Yesterday, I attended the Greater Houston Partnership annual meeting with over 1000 others. The luncheon was at the Hilton Americas Hotel, a lovely venue I've been to many, many times. Ninety-nine percent of the time I choose the self-park option. I was arriving a few minutes later than I'd anticipated due to an impromptu meeting with my boss. My instincts said that valet parking would be quicker. They would park my car immediately and I guessed that the wait to retrieve my car wouldn't be onerous because I'd be networking rather than racing to the exit. Both of these assumptions were correct. But the most important aspect of this decision was my missing wallet.
I entered the arriving valet line just behind some friends. The hotel offers the option to pay for parking as you enter to avoid a line at the end of the event. When I stepped into line behind my friends, I was horrified to realize that my wallet wasn't in my handbag. (The great news I discovered in the evening was that my wallet was in my home office where I'd accessed it early in the morning.) I had $6 tucked in the pocket of my bag and had a $14 valet parking bill to pay. Fortunately, one of my friends came to my rescue with a short term loan.
Though it's always terrific to have friends rescue us, the bigger message is to trust our instincts. There's often a reason for a change of routine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment