Friday, October 11, 2002
INCOMPETENCE
Richard Wong was a really good friend of mine in high school and college. One thing he used to always say that would crack me up is "Incompetence ... These are the things that make our country great" in that mellow, sarcastic voice he had. It was hilarious!
I got to thinking about that phrase again the other day when I was waiting in line at the grocery store. I tend to be a very fast person. I hate waiting. I hate making other people wait. So I try to do everything as fast as I can. That means, I have all my groceries placed on the conveyor belt with all the alike items close together. If I'm using coupons, they're all together, in my hand, ready to go. Also in my hand are the supermarket cards and my credit card, ready to swipe. I'm in and out of there really fast. But it seems that the people in front of me always have to be very slow. "Oh wait, I have my Vons card. Sorry." (fumble, fumble, fumble). "Hmm ... I thought I had it here. Here it is. No wait... " And then, they swipe it the wrong way.
I'm not saying that I'm impatient or that I don't sympathize with people. And maybe this is a huge character flaw of mine. But I just wish these people would just think ahead and get a few more things ready before it's their turn at the checkstand.
Richard Wong was a really good friend of mine in high school and college. One thing he used to always say that would crack me up is "Incompetence ... These are the things that make our country great" in that mellow, sarcastic voice he had. It was hilarious!
I got to thinking about that phrase again the other day when I was waiting in line at the grocery store. I tend to be a very fast person. I hate waiting. I hate making other people wait. So I try to do everything as fast as I can. That means, I have all my groceries placed on the conveyor belt with all the alike items close together. If I'm using coupons, they're all together, in my hand, ready to go. Also in my hand are the supermarket cards and my credit card, ready to swipe. I'm in and out of there really fast. But it seems that the people in front of me always have to be very slow. "Oh wait, I have my Vons card. Sorry." (fumble, fumble, fumble). "Hmm ... I thought I had it here. Here it is. No wait... " And then, they swipe it the wrong way.
I'm not saying that I'm impatient or that I don't sympathize with people. And maybe this is a huge character flaw of mine. But I just wish these people would just think ahead and get a few more things ready before it's their turn at the checkstand.
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