Last week I had a day trip to China to visit two different suppliers located in adjacent cities. I knew that trying to see both in one day would be tight, but I wanted to spend as little time in China as possible.
I arrived early in the morning at the first supplier and everything went as scheduled - but that was the end of things going as planned. Instead of arriving at 11am, the driver from the second supplier got lost and didn't pick me up until 1pm, which left me with only 45 minutes to get my business done and still catch my 7pm flight. The second stop would need to be rushed, but, definitely, still possible.
Until the van had a flat tire.
Even then, I thought I still had a chance. I mean, a tire can be changed in less than 10 minutes if done quickly and assuming the driver had proper training.
Well, the driver got the wheel off in no time and I figured we'd soon be on our way. No such luck. A few minutes had gone by with no apparent progress when the drive came to the door and motioned for me to come out and take a look. The flat tire was off and to the side, but the driver couldn't figure out how to get the spare tire off the undercarriage of the van. I'm strictly a spare-in-the-trunk guy, so I had no idea, although I did duck underneath the van and try twisting it off - making a complete mess of myself in the process.
After we had both failed and given up, the driver started calling friends and I started googling "how to get your spare off a mini-van". By this time, chances were slim that I would be able to get to the second factory and still catch my flight. Then, the driver and I noticed a small hole atop the rear bumper. After fumbling around with an array of tools and ratchets, we finally found one that slid inside the hole and could be used to uncrank the spare tire.
At this point, I got back in the van because what had been looming over the horizon for the last 30 minutes was finally upon us. As soon as the driver got the spare off and had set himself down alongside the van to get to work, the afternoon monsoon rolled in and drenched the earth. The driver was supersaturated within moments, and within 5 minutes he had defied all laws of physics by becoming extra-super-saturated.
This is a picture from inside the comfort of the van.
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