A Botched Job

I sure botched that one.  Here I was just trying to be helpful and I found myself in the middle of something, only having made things worse.  The details aren’t important because it’s more of a recurring pattern than an isolated event.

It seems like life gives us plenty of opportunities to miscommunicate, miscalculate and mismanage.  In fact, with all the opportunities for mistakes it’s a wonder things go right as often as they do!

I learned something important while researching the story of the quintessential “botched job” written below.  The person responsible for the misfortune had a desire to do the best possible work under difficult circumstances.  I find this strangely comforting.  People generally have good intentions, even when the outcome of their efforts is undesirable.

It reminds me of a phenomenon I learned about recently called “the fundamental attribution error.”  This is the term for the tendency people have to misattribute mistakes as character deficits rather than consider the situational factors that led to the poor outcome.  In other words, if someone messes up people readily jump to the conclusion that the person responsible wasn’t careful enough.  Studies have shown that the reality is that more often than not, the person was doing the best they could under the circumstances they had to work with. 

This is scientific support of the maxim to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation,

and without being allowed the preliminary trials,

the failures and botches, that are essential for training.

Lewis Mumford

Ironically, in regards to the blunder I mentioned earlier, I made the “attribution error” myself.  I assumed the people involved would blame me, but I learned after apologizing that they were very understanding. It is sweet to be on the receiving end of the counsel to “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” (Attributed to Philo, and Plato, and John Watson, and Ian MacLaren, and famously quoted by Marjorie Hinckley—I don’t want to be guilty of a misattribution error in print, you see.)

Sir Thomas Bouch

(1822 – 1880)

Thomas Bouch had a genius for design and efficiency.  He gained renown in the emerging railway business early in his career by designing the world’s first roll-on-roll-off ferry in 1850.  Up until that time, travel came to a screeching halt whenever trains approached a wide body of water in order to transfer from track to ferry and then back to the railroad track.  His ferry system streamlined the transfer.

Bouch further distinguished himself as a brilliant railway engineer.  His bridge designs were elegant, simple structures that were both attractive and economical.  He had the reputation for being able to “thread his lines between unlikely places.” http://www.kosmoid.net/technology/bouch   He was so dedicated to his profession that at times he charged only one-fifth of the going rate for his services.  Between that and his economical designs, even areas with small railway traffic could afford to construct his railways and bridges. 

The crowning jewel of Bouch’s achievements would also become his greatest sorrow:  the Tay Bridge near Dundee, Scotland. At the time of its construction, it was the longest bridge in the world.  There were major setbacks; the worst of which was the discovery that the riverbed was not as solid as surveyors predicted so the center section had to be redesigned.  Despite this fact, it was ready for use within a few weeks of the planned completion date in 1878.  The Tay Bridge was considered a triumph of engineering.  People marveled at the ability to cross the Tay estuary in only eight minutes—an hour less than it took to make the journey by ferry. Bouch was showered with accolades.  Queen Victoria even traveled to ride his bridge and knighted him Sir Thomas.

The Tay Bridge outside of Dundee, Scotland (before the disaster).

Then disaster struck.  Less than twenty months after the bridge was opened for travel, it collapsed during a violent windstorm.  Unfortunately, a train was crossing the bridge at the time and nearly four-score people died.  There was an inquiry and it was determined that the bridge had been poorly maintained and built of sub-standard materials.  And poorly designed.  Bouch was devastated and died of illness a year after the inquiry pointed the finger of blame at him.

After the Tay Bridge disaster, the saying went abroad that “Don’t botch the job” came from the botched Bouch Bridge.  When I looked up the definition of “botch” in my 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, I was surprised to find how the word was defined.  Long before the Bouch Bridge disaster, the word meant “ill-finished work in mending; a part added clumsily.”  Though Bouch’s name became associated with “botch,” it was not the source of the word.  It seems this major botch was really an effort to do the best job under difficult circumstances.  The important thing is lessons were learned from the errors and people still remember Bouch for his contributions, and not just for his one big failure.