So I was on my way home from a month of business travel across five different states.  To say I was tired when I arrived at the airport is an understatement.  I like flying Qantas – even though it seems their planes have spent more time on the runway than in the air in recent weeks - but I don’t like the new security screening queues they’ve put in place, so that Business Class passengers and Platinum and Gold Frequent Flyers get ushered straight through the x-ray areas, while all the other lowlife passengers snake around a labyrinth of bends and twists in one of those magical tape queuing systems, taking on average 9.43 minutes to even reach the screening area. 

I noticed this new system had been introduced when I began my travel a month ago and since I wasn’t travelling up the front of the plane I’ve been patiently waiting in the longer “regular” queue, watching the important people stroll straight through their express lane.  But today something switched in me as I stood watching this discrimination… so I did something just a little bit naughty and I jumped from the regular queue to the express lane. There was no waiting, no frustrated queue dwellers muttering under their breath, and no one checking tickets… so I could have been flying cargo for all they knew.  And what do you know, it worked!  I was fast tracked through and sipping a soda-lime-and-bitters in the airport lounge before I knew it. 

And to boot… It felt really, really good!

Sure, I could have waited in the long line like a good girl would do,.  And yes, I felt the eyes of my fellow queue dwellers that I’d abandoned burning into me.   But what the heck, they could have jumped the queue too and walked straight through with me.  I know I’ll be heading straight for the fast lane again next time I fly.

Those who know me well will agree that this is not normal behaviour for me.  I’ve spent a lifetime playing by the rules, doing the right thing, and doing what I’m told.  But if this is anything to go by, breaking the rules could be a better way to go.

So now I’m conducting an experiment and I’m on a mission to break as many rules as I can before the end of the year… well the silly rules, anyway.  Rules like the airport queues that don’t work for me and probably don’t work for other people either.

I’ll let you know how I go… and if there’s a silly rule that you’re prepared to break, let me know by posting a comment… Your bravado might just get some more of us going too!

So I was on my way home from a month of business travel across five different states.  To say I was tired when I arrived at the airport is an understatement.  I like flying Qantas – even though it seems their planes have spent more time on the runway than in the air in recent weeks - but I don’t like the new security screening queues they’ve put in place, so that Business Class passengers and Platinum and Gold Frequent Flyers get ushered straight through the x-ray areas, while all the other lowlife passengers snake around a labyrinth of bends and twists in one of those magical tape queuing systems, taking on average 9.43 minutes to even reach the screening area. 

I noticed this new system had been introduced when I began my travel a month ago and since I wasn’t travelling up the front of the plane I’ve been patiently waiting in the longer “regular” queue, watching the important people stroll straight through their express lane.  But today something switched in me as I stood watching this discrimination… so I did something just a little bit naughty and I jumped from the regular queue to the express lane. There was no waiting, no frustrated queue dwellers muttering under their breath, and no one checking tickets… so I could have been flying cargo for all they knew.  And what do you know, it worked!  I was fast tracked through and sipping a soda-lime-and-bitters in the airport lounge before I knew it. 

And to boot… It felt really, really good!

Sure, I could have waited in the long line like a good girl would do,.  And yes, I felt the eyes of my fellow queue dwellers that I’d abandoned burning into me.   But what the heck, they could have jumped the queue too and walked straight through with me.  I know I’ll be heading straight for the fast lane again next time I fly.

Those who know me well will agree that this is not normal behaviour for me.  I’ve spent a lifetime playing by the rules, doing the right thing, and doing what I’m told.  But if this is anything to go by, breaking the rules could be a better way to go.  And with the myriad of actual and self-imposed rules we encounter every day in our careers, surely there's some there that deserve to be challenged?

So now I’m conducting an experiment and I’m on a mission to break as many rules as I can before the end of the year… well the silly rules, anyway.  Rules like the airport queues that don’t work for me and probably don’t work for other people either.

I’ll let you know how I go… and if there’s a silly rule that you’re prepared to break, let me know by posting a comment… Your bravado might just get some more of us going too!

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Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes commented on 03-Dec-2010 03:44 PM

Oooh you rebel! Great post...

There's one rule I regularly break: I refuse to be told when to cross the road by those little flashing signs, especially at junctions where I know the traffic flow well. Standing there waiting to be told when it's safe to cross robs me - robs us all - of initiative. We're like sheeple, huddled on the kerb.

It's a subversive assault on our brains: if we can't figure out for ourselves when it's safe to cross a city road, how can we expect to figure out what to do next at work or in business or in our relationships?!

Margot commented on 03-Dec-2010 05:24 PM

i became aware of the haves (platinum status) and have notes (silver and below) at Perth airport last weeked. i must have spent more than the 9.43 minutes in the queue and was pretty annoyed at the process. more so when i asked an MSS security bloke who was lounging doing nothing at all why only 1 of the 2 scanners for the have nots was operating. his smart arse answer was that 2 were operating - one for steerage and the other for first class. no excuse when planes are full to keep people waiting. as well the table when you get to the scanner isn't long enough meaning people are spending time disrobing, dis-shoeing, dis-computering as they are right at the belt of the scanner. no service at all.

Domonique Bertolucci commented on 03-Dec-2010 10:41 PM

Jen, I just love this post. It's a great reminder to play by our own rules in life. Of course that doesn't mean hurting other people or breaking the law, but if we're not careful we can find ourselves following other people's 'rules'... when their rules weren't really relevant for us. Your post is a perfect case in point!