Some things can easily be resolved

 June - Week 2 (reading time 3 mins)

Yesterday, I had one of those experiences with petty officialdom.

I took a friend to the airport and drove into the drop & go zone. 

As soon as she disappeared into the building, I look for my parking ticket, and… you’ve guessed it, it has disappeared.  I search for about 3 minutes, get out, look on the tar, check the boot – nada. Then I realise, that if I don’t exit within the 5 minutes time allocation, I will have to pay R26 instead of exiting free of charge; so I quickly head to the exit.  At this point, I must mention that this is in George – a very small airport, so all of this happens within a radius of about 10 metres. At the exit boom, a small piece of paper informs me that the intercom is broken (of course). I reverse (badly) and park. I walk over to the ticket office, adjacent to said boom.

In a very friendly manner, I explain that I’ve just pulled up and dropped my friend, I even have 3 witnesses (security men, lounging against a wall) and my ticket has ‘disappeared’.  Immediately, I am met with an oppressive stare.

‘Have you looked for it?’

Yes, I have.

‘Please, read the sign on this window.’  I read the sign, which unsurprisingly tells me that a lost ticket carries a R150 fine.

‘This is the fine for a lost ticket.’ she says accusingly.

I know, I say, and I understand that you can’t just have people parking for hours without paying, but I’ve just pulled in, those men saw me.

“It’s not about that,” she spits, “It’s about the ticket. You have to have a ticket.” 

Is the ticket worth R150 I wonder?  Isn’t it a disposable piece of date-stamped card? She’s clearly angry with me now and it seems there will be no reasoning with her, so I turn tail to go and tear my car apart for the Golden TICKET!

This angers her even more, ‘Stop! I’m trying to help you!’ Really!? What could possibly have assisted me in discerning that! She then tells me to drive to the boom (I assume this means she is conceding to let me out without a ticket, but who knows?)

BUT, HERE’S THE RUB: the entire incident has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I suspect, reinforced her opinion about ‘entitled people’.

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At this moment I realised how often this scenario plays out in life, not just with petty officials, but between teachers and students, bosses and employees and husbands and wives.

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This is the problem: some people don’t believe that things can be resolved in a calm and friendly manner.  They believe that people must be made to feel the weight of their errors. They must suffer, or do penance before you can let them off the hook.  For this official, the idea that I was simply caught in an unfortunate situation, through being a normal, flawed, human, was not enough.  We couldn’t simply laugh at how life is sometimes just silly and unpredictable, and find a quick solution. Instead, I would have to pay for my mistake; if not with R150, then with a stern rebuke; I had to understand that it was a BIG fucking DEAL.

Can we just recognise that sometimes people, kids, employees, spouses, make mistakes… not because they’re being bad, or careless or lazy; but just because they’re human.

And then can we just be friendly and kind and forgiving; and then can we just help them to rectify the situation?

I DO understand that some people take advantage of situations, lie, cheat, and steal; but even so, can we all, just be a bit more tolerant, a bit more intuitive, and a bit more generous in our approach?

I just wish we’d both walked away from that encounter with smiles on our faces.  I wish she had felt good about herself for assisting me.  Seriously, I would have paid R150 bucks for that.

P.S. I found it when I got home and reached into the secret compartment where I keep the gate opener.