Spending too much time wagging the dog

Do you, like me, sometimes find yourself getting impatient with the world at large because people are wasting your valuable time?
At the grocery store, for example. Every checker is handling shopping carts that appear to be heading for doomsday shelters because there is, seriously, a gazillion items in those carts. With an apparent apocalypse coming, you can’t be too careful, I suppose.
So you, with your small bunch of celery, meekly stand behind the least piled-high shopping cart – because, of course, express lanes are (a) closed (b) making cash register repairs or (3) other checkers are gathered together discussing how many hours their coworker has been in labor and if they don’t take that kid soon it’ll be ready for kindergarten.
Sound familiar?
So you finally inch up to your checker who is now suffering a violent sneezing attack and needs Leonard from frozen foods to retrieve a box of tissue from aisle 16 or maybe it’s 17, “but make it fast before my head explodes,” to which Leonard replies he must first finish unloading Funky Monkey ice cream in frozen foods.
At last, the customer ahead of you has groceries rung up, causing aforesaid customer to be violently startled, apparently at the realization that the groceries must now be paid for, causing further delay as aforesaid customer searches for his or her wallet from one of seven available locations on his or her person, picking slowly through bank cards until finally the stuff is paid for and the customer moves along.
And, OK, perhaps I’ve exaggerated a bit, but you get the picture.
So the other day when I needed to drop off some things at my younger daughter’s house and needed a caffeine fix, I offered to swing by the drive-through coffee place not far from her house and pick us up a couple of lattes.
Unfortunately, I arrived when everyone else apparently had the same idea. Unenthusiastically I pulled into the drive-through, hoping that today would be an efficient day and we would sail quickly through the line.
Since it was a nice day my window was down, and I was enjoying the fresh air while waiting patiently behind a large, dark vehicle. But when Lady-in-Front placed a humongous order, I wanted, more than anything I’ve ever wanted before, to drive over the landscaped median and get away as fast as I could. I mean, I had a busy morning ahead and this order would take, essentially, forever.
As I listened with sinking heart to an order comprised of a carrier’s worth of hot drinks, a couple of cold concoctions, bottled water, assorted pastries and lunch items, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, and I’m a busy woman, people!
But I behaved. I refrained from beating my head against the steering wheel, eye rolling or honking – although I possibly tapped my fist impatiently a couple of times against my car door. Just saying.
When it was finally my turn at the speaker, I gave my small order rapidly. See what a good drive-through customer I am? Little bitty order. Easy. Not like SOME people, Lady-in-Front.
As I’d predicted, fulfilling Lady-in-Front’s order took a long time. I tried to do something positive. Scroll through pictures on my phone. File a couple of nails. Balance the checkbook. Whatever.
So when finally I pulled up to the window to pay for my order, I was rendered speechless when the employee handed me my coffees and said, “The lady ahead paid for your drinks since her order took a long time.”
Well. I tried to find her, but generous Lady-in-Front who picked up my tab had gone. Then I remembered the sticker on the back of her car: “Wag more, bark less.” She was walking the walk, this girl. Appreciating the good, letting go of what’s not. I made a promise to her, whomever she was, to pay her kindness forward. I’m thinking we could learn something huge from her. Being considerate of one another.
So, Lady-in-Front in the large, dark vehicle, I do thank you. Not just for the coffee but for the lesson in life.
Gale Hammond is a writer and freelance photographer who lives in Morgan Hill. Reach her at [email protected].