In an interesting point in time, when the patience of the whole world is being tested, with a pandemic, quarantine, wear this and do that guidelines, I happened to bump into this journal entry from 2013 and it made me smile. I stand corrected.
I believe there is no better place on earth to test human patience, or lack thereof, than a waiting room. A certain day, which shall remain undocumented (in case the reader was there), between the hours of 9am and 2pm, I walked into 3 waiting rooms. It was only two waiting rooms, but I had to revisit one of them. I don’t mind. I welcome the opportunity to people watch.
No one I know spends time in a waiting room willingly. If that’s a hobby of yours, please contact me. I’d like to learn more about your interesting mind. For the most part, people show up to a waiting room already a bit annoyed. Businesses today have gone to great lengths fitting waiting rooms with certain conveniences, from padded seats to coffee to tv to free wifi. Heck, I take advantage and web surf, write or watch…people. I don’t really care for tv that much.
Not everyone stops to think or appreciate the amenities provided. Some people walk in wanting their thing done now and ASAP. And what about the customer service rep? It takes a special breed to be a good one, a patient one. I know this because I was one once and no good at it. I greatly admire customer service reps. They are like frontline soldiers and should be awarded medals of honor.
On that certain undocumented day, at my auto service stop and first thing that morning, when I was all settled on my waiting room padded seat, this tough dude showed up demanding service quick and now. We will name him creature 2.
The service guy, creature 3, who is the nicest and most patient service guy I’ve ever met, calmly listened and said he’d do the best he could. Creature 2, in his red bandana, long beard and mismatched flannel pajama pants, made it clear he had no time to wait around and I think I even heard him say, I’ll be back, Terminator style. He called someone for a ride and they showed up in seconds. I dare not imagine their fate if they had not turned up that quickly.
Half hour later, tough guy, I’m sorry creature 2, came back and no one was at the front desk. He paced like a caged animal. Oh boy, I thought, someone come out from the back room soon please! In an effort to tame the wild beast, I offered a smile and said something to the fact the guy just went to the back and how I was sure he’d be back soon. He huffed and headed toward the “employees only” door.
In the nick of time, nice service guy-he’s too nice to call him “creature”- came back through the door and tough guy creature 2, wasting no time, asked if his car was done. Seriously? Again, he went through his list of reasons why he had no time to waste because he had things to do. Then he looked at me, at the precise moment I was stuffing my face with a bagel.
I could read his mind, unlike this broad who’s camping out here with her digital device, bag of food, comfortably sitting, shoes off, who clearly has nothing better to do.
Ooh! I imagined myself giving him a piece of my mind, let me tell you something mister! I am the mother of three school age children, with plenty of chores waiting to be accomplished at home and errands pending all over town. I secretly smiled at my imagination and the fact this tough dude was unknowingly giving me writing material.
It’s not that I have more patience than everyone else when it comes to waiting rooms. I’ve had my days when I’m not all that thrilled to be in one. But for the most part, I just purpose in my mind to go with the flow and whenever possible plan ahead, packing what I need in case there’s a long wait.
I wish everyone a long and prosperous life in every waiting room on earth! Peace out!
Journal entry 1/30/14
CS Tanski 