Going the Extra Mile(s)

Have you ever had one of those days when you just knew that things wouldn’t go as planned? You just knew when you woke up that morning that the universe wasn’t properly aligned?

It was Tuesday, June 28^th.  Nothing special about the day for Mike Miller, a court reporter in Houston, Texas, other than he and his videographer ended up taking an unexpected road trip! It seems that during the very early morning hours (around 1:00 a.m.), a Planet Depos client realized that the deposition they had scheduled for 9:00 a.m. in Houston, was actually taking place in Dallas – more than four hours driving time!

We received the client’s e-mail notifying us of the mixup at 5:00 a.m. EST, and they were fully prepared to accept a different reporter/videographer team given the situation. Our team jumped into action to alert everyone involved, knowing that our hands were tied for a few more hours until people started to wake up and face their day in Texas. We e-mailed our contacts in Dallas to see if we had any other options. But with only a few short hours to work with, things were looking grim.

The videographer originally scheduled for the deposition tried to make contact with his colleagues in Dallas, but didn’t want to leave our client in a lurch, so he decided that he would start driving to Dallas figuring that the job would get covered and he’d soon be turning around to head back home for the day.

In the meantime, our assigned reporter in Houston was beginning to stir for the day and saw the e-mail alerting to the fact that the location had changed. Boy, had it changed! The client agreed to extend the start time to 10:00 a.m. in the hopes that it would increase the odds of going forward at all. Mike’s wife, Susan, also a court reporter, figured that flying would be the best way to solve the issue, so she began looking for flights. She found one that arrived right at 10:00 a.m., but with security issues in airports, and the like, on-time arrival was certainly no guarantee.

Mike contacted the videographer, and they decided they would drive to Dallas together since they were just 15 minutes from each other, and off they went! But the story doesn’t end there.

Being the great techy guru that he is, Mike thought it would be helpful for everyone concerned if they could coordinate their progress on the road. So he used a mobile app that allowed the client and the PD team to track their arrival time. To say that the client was extremely impressed is an understatement. Mike and the videographer arrived safely in Dallas and went on the record at 10:17 a.m.!

Talk about “Making it Happen”!! Nice work, Mike Miller and videographer! Going the extra mile just took on a whole new meaning!