Typical Day
Jonas Carlisle wakes up at precisely 8:00AM and reaches for his clipboard. He finalized today's checklist just last night—the final task on yesterday's list—but still feels the need to read it over in full to remind himself what needs to be accomplished before beginning the first task. After all, he thinks, what's the point in writing it all out if you're not going to go back and read it?
The day's to-do is similar to yesterday's, but with a key difference: while yesterday's involved a brief examination of all kitchen appliances, today the focus is on the plumbing. He starts with the bathroom upstairs.
He pokes his head around the shower curtain and taps the spigot with the end of his fingernail. No drips. Good. He flushes the toilet and times the process that follows. The water drains and refills according to the historical mean he's noted on the list. Check. He turns the sink to hot and places the top of his hand beneath the water. Hold on—it's taking a full fifteen additional seconds to reach what he considers warm. This result requires follow-up.
Jonas leaves a small note by the faucet for his wife: "Judith, please test and repair heat." She's not a plumber, but with a background in advanced mechanical engineering, he's confident that she'll be able to take any and all appropriate measures to remedy the situation before the sink is required for tooth brushing at 9:30PM.
He checks the other two restrooms and, finding little else of note, proceeds to dress and exit. He's personally overseeing mechanical inspections of aircraft between 11:00AM and 4:00PM today, and to arrive tardy would be unthinkable.
To the surprise of exactly no one, he arrives at the airport when expected and passes through security without issue. The mechanics flee as he enters the floor—worried, perhaps, that he'll find something wrong with their work. They're right to worry, of course. He always finds something.
Jonas pulls the maintenance records and begins his inspections with little socializing or fanfare. A large blue ladder is wheeled out, and Jonas climbs it to the large empty plane that's been prepped for his arrival. He conducts his own checks first, testing instruments and gauges in the cockpit before moving though the fuselage, into the tail section, and back out to the tarmac where he can examine the landing gear.
He spies two mechanics, presumably on break, eyeing him from near the corner of the rear hanger. If he were to approach them, he's sure they'd pretend not to notice and would find somewhere else they were needed long before he reached them.
Once, six years ago, he'd suggested in jest to his wife that he should add "frighten mechanics" to his daily checklists. Oh, how they'd laughed and laughed. Jonas is a veritable laugh-factory.
He returns to the front and begins to circle the plane once more, this time following the repair logs as a map. He explores and inspects each instance of disrepair, making sure that everything was serviced correctly as recorded in the logs.
Satisfied, he finishes his inspection and continues to perform a few others over the next couple hours. As he finishes the last on his list, he looks to his clipboard. Next item: text "happy birthday" to son-in-law. He pulls out his phone and completes the task quickly. Next item: lunch break. Always a welcome chore.
Jonas returns to his car for lunch, turning on the air conditioning for a little comfort. The air comes out warm at first, as it usually does, but fails to cool. Flabbergasted, he waits, hoping this is a sign of delay rather than functional failure. Alas, after a few minutes, it appears the unit is no longer operating as intended.
He rips his phone out of his pocket and prepares to phone his mechanic, but then remembers he was asked to find a new one after becoming too forceful during his last visit. All he wanted was a full accounting of the mechanics' minute-to-minute billed hours? Was that too much to ask?
"Find a new mechanic tomorrow." He adds it to the list. Until then, he'll just have to put up with the heat. He finishes his sandwich faster than usual then heads back out to finish inspections on the day's remaining planes.
Jonas fails to find any egregious errors but still manages to produce a list of approximately five things that he'd have liked to have seen handled differently. A partially-greased hinge, a dirty alcove, a repair that hadn't been adequately outlined in his documents—nothing particularly concerning, just mildly aggravating.
Tomorrow will be a long day at the office instead of the airport. He has an incredibly long list of meetings and filings to do that he'll begin to prepare for tonight, from home, just after dinner.
He arrives back around the same time as Judith. She tells him that the sink is working as expected and will perform adequately during its next scheduled usage at 9:30PM that night. This is a pleasing follow-up result.