Rarely do you get to watch firsthand the consequences of not listening. But in episode 3 of The Amazing Race, we got to witness such an event.
At an Indonesian temple, the teams were tasked with counting how many Buddha statures there were in each with 4 hand positions. The first to arrive, Andy & Tommy, got it right early, so were exiting as last place contestants Amani & Marcus Pollard, arrived. They crossed paths at the entrance gates.
Deciding to help the frazzled looking team, Tommy gave Amani & Marcus the four Buddha statue counts and the corresponding hand positions. Amani repeated the numbers and hand positions back to Tommy appearing to understand.
By the time Amani & Marcus reached the top of the temple, an exhausted Amani wanted Marcus to perform the task. But if she’d remembered the instructions she’d carefully repeated, or if Marcus had been attentively listening, they would have just waltzed to the judge and told them the answer.
Instead, Marcus circled the temple, trying to understand what he needed to count. Amani worried if Marcus paid attention to the key information Tommy told them at the temple entrance. Marcus said, “I was just carrying backpacks and running. I should have been paying more attention.” Yes, indeed.
Although it was an elimination round, they lucked out and only finished in sixth place. But their lack of attention to what would have put them in third could have easily gotten them eliminated, thus losing them $1 million dollars.
Have you seen the cost of not listening? Tell us your example.