Thursday, August 20, 2009

Me da vergüenza

Who needs a hormonal hot flash when you can just embarrass yourself into a permanent blush?

I hate to even tell you what I've done. It's so horrible that I'm pretty sure some of you will leave my blog and never come back. EVER.

I am a terrible person.
I am despicable.
I am lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.

I used to be a nice person. Had my act together. Got things done. Usually efficiently. Could juggle the multiple activities of my family and the kids in our care (we were houseparents for mentally and emotionally impaired teens for 9 years). Managed to stumble through life without anything major happening.

Until this morning.

When I made a VERY ERRONEOUS ASSUMPTION. Our first guest from the U.S. sent us her travel itinerary, but do you think I printed it out? I just glanced at it, thought I had the info firmly imbedded in my brain and went about my merry way.

I knew she was flying Lan and she was coming in via Santiago, Chile. Only one flight per day from Santiago to Cordoba so no problema: she was arriving at 12:55 p.m. -- lunch time.

Only she WASN'T coming IN via Santiago. She's going OUT via Santiago. She actually came IN via Lima, Peru.

At 6:15 a.m.

So the poor girl arrived in a strange city in a foreign country and there was no one to meet her.

And nobody came.

For hours.

And hours.

She had no way to contact us.

[Because I may have mentioned she's our first visitor? Thus she is also our guinea pig, and we are learning with her. We didn't think to give her a phone number.]

At 9:30 a.m. I was doing breakfast dishes and waiting for Ivan to get back from the store. I thought, "I should print out her flight info."

Which is when I discovered my APPALLING MISTAKE.

It was with COMPLETE AND UTTER HORROR that I looked at the itinerary and read the arrival time of 6:15 a.m.

I felt literally sick to my stomach.

I called Ivan and he rushed home and called the airport to get a message to our poor abandoned guest. The airport personnel were singularly UNHELPFUL.

So we just made the mad dash to the airport. Normally it's an hour trip. We made it there in just over 45 minutes.

Which put us exactly FIVE HOURS LATE in picking her up.

I told you I'm a terrible person.

She was tired. She was hungry. But she handled the situation much better than I could have/would have done. She was kind. She was gracious. I think she has forgiven me.

I'm sure she will never forget though.

Would you?

Didn't think so.

Who do you think will become absolutely anal about printing out itineraries and posting them on the refridgerator and looking at them multiple times?

Who do you think will be careful to give phone numbers and other important information to future guests?

*sigh*

Oh, the mortification.

Have y'all ever done anything this bad? Please don't leave me dangling here by one very red and embarrassed thread. Tell me your tales of shame and humiliation. Let's all enjoy a good group blush. Please?!

9 comments:

sara said...

Oh Kim!!! I am so sorry!!! MY stomach sank FOR you as I read that. I know I have messed up like that big, especially now with the black hole in my brain growing daily!!! I want to offer you a story, however I make it a habit of tossing those out of my brain never to be thought of again....you should too! :)

Fix her some of that cuban pork and she will replace that memory with a wonderful one!!!

the Provident Woman said...

Now I wasn't in a strange place, I was coming home from my summer nanny job on the east coast, but my mother was 4 hours late picking me up at the airport. My phone was dead. I had no money and no calling cards. I sat outside on my luggage fuming (from anger and worry as well as from the heat, August in Kansas means 100+ degrees)

Heidi said...

Oh, that is a bad, bad feeling indeed- forgetting about that person you are supposed to pick up. I've done that to my own kids. Well, it's water over the dam, as my mother would say. Be extra nice to her, does she like chocolate? I'm sure she has forgiven and will forget more and more- as she ages- that I can vouch for.

Jenniferbuehrer said...

That's an awkward moment! The two of you are so accommodating that she will forget how she could have/ should have felt. I was left behind once.... I don't want to talk about it.... ;)

Katidids said...

Oh My, feed her well, she'll be happy! I had 2 appointments lined up today, I somehow switched the times....I did not have a contact number with me when I realized what happened...they waited 2 hours for me to show up. Yes, I was verrry red faced. I know you must have been horrified! Just found your blog thu the Provident Woman...

Skoots1moM said...

well...red-faced one, I have a story that also put a deep pit in my stomach.
It wasn't toward one of my family members, well, yes it was...it was my doggie...my little 12-pound yorkie poo, Murphy.

Now, I know some would say, "it's a dog", but this little doggie was in my life b4 Chuckles, and he was my comfort and joy for many years before I married.

One day hubs came home early from work, one of the over 90* days in Atlanta--when the humidity is so thick the air almost drips.

Well, long story short, I was ecstatic he came home early :) so we took advantage of the time and decided to go see a new movie...off we went, straight away, I grabbed my purse and locked the door...away we drove.

Three hours later, and 10* hotter, we returned home and I found my little doggie still on his lead in the yard...out in the sun, with no shade, no water, and there he was...lying on his side, tongue hanging out. (I just knew he was dead...but, he wasn't.) I immediately immersed him in water, called the vet, rushed him there and had to leave him overnight...he was so dehydrated the dr. had to start him on iv fluids and then gave me a 15% chance of his surviving through the night b/c he would probably throw a blood clot to his heart.:(

I cried ALL night and couldn't sleep...yes, I did this to the love who had so wonderfully met me at the door every day and even kissed me on days when I didn't go near my makeup.

I had completely forgotten I had put him out right b4 hubby came home.

The Dr. called me the next day and Murphy had made it through the night and lived many more years...but that incident took me a LONG time to get over.

So glad your visitor was safe, wasn't out in the sun and didn't have to go to the hospital overnight...see, it could have been worse.
You'll be such a gracious hostess, I know she will feel the Love of the Lord through both of you and will count her blessings and be sad to leave you later.
Don't be too rough on yourself, just take it as a little refining :)

riTa Koch said...

Kim, I already knew about this through FB, I knew what was coming, but your piece made me laugh harder than I've ever done over any of your previous blogs. And all the stories that followed were worth the five hour wait. Tell her I'll pay her at least minimum wage for her time!

I survived being left behind, see http://meemaw-rita.blogspot.com/2008/08/arrival-in-argentina.html.

Love ya'!

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Oh, I feel for you and your guest. Now you just have to let it go. You are only human. There is no need to keep beating yourself up over and over, which is what I would do! Let it go, seriously. You are not a bad person. You are a normal human who makes mistakes, even ones that inconvenience or even hurt others sometimes. But all you did was have a lapse--no evil intentions!

Christy Duffy said...

OH MY WORD! I can only imagine how you felt. But don't worry - by the time she's spent a few hours with you she'll forget the wait and will only remember how wonderful you are.