Danger Pay.

Talk about being pigeon holed. Those of you who have been following the blog may recall that I recently consulted to the National Park Service on the procurement of environmentally-friendly transit vehicles by a park that showcases ancient cliff dwellings. Well, it seems that one of the gentlemen I worked with on that project recommended me to the US Department of Interior for a “World Heritage Site” project in the Middle East that showcases, you guessed it, an ancient city carved into the cliffs. So it seems that when you’re a tourist destination needing technical expertise regarding the deployment of alternative-fueled vehicles for shuttling visitors to and from rock-cut archaeological sites, I’m the guy. Yes, it’s a ridiculously narrow niche, but I’ve got the corner on the market!

The job is at Petra in the Kingdom of Jordan. At the moment, tourists are shuttled about on the backs of horses, camels, and donkeys. That’s about as environmentally friendly as it’s gonna get, but apparently the animals are overworked. So if it’s vehicles they want, it’s vehicles they’ll get.

I just learned of this trip last Tuesday (two days before Thanksgiving). And they want me to depart for the Middle East on Thursday of this week. That’s less than five business days to navigate the crush of paperwork and preparation that is inevitable with government work of this sort. One of the many tasks is to agree on a rate of pay. I have a standard rate that is apparently higher than the government pays. (I’m not exactly sure whether I’ll be paid by the US or Jordanian government, but in the end I get paid in US dollars so I don’t really care.) We were briefly stalemated over the rate-of-pay until someone realized that travel to Jordan is eligible for a 15% “danger pay” premium above customary government rates. Pay gap problem solved. So assuming the statement of physical fitness from my doctor doesn’t raise any red flags (I told you there’s lots of paperwork) I’ll soon be off on another adventure – tumors, laptop, and all.

The timetable for the planning of this trip is ridiculously abbreviated. I hope that final confirmation for the trip occurs more than an hour before departure. I mean, they must understand that a trip that involves danger pay takes a little preparation, right? But then again, maybe they don’t . . . after all, they’re still riding donkeys.