Chapter 4

The Providential Shoeshine

At the airport I had a little time before my flight home so I decided to get my shoes shined. The shoeshine man started up a conversation and asked me what kind of trip I was on. This friendly guy got an ear-full about how our startup business could not prevail with the big airline. Just before I started to tell my story to the shoe shine man a well dressed man had sat down in the chair next to me. He listened in on my sad soliloquy.  After a few minutes he joined in the conversation, and asked who I was dealing with at the airline, and what did I have in mind for the business I was trying to build. After our shoes were shined this man turned to me and said he thought he could help me out.

To my shock I soon found out that this well dressed and friendly man was a top executive of the airline. He had been cruising about the airport to observe the performance of the many employees of the company.  After our talk he invited me to go with him to a crude back office area where he made a telephone call to the higher ups of the airline. Within a few minutes I was on my way back to the same office where I had unsuccessfully pitched my idea a few hours before, but this time I gave my pitch to the head “Jefe” of the airline reservation system. Within a few minutes I received approval to have our company listed on the biggest airline reservation system in the world.

It seemed that Providence had intervened.