What if Everyone Wanted to Do That?
It's the last refuge of the jobsworth.
"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I can't possibly allow it. You see, what if everyone wanted to do that?"
They can use it on any occasion where a bit of thought and imagination would solve the problem: or when there's something a bit different going on that would require them to engage their brain.
One of the few times where, it seems, everyone does want to do it is when they're five minutes late for check-in at an airport.
"Yes, but can't you delay the plane? It's just me that's late and the traffic in London was terrible."
You see them again and again on such television programmes as Airline. "Who could have anticipated that traffic could be that bad? Oh, please, because it's my grandmother's funeral tomorrow - amazingly, she just happened to live in Ibitha - and I can't possibly miss it."
I feel sorry for the staff who must deal with this many times a day: but airports are now applying this what-if-everyone rule more widely.
I drove Stephen to Leeds-Bradford airport horribly early this morning because he's going on a business trip to Helsinki (as long as he brings me back a couple of reindeer it'll be okay).
Now, because earlier this year two people in a car tried to drive into Glasgow airport with the idea of blowing things up and killing people, Leeds-Bradford Airport has decided that everyone might want to do this, and hence you can no longer drop off passengers anywhere near the entrance. Instead, you have to drive into the car park, leave your passengers to struggle with their luggage, and drive straight out again so you don't get charged for parking.
I can see the airport's point of view. If anyone managed to drive a car straight into Leeds-Bradford's entrance, then the airport would be blamed and the newspaper headlines would be all about why didn't they heed the dreadful warning from the incident at Glasgow?
On the other hand, how long are they going to keep this up for? A year? Five years? Ten? Because - unless they have some information that isn't being made public, that others are planning to try driving a car straight at an airport - they could stop people from dropping passengers off indefinitely. Perhaps only a little victory for terrorists - and "terrorist" isn't a word I use lightly - but a significant one.
"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I can't possibly allow it. You see, what if everyone wanted to do that?"
They can use it on any occasion where a bit of thought and imagination would solve the problem: or when there's something a bit different going on that would require them to engage their brain.
One of the few times where, it seems, everyone does want to do it is when they're five minutes late for check-in at an airport.
"Yes, but can't you delay the plane? It's just me that's late and the traffic in London was terrible."
You see them again and again on such television programmes as Airline. "Who could have anticipated that traffic could be that bad? Oh, please, because it's my grandmother's funeral tomorrow - amazingly, she just happened to live in Ibitha - and I can't possibly miss it."
I feel sorry for the staff who must deal with this many times a day: but airports are now applying this what-if-everyone rule more widely.
I drove Stephen to Leeds-Bradford airport horribly early this morning because he's going on a business trip to Helsinki (as long as he brings me back a couple of reindeer it'll be okay).
Now, because earlier this year two people in a car tried to drive into Glasgow airport with the idea of blowing things up and killing people, Leeds-Bradford Airport has decided that everyone might want to do this, and hence you can no longer drop off passengers anywhere near the entrance. Instead, you have to drive into the car park, leave your passengers to struggle with their luggage, and drive straight out again so you don't get charged for parking.
I can see the airport's point of view. If anyone managed to drive a car straight into Leeds-Bradford's entrance, then the airport would be blamed and the newspaper headlines would be all about why didn't they heed the dreadful warning from the incident at Glasgow?
On the other hand, how long are they going to keep this up for? A year? Five years? Ten? Because - unless they have some information that isn't being made public, that others are planning to try driving a car straight at an airport - they could stop people from dropping passengers off indefinitely. Perhaps only a little victory for terrorists - and "terrorist" isn't a word I use lightly - but a significant one.
posted by Daphne at 8:15 pm
1 Comments:
Agreed, you certainly find jobsworths at the airport! I remember when I was going to Venice last month and they stopped me at Gatwick and went all through my hand luggage. I don't spose I blame them; I'd rather be safe. But it's a sad state we're reduced to with all this hyper security. The airports in this country are hell-on-earth which doesn't help. Venice airport was so nice in comparison with Gatwick.
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