I live in the 'shadow' of Frankfurt. Generally, I rarely go over or walk the streets of Frankfurt.....maybe four or five times a year. It's kinda like visiting New York City, but without the drama and things tend to work efficiently.
Yesterday, Monday.....was the exception to efficient operations....at least on one level of life.
Yesterday was day three of the Hessen vacation period (to include Frankfurt), and it was the beginning of a thirty-day project to renovate the subway system under Frankfurt City. Tons of cabling is being pulled out....electrical boxes being replaced....and some repairs being done. Naturally, it requires the subway tunnels from the main station in town.....going through the heart of Frankfurt and ending at Frankfurt South.....to be shut down...completely.
It's a harsh thing and affects around a million-odd people who go from one side of Frankfurt to the other side.
What I found curious about this effort, where they brought in buses and try awful hard to make customers happy....is that on day one....they offered up free drinks (coffee and water) along with free chocolate. It's not to say that you will get more free coffee or more free chocolate....but on day one because of the stress....they felt it was an enticement to get people to react in a more positive way to the chaos involved.
It's hard for me to imagine any chaotic mess in my life where people got smart and proactive.....offering free coffee to make you feel happy. It just doesn't happen....not in most situations.
Based on comments and media attention....oddly....people actually feel into this month-long mess with some ease, and accepted things.....as they are. Luckily, vacation is in effect for most local folks and school kids aren't affected by the mess at all.
A lesson learned for future episodes? I'm wondering about that....course, free coffee isn't really free....someone is paying for it.
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