A lesson in patience

I am a patient person...I can happily entertain myself for hours, often just by staring off into space, listening to the stories in my head. That's a whole other blog, by the way! Anyway, today was the day I was getting my broken car window fixed (totally forgot to take a before picture, which sucks)...and so the lesson in patience begins.
Up early but not as early as usual, since I booked today off as a vacation day. It's not a vacation if you can't sleep in a little, or at least that's what I believe. Up, coffee and breakfast in, jump in the Jimmy and drive to M&D's. Phone them to find out if they want the truck in the garage or out front. See...we got a lot of snow, and now the temperatures are above zero, which is going to turn the alley into a mess to drive in. Not sure if Mom is ready for that, and I would hate for her to get stuck, because Dad certainly won't be able to help her. Phone rings, Dad answers, answer is "I don't know", yells at Mom, can't hear answer, still don't know. Sigh...it's not even 9 am yet! Phone back, actually talk to Mom this time, and she would like it in the garage. Okay...park Jimmy, return keys and 6 mini-lasagnas I made for them, and head back up to the garage to move my car out (their snow guy did the driveway, which was awesome of him). Now for the fun game...trying to the damn door to close! Six tries, people!!! Six times of down and back up again...and me cursing at the pile of snow and trying to move ice, and scraping the bottom of the door so that ice and snow and dirt and God knows what is falling in my hair and eyes...SIX FREAKING TIMES!!! Finally it closes, and I'm off to the glass place.
Crystal Glass was recommended...they responded quickly and were about $600 less than what I was expecting! Yay!!! I had made my appointment, and due to me reading the address wrong, was about 5 minutes late - not bad, considering M&D live on 106th Ave S, and I was driving to 14th Ave N. Cross and through downtown and only 5 minutes late...not too bad at all. The email I got from them said the average service took 2-3 hours. Fine...walked into the store and was told they were slammed, so it would probably be 4 hours. Okay...it's 10:15 - see you around 2:30. Walked to the bank, walked to Starbucks for a much needed cup of coffee and then walked about 2k to the mall, and after several laps, did some Xmas shopping. Had some lunch at Opa (gyro, rice, potato, Greek salad and pita - YUM!), and then walked back to the shop, arriving at about 2:45. Hmmmm..."car isn't ready yet, I'll go check"..."they JUST PULLED IT INTO THE SHOP, SO IT'LL BE ABOUT AN HOUR!"...so why exactly was I here at 10am...that is the burning question.
Flipped through what had to be a 40-year-old National Geographic book on the earth (awesome pictures, but BAD clothes!!!), stared at the wall, tried to think happy thoughts, wondered if I was going to make my chiro appointment at 4...mentioned at about 3:40 that I did have another appointment at 4, and that I really, really, really, really needed my car done. Finally, dude brings it around at 3:55!!!!! Called the chiro while driving there (oh, and the kicker, is when I'm trying to leave, that's when dude decides to start shovelling the driveway!), get horribly stuck in traffic - how do people drive every day to and from work??? I just don't get it. Finally get to the chiro, horribly late, but they are okay with it.
So, the real patience, you ask?? That would come into play when the glass place called, first to tell me the specialty glass I ordered was in (wrong client) and then to ask if I could bring the car back because "THEY FORGOT TO PUT A PIECE BACK ON"...PARDON ME?!?!?!? Now, I was in a crowded waiting room, and didn't exactly want to get into it right then and there, and it was described as a "5 minute job (like my 3 hour one today??) to put a small piece of glass (??) back on"...well, I will not make it back in time for tonight, since you made me a half hour late for my appointment, and now it's 20 minutes from your closing time. No, I can't bring it by in the morning, because I only took 1 day vacation, foolishly not realizing that this was a two-day job! So, I will swing by on Saturday...fine.
But now I'm afraid to open the hatch...what if the window falls out?! I decide to check what is missing, and what is missing is the inside panel of my hatch!!!!!! Cars on assembly lines look more put together! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! Oddly enough, I overheard the one reception call someone else while I was sitting there, to ask if he had found a set of keys in his car that didn't belong to him. Should have been a warning sign!
Tomorrow...they will get a call tomorrow, trust me.
Again, the overwhelming urge to eat everything I could get my hands on developed shortly after my day ended, but I controlled myself. One thin-bun with a little bit of butter and cinnamon sugar, some of my fabulous lentil soup with spinach and a mini cheesecake. McCains...3 points and quite rich and delectable. Check them out...they're in the freezer section.
Back to the grind, so it's an early night for me.
Later,