I can’t afford not to be connected in order to perform my contracting responsibilities. Had an interesting effect of that cost from another entity negatively affecting me.
Brought my car (formerely her majesty’s) into the shop for her 30 & 40k mile checkup + new tires. I got out of class early, but still ended up waiting for 3 hours whilst they operated. Best excuse ever to watch Coneheads on Comedy Central as the news in the newspaper was pretty lame and no good tech mags.
Last night, my headlights didn’t work. I burned my brights all the way home. It was pretty funny; if I didn’t have my ligths off, people flashed theirs at me. If I had my brights on, people flashed their brights at me. I’d rather them see me then not, but felt bad as many people in their driving patterns of encircling me, quickly getting over, etc. were obviously irritated.
Turns out, Honda had a recall on 2k1 Civics that the headlights could go out while your driving. The shop I was at, however, couldn’t connect Saturday (so they tell me) to see any recall updates. Therefore, they didn’t catch it.
So, I’ve lost 1 hour and 30 minutes this morning in contracting time. Since I get paid hourly, their lack of internet access caused me to lose some income that I could of garnered. Naturally, I never actually owned the money, therefore it’s more of an opportunity that I didn’t attain rather than a loss; however, as far as I’m concerned the money was in the bag, therefore, I still consider it a loss. Because it was a recall, I didn’t get charged for parts and labor, but still lost money in the hours I didn’t log at work.
This is the first time I can remember that not only did I lost money because I wasn’t connected, I also lost money because someone else wasn’t. I need one of those phones so I can connect my laptop to at least get email. I have enough pockets for another device to add to the 50.
It’s just neat to see how things have come full circle. It costs to be connected; it costs to be setup; you can’t afford not to be connected; your lack of being connected costs others.
