Today as I stood in line w a y longer than I wanted to at Ace Hardware store, I thought of how impatient I have become waiting in lines. It's not so much the actual time that goes by while legitimate transactions need to happen, it's the NONSENSE conversations happening around me. Does that cashier REALLY care about your father's birthday party and why you only feed your dog this brand of dogfood? No. And neither do I, so let's get going.I just honestly don't think these conversations have any purpose. Friendly? I can smile with the best of them, but it's really not necessary for you to ask me when I am due, what the gender is, and if it's my first. I will probably never see you again as long as I live. Maybe it makes your day go by faster, to make small talk with the people that come through your line. Maybe you are genuinely curious and your mouth opens before you realize it and the things you wonder pop out into conversation. Hey, that happens to me all the time, just with people I might see again. People with whom it makes sense to establish the entry conversation for a potential friendship or meaningful acquaintance.
The truth is, when shopping anywhere I don't feel like talking; or listening to other people who don't know each other talking. I want to get out of the store as fast as I can. Okay, so maybe standing in one spot for a while with an extra 20 (cough) plus pounds for my lower back to support might make the whole experience a little much for my patience sometimes. Do I have this fabulously exciting life waiting for me outside of the grocery store? Not at all. I have a rather dull and routine life, but you better believe I would rather be sitting on the pot or sweeping the freaking floor again instead of hearing another 4 pointless conversations as I wait in line to get back to my mundane existence, which happily excludes florescent lighting. I try to not grit my teeth and to not be so obvious while I imagine my eyes burning holes in the back of your head like I am The Firestarter. I really work hard to prevent myself from getting to the boiling point where I just want to stomp my feet and shout NO ONE CAAAAAAAARES! JUST MOVE ALOOOOOOOOOONG ALREADY!
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Remember that song Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) that we all thought came from a great MIT graduation speech? It didn't. It was an essay written by Mary Schmich published in a column of the Chicago Tribune in 1997. She basically indulged in the idea of what her commencement speech would be if she was invited to deliver one. I am often reminding myself of this section of the essay:
"Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard;
live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft."
I am pretty sure I lived in New York too long.
So, how long before Northern California can begin to undo the damage?
