CLOSE REALLY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH

Have you noticed that it takes TWO TIMES to make it right?   For whatever reason, trying to get something accomplished just seems harder than it used to be.  It takes two trips, two phone calls, two e-mails,  so much of  the time.

 Nothing is easy!  I hear this complaint from folks of all ages, it's not just us geezers!

I have some examples.

This past week my car battery died.  No big alarm. Honeybuns took off work, drove to Sam's, bought the right size and came home to install it.  My job was to return the OLD battery for a $9.00 refund.  I was headed back to Sam's for another errand anyway so I took the receipt and old battery.  At the end of the day I pulled out the "credit" receipt.  Yep, the woman at Sam's had credited our account for $134.00,NOT $9.00.  SO...yesterday we made another trip back to correct the mistake. The Sam's woman was grateful.

Yesterday I spent two hours on the phone tracking down a Delta flight for a business trip we'll be taking in October.  The FIRST phone call a few weeks back lasted 2 1/2 hours to get all the details straight.  A few days ago I got an e-mail  saying that the airline had changed our flights to a different day, please call.  The SECOND attempt took only an hour on the phone to straighten things out.

Two weeks ago our microwave repair man overcharged us $48.00.  It showed up on the Visa statement.  Honeybuns is following up on that one today.  More phone calls, more second attempts to get something done that should be relatively easy, correct!

Do-overs are so aggravating and time consuming.  Can't we just get it right the first time?

We know a fellow that trains pilots.  He now travels around the country with a PowerPoint presentation and begins with a dark screen. The audience is puzzled because the screen is all BLACK!   He tells the story of training two young  would-be pilots, taking off and landing 10 times each to be sure they knew how to safely get the plane IN the air and then back ON the ground in tact. They were young  and carefree, confidently living with an attitude of  "close is good, good enough."

They went together for their first flight without their instructor.  They took off and slammed their plane right into a mountain. 
One minute they were looking upward into the clear blue sky and very soon everything went black, just like the picture on the screen.

CLOSE really isn't good enough.   Those young men never got a do-over.  Sometimes it's important to get it right the first time!

Maybe if I'm more careful and precise in the little things of life,  I'll pass the test when something important comes along.