Carpooling is a great idea for many workers. Not only does it allow you all to get to work on time but it allows you to prepare for your day while someone else gets you to work. However, this is not a perfect system and there are some things you must think about before you commit to carpooling.
Here are some of the things you should think about avoiding if you want to start carpooling.
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Not Enough Room in the Car
You need to have enough room in the car for everyone if you intend to carpool. Squeezing everyone into a small two-door is just not going to cut it. A car like the Chrysler Pacifica is going to have that roomy interior that everyone can fit into. Whether you like to read a paper in the morning or you want to sit back and grab a little more sleep, you can do that.
Just because you are carpooling together does not mean that you might know each other that well. Ending up cramped together invading the personal space of people you don’t know very well is never going to be good.
No Agreed Pick Up Time
You might have a loose agreement that you will leave at 7 AM but all it takes is someone sleeping through an alarm for the plans to be thrown awry. You need to agree on a time to wait if someone is running late.
For example, you might decide that the car leaves at 7:05 if people are running late. The meeting time should be 7 AM with an aim to leave then but 7:05 is the latest you will wait. Laying down a set of rules about when you are going to leave and agreeing to stick to it is your best option here.
No Discussion of Bans
Will you allow food and drink in the carpool? Some people like to eat on the go but being in close proximity to a smelly breakfast might not be what some people need early on in the morning. Likewise, you need to decide whether or not music is going to be played in the car. If it is, you need to agree on a preferred genre. Nothing will infuriate people more than half an hour trapped in a car listening to jazz if they don’t like it.
Why not agree on a podcast or a radio show you will all like? If you can’t come up with anything, it might be better to just agree to silence in the car. If you would rather chat, make sure you come up with a list of prohibited topics. Politics, religion, and idle workplace gossip might not be the best choices so give them a miss.
With these basics in place, you should be able to carpool in peace. These are easy mistakes to make but they can have an impact on how your day starts or ends so make sure they are handled properly. Start looking for some people you can carpool with today!
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