I left the Convention Center downtown Philly yesterday around 4:10 after a training session with a very cool crowd. I walked the many blocks between the meeting location and the hotel where I left the car. When parking costs 24 bucks a pop you try to avoid doing it twice. I didn’t mind the walk. The city is a marvel and worth wandering aimlessly in for no matter which way you go you’re bound to run into something cool and historic. The Warwick valet took a good ten minutes getting the car so by the time I dropped off the rental at Thrifty, I barely had an hour to get on my 6:12. On the way to the terminal, the Thrifty van had transmission issues which resulted in further delay. I ran to the self check kiosk, and was promptly informed that I would have to get in line to get my boarding pass. No big deal. Twenty minutes later, I’m at the counter face to face with an employee of Continental airlines who promptly informed me that I was under the 45 minute cut off time and would not be getting a boarding pass. I informed him that I had gotten in line at around the 50 minute mark and currently had 30 minutes to make the flight. Plenty of time, since the screening area had virtually no line and I could see the plane sitting at the gate. I was informed that it would not be possible to print a boarding pass and I would have to be rescheduled for the next flight the following morning at 6:20am. I would not be allowed to get on my flight, that I could see, sitting there, at the gate. A five minute process of walking, screening, walking, sit, buckle, headphones, Ipod, play, and I would have still had 25 minutes to sit on the plane listening to Sinatra sing ‘come fly with me’. But this guy, with all the personality of a lawn chair and customer service skills that would have earned him a shiny swastika medal, was going to make me spend another night in Philly. No problem. “Hook me up with a hotel voucher and I’ll be back here bright and early,” I say. But alas it was not to be. No flight, no hotel, no rental car. Granted, I should have let the seminar out an hour early and gotten there before the magic 45 minute mark. I’ll take responsibility. I ask for a boarding pass for the flight the next morning so I can at least spend the night in a decent chair at my gate. Again, no chance. I’ll have to come back at 4am. At this point I toss my paperwork in the air and get in Mr. Continental’s face like a coach who just got one too many bad calls. His response? “I’ve been here since 6am,” he says. I’m not sympathetic. I say, “I need to get home to my family. What can you do to help me get on that airplane?” He says, “I’m sorry”,turns and walks through a door marked ‘employees only’. I turn and face a crowd who are smiling like they just saw the dolphin show at sea world. Now would not be a good time to mention that I Pastor a church and teach classes on Managing Emotions Under Pressure. I sit down in a place where I can see my plane. Separated by a security booth and an incompetent worker. I get in line again. By now, he’s gone home and been replaced by a very kind lady who gives me a boarding pass for my next flight at 6:20am. I got through security at around 6:45pm and made my way to the gate to spend the next 12 hours. -To Be Continued-