us a ton of dough in the long run...
***I know that's probably overkill - AND probably a conservative estimate of how long I let it idle...truth be told...and I always try to tell the truth...honest.
****Yep - this was the fourth time I'd jumped it - some people are slow learners. You would think I would have checked to see how old the battery was after twice, right? Maybe THREE times? Nope... Truth - there's that word again - is we always had "other issues" - done light left on - short circuit in the electrical system, etc...
*****I AM growing, after all...
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| From Morguefile |
Anyway, it's chaos when we go to take them back - and we return a game without its case - not sure how we got it back - my guess is that we put two games into one case - but who knows? We got it back nonetheless. That was the beginning... AND - we didn't even know it at the time... Ignorance is bliss. Went to bed feeling warm and happy.
The next morning, though, is when it really all came to pieces. 6:15 AM - go to start ye old Ford Focus. Clickity-Click... nope. Not gonna start. Lori needs to leave for work in 15 minutes and I need a car today because I have to take some stuff to a church in Warren today - and return another game we rented, since I'll be in town anyway. So we'll swap cars. Uh-oh, the Flex is almost out of gas. Well, Lori can stop, she'll just have time - just let me jump the Focus. Wait, I can't see well enough in the dark to tell - is this positive or negative? I don't have time to go get a flashlight... I'll just send Lori off to work and I'll get somebody to jump start the car. How old is this battery anyway? 07? Really. Dang, I need a new battery, too... mumble, grumble, stupid car, grumble...
Okay - I get the car jump started - let it idle like half an hour*** and finish up some work at the office. Now I need the car the next day to do some running around for work - and Lori needs the other car to go to Erie the next day - so I HAVE to get a new battery, we can't let this happen again**** so I figure I'll gather the stuff together and run into Warren and get a new battery put in. Shouldn't be gone more than 2 hours, tops. Right?
Ahhh, but that's not how it ever happens around here. I look for the game that has to be returned. Not at the house. Neither is Elie's Nintendo. She must have it at school. Wait, there's a case, that must be for the game. I drive to her school, go to her class and she says, "No, daddy, I left the game, and the case [emphasis mine] in the new car, in the pocket in the back seat." Um...okay, then what is this case I have sitting in the old car right now? Oh, it's for a Wii game we rented the day before? So... not only can't I return the game that's due, but we have a late game. Great. I drive back home and hit eject on the Wii. Nothing comes out. Man I think the Wii's broken, too. But it's not. There's nothing in it. I check the pile of Wii games (not in their cases...which drives me crazy). Nothing. I look behind the Wii, under the entertainment center, all over the house, frankly, wondering where they could have put this stupid disc, getting more frustrated and, frankly, angry by the minute. Finally, after nearly an hour (from first leaving to "get a new battery") I call the video store and ask if a game got returned without a case. Of course they don't track that information - but I finally ask if I have a late game on my account. No. If a game comes back without a case, this nice lady informs me, they just make a new case and put it out on the shelf. Okay. So I'll return the empty case, but I have to make sure I tell whoever is behind the counter what is going on or it will really mess up their records...
Okay - so, I drop stuff off at the church, at the video store, get a new battery...Three hours...sigh...
Here's the Cascading Failure. It's maybe not what you think.
Yeah, there's a lot of little things that went wrong there, and you can probably figure out what effect they had on me - though I was not a raving lunatic by the end of it all*****.
How it affected me was just a part of it. Lori had to go out of her way coming home from work.
There was a very confused worker at the video store the day before, I heard from an employee in a conversation later, when a game was returned without a case - who then had to log that it was returned without a case and make a new case.
Then there was another very confused employee who got a call about a game being returned who had no way of tracking whether or not it was returned sans case and didn't know what to do, she offered to go see if it was on the shelf, til I asked if I had a late game on my account.
And there's Elie - whose fault none of this really is, I'm not sure she really even DID anything. Yet, I'm kind of holding it against her. I know I shouldn't, and I'm trying not to...but I am. And that's the greatest failure of all this - mine. I'm not angry, or bitter, or whatever. But I know that when she asks to get a game next time I'm going to remember all this...will I let her?
*Don't know what that is? Yeah, Here it is...sort of...you know, more or less...
**Which is NOT such a typical thing in the Beatty house - though I'm liking the rent it and see if they like it before we buy it on the video game front - it's gonna save us a ton of dough in the long run...
***I know that's probably overkill - AND probably a conservative estimate of how long I let it idle...truth be told...and I always try to tell the truth...honest.
****Yep - this was the fourth time I'd jumped it - some people are slow learners. You would think I would have checked to see how old the battery was after twice, right? Maybe THREE times? Nope... Truth - there's that word again - is we always had "other issues" - done light left on - short circuit in the electrical system, etc...
*****I AM growing, after all...
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