Always a queue.....

I usually am a patient person UNLESS I have to wait in line. I despise waiting. Being the second or third one back is not too bad, but when I’m more than that, it grates on my last nerve. Ever notice how you have to wait in line to do most anything now? Groceries, gas stations, doctor’s offices, store checkouts, customer service, fast food, voting, banks…..oh yes….BANKS. This is where it gets just downright ridiculous – especially the drive-through. The drive-through is for our convenience, for when its just plain inconvenient to get out of the car and go inside….like when you have a small child (or children) in tow. I cannot BELIEVE the people who will wait until they get up to the window or the station where the carrier is and then start to sign their documents, search for their license, bank cards or anything else that’s needed. There can be 4 lines at a drive-up window and I will ALWAYS pick the slowest one. The one where the person is having a problem and is carrying on an emotional conversation over the speakers about “HOW COULD THEIR ACCOUNT BE OVERDRAWN?”. I’ve already written about my experiences being behind an unprepared twit in a fast food drive-through line and that’s the PERSON’S fault, not the fault of the establishment. BUT, how about when you have an appointment with a doctor for say 10:00 a.m. and when you arrive you find out that 6 other people also have a 10:00 appointment with the same doctor, of which there is only ONE. He has not cloned himself as yet. Your wait time is a no-brainer. I just don’t understand why they do this to you. Do they take wicked delight in seeing how much your blood pressure will increase with each 15 minute interval you are forced to wait. And when your name is called and you finally get into a room, this is no indication that you will be seen within 10 or 15 minutes. I’ve had to wait 30 minutes in a room before. So when the nurse finally takes your blood pressure and remarks, “hmmm, it’s a little high”…..geez…now it couldn’t be because I’m a tad UPSET because I’ve had to wait so long, now could it? The eye doctor puts a whole new twist on this waiting business. After the initial wait and brief check up and questions (which you’ve answered before every single time you’ve been there) and the vision test, then they put the dreaded drops in your eyes and send you out to the waiting room AGAIN. This time, even reading is difficult so you just sit there and stare at CNN on TV. In a bit, you’re called in for the second time and walking in a fog, you make your way into an examination room. Seems like you’re looking at the world through a dirty pane of glass. After the doctor looks into your eyes and mutters some medical stuff to his assistant and then tells you all looks ok but your eyes are changing which is expected because of Old Age. After that, you’re given some paper sunglasses and sent out into the sun to drive home. I know what Dracula must feel like. The sun really HURTS your eyes and since you have to make appointments several months in advance there is no way you can schedule it for a cloudy day. Night appointments would be nice except the headlights would probably REALLY do you in.

When I was much younger I know I didn’t have to wait in lines like I do now. Maybe I waited a little at the grocery store but nothing horrendous. Don’t you just love the people who have a full cart and they whip into the express lane (15 items or less)? I have let people with just a few items go ahead of me before in the regular line just because some idiot was in the express lane with a full cart. I hate to think we have become a non-caring society. I would rather chalk it up to the fact that most... some people are just plain clueless.