GOING ON A HOLIDAY: A LESSON IN TRUST & TRUSTWORTHINESS

First due to surgery on my knees and then due to covid-19 pandemic we haven't been abroad for almost four years. Now things have improved, the travel restrictions have been eased or even removed in many countries. We decided to take a plunge and booked a holiday in Rhodes, Greece for a week.

Our flight was from Stansted Airport, about an hour and half drive from our home. Instead of taking a taxi I reserved a place in the Airport’s long-stay carpark for 7 days. There was a regular courtesy shuttle service from the carpark to the terminal

We arrived at the airport carpark about four hrs before our flight. Within the carpark I was driving slowly when I saw a white van marked with the airport parking logo. I stopped my car near him, the driver came to us. I showed him my parking ticket and asked him if it was the correct section of the carpark. He confirmed that it was. I thanked him and started in my quest for an empty slot.

I had to drive down further as most of the nearby places were already taken. The same patroller came to my window and asked me to follow him for a better slot. He brought us right in the first lane and indicated me to park there. He said it was near the shuttle stop and it would be convenient for us. It certainly was. I could see the bus stop just fifty yards away.

I then noticed that there was a signboard there stating that it was for disabled badge holders only and any unauthorised cars would be towed away. We would be returning from the holiday at midnight and the prospect of facing that scenario was not very palatable. I said to him that I would leave this slot for the disabled drivers and park somewhere else. He said not to worry, he was the carpark patroller, and he was authorising me to park there. I parked the car in that slot but I was still worried.

I said to him that he might not be on duty when we return after holidays and requested him to give me something in writing to display at my dashboard in case there was any problem later.

 He went back to his van and came back with an A4 size paper on which he had written “Allowed in Bay by Patroller” and he had signed it underneath. We put this paper on the dashboard, got our luggage from the boot, and came to the bus stop.

Bibha and I were still worried. Should we trust this man? Why was he being so helpful to us? What if, he was colluding with the towing company and generating some income on the side?

Then again, why should we not trust this gentleman who was being kind to us. We are in our seventies and to him must have looked frail for dragging our suitcases from the far end of the carpark to the bus stop, particularly in the middle of the night. The van he was driving did have the logo of Stanstead airport parking, he had an ID badge hanging from his neck and he looked kind and honest to me. 

We agonised about this till we got into the plane. Now we could not change anything, so we decided there was no point in worrying about it. It was better to put our trust in the trustworthiness of the patroller and enjoy the journey.

In Rhodes we enjoyed lazing around on the beach and exploring the long and varied history of Rhodes Island.

On the last day of the holiday while packing our luggage we both exclaimed simultaneously “hope the man in the carpark was trustworthy.”

Our plane landed in London just after midnight. We took the shuttle to the carpark.

When we got off the shuttle bus at our stop in the carpark, we saw our car a few yards away where we had parked, no clamp on the wheels and no penalty notices on the windshield. We were the only couple in this vast carpark, it would have felt intimidating walking hundreds of yards alone if the patroller wouldn’t have allowed us to park in the disabled carpark.

I felt guilty for judging a man presumptuously despite all my education and culture. Or was it because of them?

 It is drilled into us from the very childhood, not to trust a stranger and sometimes we carry that into adulthood.

Fear of strangers might have been useful in long past of human history when most of the people lived in close-knit small communities. Now living and working in big cities and frequent traveling we must trust many strangers daily, like the people manning the hotels, restaurants, taxis, hospitals, online stores etc. How will we ask a stranger for a direction when lost!

Surely, once in a while we might be deceived but not trusting any stranger will make our present very miserable and unhappy indeed.  

I think in most day-to-day scenarios it is one’s own willingness to trust that is lacking not the trustworthiness of the stranger.