FOLLOWING A LEADER?

Many years ago, when I first started at Publishers Clearing House, I was invited to a dinner function at a local catering hall. It was my first such function, and I was unfamiliar with the Port Washington area.

The event was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at the Swan Club in Roslyn, and I didn’t want to be late. In those days there were no such things as a GPS, so you relied on people that knew their way around, or a road map. Since I didn’t have a road map of the area, I decided to come up with another plan.

I sat in the parking lot, behind the wheel of my new Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and waited for someone I knew would be going to the event. Suddenly my mark appeared.

Congratulating myself on my plan, I started up the car and the mark slowly pulled out, and I followed. Hitting the main roads were ok, I knew where I was, but suddenly we were in the back roads, going at a fast clip, me behind my mark. Sudden breaking for stop signs, high-speed accelerations from dead stops and whipping around corners, we suddenly arrived! Or so I thought. Everything was fine except for one thing. It was a small residential house!

I had spent about 20 minutes following someone who wasn’t going where I thought he should! Getting out of his car, Mike, my mark was surprised to see me. Not knowing what to make of my appearance, I suddenly felt sleazy! Here I was, following a grown man around!

I always keep maps with me, along with my GPS now.