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today i got
schooled in patience
in some petty, first
world problem ways. i don't mean just the usual stuck
in traffic homicidal urge, but real honest to
goodness face to face interactions with frustrating
people in public situations. it was fun! what was my
hurry, anyway? i'd just dropped sarah off at
OGG
and was doing my "city" errands before returning to
upcountry volcano slope redoubt where i wouldn't be seeing
much of anyone for a month. so, at costco
i asked a simple question at customer service desk and
went into a Kafkaesque limbo as the floater
who volunteered to help me simulataneously
ignored me and held me hostage with some weird magic of
body language. ok, what's a few more minutes on concrete
floor under tweaky warehouse ceiling lights? i was into it! it ended too soon and
i was on my way to maui
federal credit union to ask why they charged me $5
inactive account fee. hell, i was there
to deposit cash anyway. i removed
my hat and sunglasses before entering (they're very
particular about that). hey, no line! step right up,
sir! and there i stood for the next 40
minutes or more, getting several different answers to
the same exact question. it was as if the clerk and i
were speaking different languages.
but we were both game and smiling, like tourists with no
common tongue thrown together trying to figure out a
foreign toilet. the time passed slowly in the carpeted
AC of the hushed bank. a violent film played muted on a
giant wall screen TV in the
waiting area as my hapless clerk to and fro'd to her
boss's office each time i reiterated the same basic question. after more light comedy
the issue was finally resolved by the boss herself and i
was kind of sorry to depart. time
had stopped there for a while as i stood at the stolid
counter, so reassuring in its solidity, as the life of the
bank flowed around me, the way people in a time lapse
movie rush like water. ok! enough business, time for
pleasure at Maui's great gem, the Pu'unene
MFOL.
filled a bag with quarter classics and was ready to pay
but another patron lingered long after completing her
purchase. i waited, then turned and browsed some more. oh,
poetry. langston
hughes, amiri
baraka, and A-bomb tanka. by
the time i got to the lone cashier i never wanted to
leave. i guess in the end i'm kind of sad i didn't take
the opportunity to act more impatient. maybe next time.
there'll be other
chances... +
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