In the instantaneous here and now culture that we live in, it is always a true wonder of many why some things aren’t as instantaneous as we would like them to be. I am guilty of this trait that most baby boomers’ coin as a millennial and get Z attribute.

But as impatient as even I can be, with most things, I find it is the boomers themselves that are the most impatient and least understanding when it comes to not having things their way or not being as instantaneous as they would like.

For example, one customer of mine at the dealership was sulking in her chair, waiting for her vehicle to be serviced. She interrupts my walk around the perimeter of the store as I was about to leave for the day and asks how much longer her car could possibly take for a simple oil and filter change. She was probably late forties or in her fifties. I state that I would ask her advisor on a time estimate for completion.

When I returned she was smack talking the business for taking walk in customers and giving them priority over appointments. I simply stated it would be no more than fifteen more minutes. She complained that appointments should take priority over walk ins. I agreed with her.

She then continued to explain to me it was the principle of the matter that was her issue, not that she had anything better to do. Mind you, she had only waited twenty extra minutes longer than she was told she would wait.

I listened and kept stating that I heard her. “I hear you”, “I understand”, “I agree, you’re right.”

That only made her want to explain the situation more in order to make me feel small, like I was child and couldn’t comprehend her impatience.

This went on for a total of thirty minutes. I tried a different approach to get her to let me leave. I tried to explain we were down a lot of auto technicians and advisors due to staffing issues. She didn’t seem to like my excuse.

I personally apologized on my own behalf for not rectifying the situation sooner. She said it wasn’t my fault, like I didn’t already know it wasn’t my own damn fault. Then she went on and on about the “principle” of it all, appointments getting delayed due to walk in customers. I explained how the situation usually goes down and then blamed it on our own inefficiency.

I told her repeatedly I would tell my direct supervisor and add notes to the chart. She then kept adding that she liked the service and the people here and that she spent a lot of money here, but she wouldn’t be filing a complaint or taking her business elsewhere.

At some point, she kinda gave up because she then had the epiphany that I had no true power than to apologize for the wait and offer water and coffee.

I felt bad because my phone kept buzzing in my pocket because my mother was there to pick me up. I have no working car at the moment because I T-boned the crap out of my car. Luckily no one was hurt and no one was involved except my car and I.

Anyway, I just needed to rant about the pure impatience of people.

I get it. They want to feel heard. I heard her alright.

It’s not like I got a bunch to do when I get off of work, but when you think you’re gonna get off at a certain time and get held up for an extra thirty minutes and my mom is doing a huge favor for me, taking me to and from work everyday, I don’t want to make her wait longer than she has to.

I guess with everything in our culture being instant 99% of the time, most people cannot sit with themselves for that long without a distraction of some sort out of boredom. When they don’t get their way, they complain, bitch, whine, and scream.

PSA: you will always have to wait in line at the grocery store, you may not get the pick of the best produce when you go into the store, you may not get the exact right coffee drink you were hoping for on a busy day and you may have to wait an extra twenty minutes at the dealership.

In other words, good things take TIME.

Be patient. We are trying. You’re trying. We are trying to help each other out. Especially in these unprecedented times, you never know what somebody is going through and your bitching can be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Much love,

Dani