What's A Handbag Got To Do With Objectives?  

Many years ago I had a wonderful handbag. It was lovely soft leather in a chestnut colour. It had no strap (one of the problems as you'll see later) and fitted perfectly into my duffel coat pocket.

This was back in the early fourteenth century during my student days when I wore a duffel coat quite a lot.

I worked in Cornwall over the summer and on a Saturday went into Newquay where I absent-mindedly left my bag on the counter of a busy chemist's shop. And yes, sometimes, at the height of summer in Cornwall, it is necessary to wear a duffel coat.

When I realised what had happened half an hour later I dashed back to the shop and there was my bag, sat there when I had left it with everything still inside.

The next summer I worked on the Isle of Mann. This time I left the bag in a phone box (we had no mobile phones in those days and phone boxes were quite common). Later that day I had a call from the police asking for my home address and other details. They had the bag. Some kind person had handed it in. Needless to say, everything was there, all present and correct.

The third time I lost the bag, I left it in a car I'd been hitching a ride in. The bag had fallen out of my pocket. I'd had quite an interesting chat with the driver and knew he was on his way to a conference at a university.

So I hitched over there. Using my persuasive skills I managed to convince the security guard that I should be allowed into the hall where the evening banquet was taking place, though I was hardly dressed for the event.

A man at the top table in DJ and bow tie addressed the conference: 'Does anyone remember giving this young lady a lift earlier today.' He could hardly hide his amusement.

There was my kind chauffeur near the front. 'I've got your bag' he said. And produced my driving licence. He'd been planning to search me out using directory enquiries. (A service that used to be free in those days...)

Again, nothing in my bag had been stolen.

Now let's move along to recent history. Over Easter, my family and I went to Paris, a city I love. On our last day the flight was late afternoon and we needed to check out of our room and leave our bags with the hotel. This is an arrangement that most hotels make.

So we left our four bags. Three to be checked in and one, my favourite 'Kipling' bag that I used for taking in the cabin. It was orange and big enough to contain my laptop and lots of other things but small enough to go in the cabin.

It also had five separate pockets and placed for pens and mobile phones. For a person who loves bags, it was about the best designed of that genre it has ever been my pleasure to own.

When we returned, the other three bags were there, but my favourite bag had gone. The woman who had been at the desk the whole time, in full view of the bag, denied any responsibility for the situation. She accused us of only having had three bags.

I was furious. She wouldn't call the police or do anything at all to help. I wrote to the travel agents and still we have had no joy or even an apology.

Was it her fault? Initially I thought it was. But on reflection, I wonder if she had the right objectives. Had anyone made it clear to her what she was there to achieve? What did she understand about her responsibilities?

I suspect no one had explained it or told her how the process for making sure that people only picked up their bags and not my lovely bag as well.

I never expected her to risk the wrath of an armed robber with a shotgun to keep my bag safe, but I did expect her to check people only retrieved their own bags.

So, it seems to me ironic that on three occasions, when no one was being paid to look after my bag, people went out of their way to make sure I got it back, but when someone was being paid, they didn't. Was I lucky those first three times? I think most people are basically honest. But when people are badly managed, they do not perform well.

Apparently last year in France there was a big campaign to encourage waiters to treat tourists with more respect. Let's hope next year this is extended to receptionists and to hotel managers so that they can give their staff clearer objectives.

And just in case you are wondering, after a long and happy but eventful life, the chestnut handbag met its end through a leaky jar of pickled herrings, not through being lost again.

 

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