Friday, February 09, 2007

Again, what's the point?

I was just watching some of my video footage from November 18, taken several hours before I split from Patrick & Company. At 8:56 that morning, as we were screaming down a steep mountain incline, Patrick's phone rang. It was the lady we were going to meet in Los Angeles. She was calling to check on our progress, in an attempt to coordinate her schedule with ours.

Patrick updated her: "We are entering Utah."

One big problem, though: We were nowhere near Utah. We were still east of Vail, at mile 180 in Colorado. That means we were still 180 miles from Utah. It means we were at least 3-1/2 hours from Utah.

What did he think he'd gain by telling such a lie? Can anyone help me figure this out?

In addition to that lie, he started bullshitting her in other ways, making all kinds of excuses for the constant and continuous delays. Furthermore, he projected that we would arrive sometime that evening--early enough to meet up with her before she left town--even though he knew there was absolutely no chance we would arrive before about 3:00 AM.

I can understand why someone might stretch the truth a little in certain situations, especially if there is a chance that the little lie could become inconsequential. But it simply is not possible to drive a large Penske truck (that won't go over 70 MPH) from Vail, Colorado to Los Angeles, California in 11 or 12 hours. You can't even make it to Vegas in that timespan. So why dig yourself an even deeper hole by lying about your progress and promising the impossible?

Do you think that lady's ever going to deal with you again, Patrick? Well, she's not. The funny thing is you'll never learn anything from it.

Aimless