The Waiting Game

Yesterday I waited. We’ve all had to do it at some point. We’ve all had to sit and wait at either the doctor’s office, dentist’s…or in my case, the auto shop. I had put off service for my car long enough. But when an SOS flashes…I think it’s telling me…"get off your blogging butt and take me in.”

Waiting can be boring, so it helps to pass the time by taking a look around the room to see what people are doing. Heck we all do it. We all sneak peeks at each other…trying not to get caught. That’s how the waiting game is played. And if you get caught and make eye contact…you lose. I managed to get some good peeks…………...

One man was diligently working on some papers with a red pen in hand. I took a closer look and saw that that he was correcting test papers. He obviously was a school teacher. So this was how he was spending his spring break vacation…while his students were teens gone wild on a Florida beach? I watched him carefully as he unloaded his red ink on one particular paper. I hoped the kid who would be getting back the red Jackson Pollock paper was having a real wild time during his break…’cause his paper wasn’t exactly a masterpiece.

The woman next to me was on her laptop and madly typing. I think she was trying to impress us by showing off her fast keyboarding skills. I tried to look over her shoulder to see if she was typing real words or if she was just going with: ;alkj;vodiu ;oikdfnm;sdklj ;oijv ;oj. Heck, even I could do that. But I didn’t get a good enough look to make a determination…too much glare on the screen. Come on lady, get an anti-glare screen.

The other people around were pretty tame in a lame sort of way. There was the cutest preppy older couple wearing berets and plaid outfits. (It’s hard to top that for cuteness.) But the worst part of the wait was the television…which ironically is supposed to help you pass the time. It was a beautiful TV…a big, flat screen TV with HD…no complaints there, but many complaints about what was showing: Dr. Freakin’ Phil.

When I first saw Dr. Phil back in the day on Oprah, I thought he was pretty good. But that guy has since slid downhill and landed right in-between Maury Povich and Jerry Springer...the new Three’s Company. Only difference between Phil and his present company is his Texan accent. At least give me Kathie Lee and Hoda!! Those are some spunky spitfire women.

I watched one man leave the waiting area to go to the bathroom 2 times in 20 minutes. But who’s counting? I think that’s where he went…I didn’t follow him. He must have a growing problem. If he ever stayed seated long enough and watched the loser television, he might recognize himself in one of those growing problem commercials.

So I did quite well in the game of wait. I proclaimed myself a winner. "Self, you are a winner." I avoided all eye contact…Not one single person caught me sneaking peeks. My Grand Prize for winning? It would have to be this blog. Unfortunately that doesn’t do much for you.