At the end of the chain...

I did not receive my baggage when I arrived into Pittsburgh PA yesterday. At around 9pm the airline called informing me that my luggage had arrived and that they would deliver it. It finally arrived around midnight. The driver who delivered it was an older person. He asked me to be careful about the slick driveway after the fresh snow as I came out to get the suitcase. He apologized for the delay, saying he got held up at the airport because "they held him back because of road conditions"...I did not figure out who "they" were...some people who probably had authority over him...he said he had to get to Morgantown next...in West Virginia...I reckoned that must be far from where I was...I looked at his slightly pained expression...it was mostly dark and it was late...and maybe the roads were slippery...but he had a job to do...

Delta Airlines with all its trappings, million dollar aircrafts, the cost of running a global carrier, airport hubs...and then mundane things like lost baggage...an agent at the airport who takes down your details promising to send the baggage when found...and then a courier company who has the contract to make deliveries at all hours...and then, finally, an older man who needs the job, who has to drive out at late hours to distant places in bad weather to actually complete the service that Delta promises...