A missing frame in a security video is like a missing car part. I watch video of a store. The video shows a man. The man walks to the shelf. The man takes a watch. The video skips. The man is now at the door.
?
Missing
The watch is not on the shelf. The watch is not in the hand of the man. The video did not show the watch go into the pocket. The video has a gap. I can explain the gap. The camera has a sensor. The sensor failed for .
This explanation is true. The explanation does not give me the image of the theft. The explanation satisfies the technician. The explanation does not satisfy the police. The police want the image. The police do not care about the sensor.
The Spreadsheet and the Building
I once thought a report was the same thing as a store. I worked in retail theft prevention. I looked at a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet showed a loss of five thousand dollars. I told the manager the store had a loss. I thought the number explained the store. I was wrong.
The data explained the cost, but it did not fix the broken lock on the back door.
The spreadsheet did not show the broken lock on the back door. The spreadsheet did not show the fear of the clerk. The spreadsheet was a set of numbers. The store was a physical building with problems. I had the data. I did not have the truth. The data explained the cost. The data did not fix the lock. The data did not help the clerk sleep at night.
A woman has a car. The car is a sedan. The sedan is grey. A truck hit the sedan. The sedan is now in a shop. The shop is in Port Chester. The shop is Port Chester Collision. The shop looks at the sedan. The shop sees a broken bumper. The shop sees a broken bracket.
The bracket holds a sensor. The sensor is for the safety system. The shop calls the woman. The shop says the part is on backorder. The shop is calm.
The shop has a screen. The screen says the part is in a warehouse. The warehouse is in another country. The shop has given the woman a fact.
The woman is at a bus stop. Rain falls on the woman. The woman has a coat. The coat is wet. The woman looks at a watch. The bus is late. The woman thinks about the sedan. The sedan is in the shop.
The Weight of a Word
The shop said the part is on backorder. The woman repeats the word. Backorder. The word does not keep the rain off the coat. The word does not make the bus arrive. The shop has an explanation. The woman has a life. These two things do not touch.
The insurance company sent a man to the shop. The man wore a tie. The man looked at the sedan. The man wrote on a pad. The man did not want to pay for a new bracket. The man wanted the shop to use a used bracket.
“The shop said no. The shop said the sedan needs an OEM bracket. The shop said the safety sensor will not work with a used bracket.”
This is a technical truth. The shop has
for the woman. The shop talks to the insurance man. The shop tells the insurance man the rules of the manufacturer. The insurance man looks at the pad. The insurance man agrees to the new bracket.
This is a victory for the shop. The shop feels good. The shop calls the woman. The shop says the insurance will pay for the right part. The woman is in an Uber. The Uber costs thirty dollars. The woman hears the news. The woman hears that the insurance will pay.
This is good news. But the part is still on backorder. The victory of the shop does not give the woman the sedan. The woman still pays for the Uber. The shop has a file. The file is complete. The file shows the insurance agreement. The file shows the part order. The shop is waiting for the truck. The woman is waiting for her life to return to the normal way.
The Presentation and the Diaphragm
I had the hiccups during a presentation. I stood on a stage. I had a microphone. I spoke about theft trends. My diaphragm moved. I made a loud noise. I could not speak. The people in the room looked at my face.
I told the people I had the hiccups. I explained that I drank water too fast. This was the cause. The cause was clear. The explanation did not stop the noise. The people waited. The people were bored. My explanation was for me.
I was the shop. The people were the woman at the bus stop.
The shop is a busy place. There are many cars. There is a blue SUV. There is a black truck. Men wear work clothes. The men use tools. The tools make noise. The shop is a system of repair. The shop follows a process. The process has steps.
Step one is the estimate. Step two is the insurance. Step three is the parts. The shop is on step three. The shop cannot go to step four without the bracket. The shop is at rest. The rest is logical. The shop is not angry at the bracket. The shop is not angry at the warehouse. The shop is a professional environment.
The woman is at her kitchen table. The woman has a calendar. The calendar has red marks. Each mark is a day without the sedan. There are twelve marks. The woman needs to go to the grocery store. The woman needs to go to the office. The woman must ask a friend for a ride.
The woman feels like a burden. The woman does not feel logical. The woman feels heavy. The text and the mark are about the same bracket. They are not the same experience. The shop performs ADAS calibration. This is a task for the sensors. The shop has a computer. The computer talks to the car.
The Standards of Restoration
The car must be perfect. The frame must be straight. The shop uses a machine to pull the frame. The machine is heavy. The machine is made of steel. The shop restores the sedan to the standard of the manufacturer. This is a high quality of work.
The shop does not take shortcuts. A shortcut would be a used part. A shortcut would be a fast repair. The shop refuses the shortcut. This is why the woman went to this shop. The woman wanted a safe car. The woman is now paying for that safety with her time. Quality has a price. The price is not always money. The price is sometimes the walk to the bus stop in the rain.
The warehouse sends the bracket. The bracket travels on a plane. The bracket travels on a truck. The bracket arrives at the shop. A man opens a box. The man sees the bracket. The man puts the bracket on the sedan. The man connects the sensor.
The shop is happy. The shop moves to step four. Step four is paint. The shop has a room for paint. The room is clean. The room has lights. A man sprays the grey paint. The paint must dry. The shop is a series of waiting periods.
Grey Paint: Curing Process
“The shop does not rush the paint. If the shop rushes the paint, the paint will peel.”
The woman gets a text. The sedan is ready. The woman goes to the shop. The woman sees the sedan. The sedan is clean. The sedan is grey. The sedan looks like the sedan did before the truck hit it. The woman is happy. The woman pays the deductible. The shop helped with the cost. The shop was a good partner. The woman gets into the sedan. The woman smells the interior. The woman drives away.
The Residual Experience
The shop closes the file. The shop puts the file in a drawer. The file is a success. The shop did the work correctly. The shop fought the insurance company. The shop used the right part. The shop followed the process. To the shop, the delay was a necessary part of the quality. The delay was a line of text that eventually changed.
The woman drives the sedan to the grocery store. The woman does not have to walk. The woman does not have to wait for the bus. But the woman still remembers the rain. The woman still remembers the thirty dollars for the Uber.
The woman has the sedan, but she does not have the twelve days back. The days are gone. The shop fixed the sedan. The shop could not fix the chronology.
The explanation of the backorder remains in the file. The experience of the wait remains with the woman. I finished my speech. The hiccups stopped after . I told the people I was sorry. I gave the data. The data was good. The people clapped. I went home.
I remembered the feeling of the hiccup in my throat. I remembered the look on the faces of the people. The explanation of the water and the diaphragm was a small thing. The reality of the silence was a big thing.
We live in the silence between the frames of the video. We live in the days between the order and the delivery. The system is made of parts. A person is made of time.
