{"id":18749,"date":"2026-09-24T12:35:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=18749"},"modified":"2026-09-24T12:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:35:28","slug":"part-25-alex-joined-the-advisory-group-expecting-to-protect-what-we-built-then-found-a-rule-that-had-quietly-outlived-its-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=18749","title":{"rendered":"PART 25 \u2013 Alex Joined the Advisory Group Expecting to Protect What We Built, Then Found a Rule That Had Quietly Outlived Its Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alex lasted exactly eleven days on the driver advisory group before calling me.<\/p>\n<p>I knew because he opened with, \u201cYou could\u2019ve warned me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeetings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou wanted the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought we discussed safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou discuss commas for forty minutes and occasionally discover safety by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is exactly what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I smiled and kept checking the trailer seal in front of me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a proposed revision to the roadside-assistance policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That got my attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat revision?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want drivers to obtain dispatch acknowledgment before leaving the cab at any civilian roadside incident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stopped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny incident?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what the draft says.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInsurance review.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>I leaned against the trailer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSend it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My phone buzzed seconds later.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed language was short.<\/p>\n<p>A driver encountering a civilian roadside hazard could report it immediately, but before physically approaching another vehicle or person, dispatch was supposed to acknowledge that conditions supported leaving the cab.<\/p>\n<p>I understood the reasoning.<\/p>\n<p>Traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Unknown people.<\/p>\n<p>Poor visibility.<\/p>\n<p>Company liability.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers sometimes underestimated roadside danger.<\/p>\n<p>The rule was not absurd.<\/p>\n<p>That made it harder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d Alex asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re on the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCheap answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorrect answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He groaned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s too rigid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if there\u2019s no signal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if someone is already in immediate danger?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if dispatch is handling six calls?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeep going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if the driver can clearly make a safe decision without waiting for somebody looking at a map?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere you go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou agree?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI agree those questions need answers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He had expected me to give him a position he could carry into the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Years earlier, I probably would have.<\/p>\n<p>Now I wanted him to build his own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are you being difficult?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTraining.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI regret knowing you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet in line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alex called again after the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>The draft had been modified.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers should contact dispatch before approaching civilians when reasonably practicable.<\/p>\n<p>Immediate threats to life or situations where communication was unavailable remained subject to driver judgment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s better,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI argued for \u2018reasonably practicable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDangerous. You\u2019re learning committee language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAppropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Then became serious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomebody asked why we still keep original safety reports permanently locked when corrected copies exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I knew where that was going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStorage?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPartly. Legal says duplicate records complicate discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInteresting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd operations says managers keep opening outdated notes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also reasonable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProposal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArchive originals after a correction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeaning?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot visible in normal operational systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I considered it.<\/p>\n<p>The locked-original rule had grown directly from my case.<\/p>\n<p>Victor had changed the record.<\/p>\n<p>The preservation requirement made that harder.<\/p>\n<p>But years had passed.<\/p>\n<p>Systems had improved.<\/p>\n<p>Audit trails now recorded edits automatically.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the old rule really had become redundant.<\/p>\n<p>That possibility bothered me more than I expected.<\/p>\n<p>Alex heard my silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSame thing with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I went home and found Richard\u2019s old notebook.<\/p>\n<p>I had never read all of it.<\/p>\n<p>Near the middle, beneath several pages of meeting notes, he had written:<\/p>\n<p>DO NOT CONFUSE PRESERVING THE LESSON WITH PRESERVING EVERY MECHANISM.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Annoying man.<\/p>\n<p>Even retired, he was arguing with me.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah found me reading.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvidence Richard planned to haunt me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She read the line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou people are exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho are \u2018you people\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone who\u2019s right when I\u2019d prefer otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She laughed.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, I asked Rachel about the proposed change.<\/p>\n<p>She still worked in compliance, though her role had expanded nationally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould archiving originals weaken investigations?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDepends on what archive means.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot visible to operations. Still retained for compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why did we fight so hard to lock them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the old system allowed silent replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery edit creates an immutable audit entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I knew that.<\/p>\n<p>But knowing a technical feature and emotionally trusting it were different.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe objective was never to force dispatchers to stare at obsolete notes forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was to preserve evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf evidence stays preserved\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen the mechanism can change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richard\u2019s sentence again.<\/p>\n<p>I hated this lesson.<\/p>\n<p>It was easier to defend reforms than revise them.<\/p>\n<p>Changing a rule born from something painful felt almost disloyal.<\/p>\n<p>As if relaxing the rule suggested the original harm had not mattered.<\/p>\n<p>But that was nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>A bridge could be rebuilt after a collapse without preserving the temporary scaffolding forever.<\/p>\n<p>I called Alex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArchive is fine if compliance access remains permanent and the audit trail cannot be altered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He sounded pleased.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou changed your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never told you my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou made the silence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat silence?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Marcus silence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no Marcus silence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere absolutely is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I ended the call.<\/p>\n<p>The revised policy passed.<\/p>\n<p>Original reports remained preserved but moved out of everyday operational view after verified correction.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing terrible happened.<\/p>\n<p>Dispatchers stopped accidentally relying on outdated versions.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators retained access.<\/p>\n<p>The protection survived.<\/p>\n<p>The inconvenience decreased.<\/p>\n<p>I learned something uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>Even good rules could become rituals if nobody remembered what problem they were supposed to solve.<\/p>\n<p>That lesson arrived at the right time because Monica\u2019s efficiency program was expanding.<\/p>\n<p>Fuel consumption had fallen.<\/p>\n<p>Empty miles decreased.<\/p>\n<p>Route planning improved.<\/p>\n<p>Then someone in analytics proposed automated schedule optimization.<\/p>\n<p>The system would assign routes using qualifications, hours, location, seniority requirements, and predicted delivery performance.<\/p>\n<p>No supervisor choosing favorites.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, it sounded like an answer to the exact problem Victor had exploited.<\/p>\n<p>Remove discretionary scheduling power.<\/p>\n<p>Reduce retaliation risk.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers initially loved the idea.<\/p>\n<p>Ben said, \u201cFinally, a computer can ruin my weekend instead of a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carla was less enthusiastic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComputers learn from old data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That sentence stayed with me.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot launched at three terminals.<\/p>\n<p>Not ours.<\/p>\n<p>Within six weeks, Nina called.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProblem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrivers with more historical safety stops are getting slightly fewer high-priority routes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs safety-stop count an input?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPredicted on-time performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>The algorithm did not know what a safety stop was.<\/p>\n<p>It knew only that certain drivers had more late arrivals.<\/p>\n<p>Some of those late arrivals came from approved safety holds.<\/p>\n<p>The company had removed safety penalties from human scorecards but accidentally left their consequences inside historical data used by the scheduling model.<\/p>\n<p>Old pressure.<\/p>\n<p>New machine.<\/p>\n<p>Again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow big is the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSmall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsistent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough to trigger audit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Good.<\/p>\n<p>The system had caught itself.<\/p>\n<p>That mattered.<\/p>\n<p>Monica suspended automated assignments before the pilot expanded.<\/p>\n<p>The analytics team rebuilt the model so approved safety delays were excluded from performance features.<\/p>\n<p>Then they tested historical schedules.<\/p>\n<p>The disparity largely disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>Not completely.<\/p>\n<p>Other factors remained.<\/p>\n<p>But the obvious distortion was gone.<\/p>\n<p>Alex called after the review.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is depressing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe fix one thing and it comes back wearing a different shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s basically adulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought policy solved problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolicy changes conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds evasive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Problems did not stay still.<\/p>\n<p>Neither could protections.<\/p>\n<p>That was why new people mattered.<\/p>\n<p>Alex noticed something I might have missed because I had become accustomed to the system.<\/p>\n<p>Nina caught pressure drift.<\/p>\n<p>Carla questioned historical data.<\/p>\n<p>Jamal brought the right language into dispatch.<\/p>\n<p>No one person could guard everything.<\/p>\n<p>That was healthier than depending on one suspicious truck driver forever.<\/p>\n<p>My training duties expanded slightly.<\/p>\n<p>I still refused full-time.<\/p>\n<p>Two classes a month became three during hiring season.<\/p>\n<p>The trainees got younger.<\/p>\n<p>Or I got older.<\/p>\n<p>Probably both.<\/p>\n<p>One afternoon, a trainee named Rosa challenged me during a weather scenario.<\/p>\n<p>The simulated road had freezing rain.<\/p>\n<p>No official closure.<\/p>\n<p>Dispatch reported other trucks moving.<\/p>\n<p>She chose to continue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoad is open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat authorities haven\u2019t closed it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it tell you about traction?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour trailer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTemperature?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThirty-one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrend?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFalling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She reconsidered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStill continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked suspicious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not going to tell me the correct answer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere isn\u2019t enough information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo how do I pass?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExplain your decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She did.<\/p>\n<p>Carefully.<\/p>\n<p>Speed reduction.<\/p>\n<p>Following distance.<\/p>\n<p>Next safe stopping point identified.<\/p>\n<p>Monitor steering feel.<\/p>\n<p>Reassess if temperature dropped or ice appeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo continuing was right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked annoyed.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered being exactly that kind of annoyed.<\/p>\n<p>People wanted safety training to provide certainty.<\/p>\n<p>Reality rarely cooperated.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of class, Rosa stayed behind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy last company told us never to stop unless dispatch approved it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid drivers follow that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did they do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStopped and claimed traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Rigid rules did not eliminate judgment.<\/p>\n<p>They drove judgment underground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd management knew?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen the rule wasn\u2019t controlling behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was it doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking honest reporting risky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>Then nodded.<\/p>\n<p>That became another example I carried into later classes.<\/p>\n<p>Not Rosa\u2019s company.<\/p>\n<p>Not her name.<\/p>\n<p>Just the principle.<\/p>\n<p>When systems punish honest uncertainty, people often respond by becoming less honest rather than less uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>Months passed.<\/p>\n<p>The scheduling algorithm returned after independent testing.<\/p>\n<p>This time the model excluded approved safety delays and produced explanations for assignment decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers could appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Human review remained.<\/p>\n<p>Not perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Better.<\/p>\n<p>At our terminal, automated scheduling arrived quietly.<\/p>\n<p>My first computer-generated route was a Tuesday run I had driven dozens of times.<\/p>\n<p>Ben examined the board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe machine hates me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou say that about Paula.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe machine gave me a 4:30 departure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe Paula trained it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She heard him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ben looked genuinely concerned for three seconds.<\/p>\n<p>The system worked well enough.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers still complained.<\/p>\n<p>That was probably healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Then I noticed something on my own schedule.<\/p>\n<p>I had been assigned a desirable Friday route three weeks in a row.<\/p>\n<p>Ben noticed too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlgorithm loves you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I checked the explanation.<\/p>\n<p>Qualification match.<\/p>\n<p>Available hours.<\/p>\n<p>Low empty-mile positioning.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing suspicious.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I asked Paula.<\/p>\n<p>She stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re appealing because your schedule is too good?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m asking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause unexplained advantages are still unexplained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She leaned back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat may be the most Marcus thing you\u2019ve ever said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The assignment was legitimate.<\/p>\n<p>No favoritism.<\/p>\n<p>No hidden reward for my safety work.<\/p>\n<p>Good.<\/p>\n<p>I kept the route.<\/p>\n<p>Years earlier, I had demanded explanations for bad outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Now I realized fairness also required being willing to examine favorable ones.<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise transparency was just another word for wanting reasons when you were unhappy.<\/p>\n<p>That Friday route took me past the highway where I had first met Julian\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>Not the exact mile marker.<\/p>\n<p>Close.<\/p>\n<p>Weather was clear.<\/p>\n<p>The shoulder looked ordinary.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to identify the place anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>That surprised me.<\/p>\n<p>For years, the location had existed in memory with almost photographic sharpness.<\/p>\n<p>Rain.<\/p>\n<p>SUV.<\/p>\n<p>Hazards.<\/p>\n<p>Lily\u2019s light.<\/p>\n<p>But roads changed.<\/p>\n<p>Signs replaced.<\/p>\n<p>Vegetation cut back.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe I had the wrong curve.<\/p>\n<p>I kept driving.<\/p>\n<p>For once, not being able to locate the spot felt good.<\/p>\n<p>The event no longer needed a shrine.<\/p>\n<p>Its consequences existed elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>In dispatch language.<\/p>\n<p>Audit trails.<\/p>\n<p>Scheduling models.<\/p>\n<p>Financial firewalls.<\/p>\n<p>Training rooms.<\/p>\n<p>Alex arguing over policy wording.<\/p>\n<p>Rosa learning that \u201creasonable\u201d mattered more than \u201ccorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The place itself could return to being pavement.<\/p>\n<p>That evening, Sarah asked how the route went.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUneventful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou pass the spot?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCouldn\u2019t tell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat bother you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Memory did not need perfect geography.<\/p>\n<p>What mattered was that the next driver encountering a stranded family would face a different company behind him.<\/p>\n<p>Then Alex called again.<\/p>\n<p>I groaned before answering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat phrase has a terrible record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe advisory group is electing a driver co-chair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t said who.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow\u2019d you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause otherwise you wouldn\u2019t call.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey nominated me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou think I should do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s your decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew you\u2019d say that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo matter without turning into somebody who likes meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarcus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Then answered seriously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo it if you\u2019re willing to disagree with people you like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s your test?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot whether I understand policy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can learn policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd disagreement?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to practice it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith management?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith drivers too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was harder.<\/p>\n<p>Driver advocacy did not mean automatically defending every driver.<\/p>\n<p>Fairness required saying no when evidence demanded it.<\/p>\n<p>Alex understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He accepted the position two days later.<\/p>\n<p>His first message as co-chair was:<\/p>\n<p>I already regret this.<\/p>\n<p>I replied:<\/p>\n<p>Now you\u2019re qualified.<\/p>\n<p>The old flashlight was in my bag when I sent it.<\/p>\n<p>The new one beside it.<\/p>\n<p>One preserved.<\/p>\n<p>One improved.<\/p>\n<p>Neither useful unless somebody remembered to switch it on.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=18750\">Click here to continue reading: PART 26: A Driver I Had Never Met Filed a False Safety Report, and Defending the System Meant Supporting Consequences I Didn\u2019t Enjoy<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex lasted exactly eleven days on the driver advisory group before calling me. I knew because he opened with, \u201cYou could\u2019ve warned me.\u201d \u201cAbout what?\u201d \u201cMeetings.\u201d \u201cYou wanted the seat.\u201d &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18779,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749\/revisions\/18779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}