Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Help or no help

Recently I discovered that one of my coworkers actually takes train to work from Nantes to Rennes. She told me that she doesn't drive. In the morning she would leave home 15 minutes before 7am to catch the train at 7.25am. She arrives in the office at around 9.15am. In the evening, she leaves the office at around 5.30pm and only arrives home at 9pm!

Gosh, I can't believe she has been doing this for over three months now. She told me that it is ok in the morning as there is a direct train, but during the evening, the latest direct train leaves at 5.30pm and the one she takes has connections here and there causing her to arrive home late.

Knowing her situation, I immediately try to think of ways to help her. I contacted another coworker who is doing carpooling with me during the summer, and turned out he is living like 5 minutes walking distance away from her! So, he picked her up in the second morning and we gave her a ride home and it had saved her a lot of times.

Unfortunately, we are 4 this week so we won't be able to continue helping her. When I told hubby about this, he said that he would firstly ask why is she not driving. In her case, the company would for sure provides her a rental car if she doesn't have her own. Sincerely, it has never crossed my mind to ask this question. I think this is too private, if she holds herself from driving and suffers from so much trouble, there must be a pretty good reason, like for example she used to have accident or she is panic when driving. Hubby has a different point of view. He thinks that no matter what, it is time for her to start driving. He would only help if she could give a reasonable reason.

Well, I agree with hubby but I still think that if it doesn't cause me much trouble to give her a hand, I don't mind doing so. Now I'm just glad that I drive and have a valid driver license, I don't think I can stand spending 5 hours just on traveling to/from work everyday!

2 comments:

  1. You are a very sweet and thoughtful young woman. And your husband is, at least partly, right. So, perhaps if you and your colleagues can help her from time to time, which would be better than what is happening to her now, that would be kind of you. At the same time, perhaps you can find a way to tactfully inquire about why she doesn't drive:

    --panic attacks
    --never learned because she lived originally in a city
    --lost license due to drunk driving
    --lack of confidence
    --aversion after an accident
    --someone telling her that she "can't"
    --no time and/or money for the auto school and the license fees

    I would love to hear how it goes over the long haul. It is sad to think of someone losing so much of her life to commuting. And I thought LA was bad...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I gave her a ride today but I really don't know how to ask her why she doesn't drive. She is not that talkative. Anyway, her assignment will finish this week and she doesn't wish to work in Rennes anymore. Hopefully the company won't force her.

    ReplyDelete