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OFFICE SURVIVAL TIP: CARPOOLING
Office Survival Tip: Carpooling
Carpooling can be a great way to save money and provide a fresh excuse for your chronic lateness. However, picking out a quality carpool requires careful planning and foresight. Much like dating and marriage; don’t rush into committed carpool relationship until you’ve spent some time assessing the situation and feel confident you can lock yourself in a small automobile with someone for several hours a week without wanting to drive your head through the passenger widow.
Once you have some potential carpool candidates picked out, you’ll want to pose some questions on their personalities and driving habits before moving forward. Depending on the strength of your social skills you may be able to flow these questions naturally into a conversation. Or, if tact isn’t your thing, just bring a clipboard and rattle them off like a census worker, whichever works for you.
5 Questions for Determining If Your Potential Carpool Is a Good Fit
- What kind of car do you drive? This may sound snobbish at first, but just wait until your new carpool buddies pull up in a Mini Cooper. Hope leg room isn’t your thing. Should’ve called pre-emptive shotgun.
- Who’s your favorite band? This may sound like trivial way to qualify a carpool, but imagine how you’re going to feel after sitting through the soundtrack to Rent for the twentieth time. If that actually sounds enjoyable to you insert whatever musical artist makes your ears bleed instead, and afterwards take a moment to consider how much it will suck for everyone else riding in the car on the day you get to pick the music.
- When do you like to wake up? If you’re not an early riser, spending your morning commute with Mr. Sunshine will be an exercise in misery. Instead try to locate someone who has an equal amount of hatred for mornings so you can drive to work in silent, companionable misery.
- What’s your driving record like? 30 minutes of fearing for your life isn’t going to do anything to lower your work-related stress level. This is going to be a hard one for you tactful people to weave into conversation without some awkwardness, but I have faith in your creativity and social skills. For you clipboard people, continue as usual.
- Does anyone else carpool with you? If the answer is yes, hunt them down and repeat questions 1-5.
Once you’ve finished surveying you should have a meaty list on the personal habits of your potential carpoolers. Use this list to make a judgment call on their carpooling worth and either move forward or rinse and repeat.
And remember, the golden rule of relationships applies here as well: in order to have a good carpool you need to be a good carpooler. So don’t forget to ask yourself the above questions as well. You may discover that you’re a very annoying person, but at least that might resolve why you’ve failed to find anyone to carpool with so far.
