Order
Among great initiatives of SBB, a Swiss company that helps many people every day to get from A to B, are supersaver tickets. I learned that by using trains that take a little longer to get from A to B than other trains and/or traveling at times, when few people travel, I could use supersaver tickets to save money. I have used supersaver tickets several times, for example when traveling to Zürich to Bern or from Zürich to Basel to do various kinds of work. Using supersaver tickets I found out that it is very important to be very much aware of the train number printed on ticket. An example: One day, as I had purchased a supersaver ticket, I accidentally entered a train, which was leaving Zürich main station just a few minutes earlier or later than the train printed on my ticket. In the train wagon, where I was sitting, there were just a few other people. In other words, the train wagon was more or less empty. As the conductor came to check my ticket, he told me that I had taken the wrong train. I apologized for this and said that I made a mistake, which I had only become aware of, as he checked my ticket and told me. He said that I needed to leave the train at the next station and buy an additional ticket to get to the destination I needed to go to. So that is what I did. At the next station, I left the train, bought an additional ticket, waited until the next train came and took that train to the destination I needed to go to. Besides losing money I also lost quite a lot of time on this. Some Swiss people had told me about the expression "Bünzli". It was an expression that was new to me, and I had not thought so much about this expression before this sad experience. I learned that Bünzli describes a person, who is very focused on rules as well as on maintaining order and tradition. Reflecting on this situation I learned that for some people, who grew up in Switzerland, maintaining order has a very high priority. Being a perfectionist myself, I know about this human trait quite well. Still, I felt shocked of the very little interest the conductor showed in adapting to user needs, thinking and acting with flexibility, using personal judgement to evaluate the situation, acting with empathy and - more generally - self managing. I had the impression this behavior was a demonstration of bureaucracy with a capital B.
Not long after I moved to Switzerland in 2006 I was invited, to go on a Winter hike in the mountains with a few other people. I had very little experience hiking in the mountains - in particular during Winter time. I felt safe when I got the information that a mountain guide, who knew the area well, was going to lead the group I was a part of. Before going on the hike, I had acquired the necessary equipment, which people in the group had told me to take with me. For example, I brought with me hiking boots, snow shoes, appropriate clothes, a bag, food and water. I was told that we would start on the hike early in the morning.
The day before the hike, I recall that the sky was dark and that it was raining. From the other people in the group, who had several years of hiking experience, I understood that the weather was not good for hiking. I asked a few times if it would be better to call off the hike. Everyone found that we should not call off the hike. They found that we should stick to the original plan and go on the hike the next day. The next day the weather was just as bad as the previous day. I asked again if it would be better to call the hike off because of the weather. I heard some voices expressing concern about the weather conditions. However, a majority wanted to go on the hike. I recall I felt a certain group pressure in this situation.
An important incident happened right at the start of the hike. After a few hundred meters of the hike there was a big sign warning hikers not to go any further. The mountain guide said that he knew the area very well and found that we could keep hiking, although the sign clearly indicated that we should stop. He advised us to continue. This decision by the mountain surprised me a lot. It also surprised that the other hikers went obeyed the mountains guide's decision and continued.
When we got to the mountain cabin / cottage, we had dinner and went to sleep. During the night there was a large snow storm. In the morning there was a significant amount of snow all around the cabin / cottage, and it was still snowing a lot. There was also a strong wind I recall. My girlfriend and I did not feel comfortable at all with the situation, and we expressed to the others that we had a need to go back. The other persons in the group wanted to continue up the mountain. That was really shocking for me to hear. The mountain guide decided to go with the group, who wanted to continue up the mountain. My girlfriend and I walked back in the snowstorm.
During the walk back one of my snow shoes broke. My girlfriend and I decided to continue walking. I recall that we walked very close to each other, because we could see just a couple of meters ahead of us. I had never been in a situation like this. It was a very good decision my girlfriend and I took to walk very close to each other. Not only did I feel safe walking closely to my girlfriend. We also got into a good rhythm and walked more or less like one for a relatively long period of time. Many of the poles in the snow, which help hikers find their way, were gone. That indicated that that a huge amount of snow was below our feet. It also made it very difficult to find the way in the snow storm. I remember that I felt much fear at this time. Two other hikers came from behind. They walked faster than us and walked past us. I could see in their eyes that they also felt fear. I had the clear impression that we were in a life threatening situation.
We got to a place that I believed I remembered from the day before, when we walked to the mountain cabin / cotttage. I said to my girlfriend that I was certain that we needed to turn right. My girlfriend did not agree with me. She said that she believed we should go straight. I remember that we stood still at a crossroad and talked about this for a while. As she had much more experience than I hiking in the mountains, I decided to follow her advice. So we walked straight. Suddenly, we saw a road and also the bus we needed to take to get back. The relief my girlfriend and I felt, as we sat in the bus, was incredible. I cannot recall ever having felt such a relief. I was soaked in sweat and felt an extreme degree of joy of having made it back alive.
I asked ChatGPT about what a mountain guide should do and not do. I learned, for example, that
a mountain guide should ensure the safety of people at all times.
a mountain guide should not take unnecessary risks that endanger the safety of people.
a mountain guide should not overlook or neglect safety protocols and procedures.
a mountain guide should not ignore weather forecasts or other critical information when planning expeditions.