WAIT A MINUTE

Samuel Beckett wrote a play called, WAITING FOR GODOT. For two acts the audience watches two men sitting on bench waiting for a mysterious figure named Godot—who just never shows up. If you are brave enough to see this play more than once (spoiler alert) know that Godot still won’t show up.

Patience can be a test, which I recently discovered, when I was stuck in an elevator that usually takes me to my apartment.  I had gone grocery shopping,  arrived at my floor, entered my apartment, put the grocery bags (and my purse) on the kitchen counter, and went back to the elevator to ride down again in order to put my little shopping cart back into the car. 

Then I came back, pushed the elevator button, got onto the elevator and rode up to my floor. But when I arrived—-the elevator doors refused to open. My cell phone was in my purse.  Consequently, I pushed the “HELP BUTTON! which connects to me an elevator person in Canada.  I told her that I was stuck, and asked her to call people at the Concierge Desk, and I gave her the number.  She said she would do that but first told me to push all the button and hold one of the buttons.  I pushed and then kept pushing the HELP BUTTON so maybe someone in the building would hear it.  

Then I remembered that someone once said, “The beauty of waiting is the anticipation of what’s to come.  I anticipated that the ice cream  on my counter was melting.  Finally, I heard voices on the other side of the elevator. Yes, patience can be a test!  After 20 minutes, standing in a metal box, I got off.  And, the brilliant Concierge person said, “Did you push all the buttons?”  I counted to ten before responding, “Do you think I am a moron?” She is still thinking about that.

Mark Twain said, “All good things arrive unto them that wait—and don’t die in the meantime.”

I must admit that it’s always been hard for me to “Wait for the dust to settle,” or to “Hold your horses.”  For me, biding my time is a waste of time.  For instance:
 
 It’s hard for me to sit through a meeting that could have been sent in a simple e-mail. 
Cooling my heels is difficult when I come to the front of a  Grocery Store line, with my 6 items, and the receipt roller runs out of paper and the store manager has to show the new clerk how to replace the roll.
Being put “On Hold”  on the telephone by a robot who keeps saying “Your call is important to us” and makes me listen to torturous music that makes my blood boil.
A “Back Soon” sign posted on a store door, and I don’t know when the guy left.
And, anticipation takes on a whole new meaning when a waiter says, “I’ll be right with you.”
It should be considered an Olympic sport waiting in line to receive a Driver’s License.

It is probably a healthy thing to stay calm when under duress.  Consequently,  I swear I am going to try to be more like Margaret Thatcher when she said, “I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end!”

Esther Blumenfeld