Tous tout vient à point à qui sait attendre

I am extremely impatient. Those who know the real me will be left astounded at my daily milestones in the field of patience. I always thought that waiting was only for those who could afford it. I mean, yes, I could wait - but who says that I want to?

Here are a few scenarios that I often encounter, especially when I am in a hurry:

• Long line to the ATM. I mean, "Hello!" If you are darned clueless don't use the damned machine! You shouldn't have gotten an ATM card in the first place if you don't know what to do with it. Maybe you thought, "Ah this would be better for me and much more convenient than hauling my lazy butt over to the bank to make withdrawals." YES, convenient for you. But NOT FOR those of US who have to wait behind your sorry a--! Okay, okay - that was a bit rude of me. But, heck, isn't it ruder if you make the line longer just because you are totally unaware on how to proceed with a darned transaction?
• Withdrawals to the ATM with more than two or three cards. I've experienced this once. There was this guy making his transaction at the ATM. I said to myself, "What a lucky day! Only one guy at the machine. I could be at my rendezvous earlier than expected." So there I was minding my own business, WAITING. A couple of minutes passed, the guy in front of me was still punching a whole lotta numbers. At first I thought he was a case of the clueless, but he wasn't. I peeped and saw a 9"x12" brown envelope with an approximate number of 30-35 cards! Each painstakingly separated by clipped cash folded into transaction receipts. I let out a restrained growl, to subtly express my disgust at what was happening. The poor sap, completely unaware of my presence, just went on his "merry" way and kept pressing at the blasted buttons. I let out an "Ahem," and thankfully enough he paused and looked at my direction. I asked him, "Manong matagal pa po ba yan?" Miraculously, I was able to muster enough patience at that moment. Enough patience to keep me yapping at the unfortunate guy long enough to hear him say, "Mauna ka na. Madami pa ito." Whew.
• A slow-moving queue to a supermarket counter marked as "EXPRESS LANE: 12 items or less only." Usually there are checkout counters dedicated for those who will pay in cash or credit cards and lines for those who shopped using baskets and pushcarts. And there are some who have this "12 ITEMS OR LESS." But here you see a long line of people, some with 12 items, others with blatantly more than 12 items and some with 2 baskets separating a pushcart's worth of groceries! People, come on now, 12 items isn't that hard to count. I mean, I AM stupid with Math, but hey a dozen shampoo (counts as 1), a pack of biscuits (2), 3 bottles of soda (3), and 6 bags of chips (6) already count as 12 items. 12 items or less NOT more. And you see people insist that what they have are only 12 items, when clearly it's not. Maybe it would be okay to let some people with 13, 17 or even 20 items through. But that's it. Those exceeding 20 must go to the basket lane or wherever the hell it is that they should go to. 20 is ENOUGH. Learn to count people. COUNT for cryin' out loud!
• Bank tellers who are oblivious to the time and to the number of people congregating in front of their counters. I am amazed to see bank tellers who do not seem to be affected by the time in the least. Grrr... They probably point out, "Well, with the extended banking hours, we have more time to dilly-dall... err, serve you." It is truly a wonder to see them undaunted in the face of a horde of depositors lining up for their precious transactions. Nary a teller seems to kick it up a notch. Either every single one of them might be on a high dosage of barbiturates or they are just simply blind.
• Public transport drivers who stop at every single, freakin' person standing in the street, even if they are not flagging them down. I know these people are driving to make a living, but that doesn't give them the right to encroach and eat up our precious time. Every single minute and second count, especially for those of us who have made a science in timing-in at just the right moment (1 minute or even 1 second late and you are screwed!).
• Elevator boors. People inside the elevator pushing the "Open" button, even if there's no one else coming. Or those, who try to let other people in at the last second just before the door ALMOST closes. Or those who get on the 8th floor and get off at the 9th. There's this thing called STAIRS. I doubt that these people know of this breakthrough in architecture. Sigh.
• Escalator hogs. Those who hog the space, stand in the middle so as no one (and I do mean no one, not even the thinnest folk) could squeeze through. It would be understandable if there were a number of people in front which would hamper any onward movement. If they couldn't move their carcasses forward, they could at least lean nearer to the sides to permit those behind to pick up their pace (if they choose to) and get on with their lives.

It might seem that I am being harsh to these individuals. I daresay, that I am not. What is harsh, uncouth and totally unacceptable is making people wait, especially if they shouldn't have to. Nobody has to bear the additional burden of waiting as there are better things to be preoccupied with other than that.

Waiting for the rainy season to quench the parched earth. Waiting for your love's sweet, sweet "YES." Waiting for a baby to be born. Waiting for your child to say their first words. See the things that are worth waiting for? These. These are things that should be afforded waiting. And not some worthless piece of crap borne out of indifference, of laziness, or of ignorance. I stop my ranting here. It would be rude of me to keep you here any longer than you should. ;)