Patience of a......Hungry Baby

I'm throwing back to Amanda's Customer Service Posting a few days ago - my patience just isn't what it used to be - I've known this for the past five years. In college, I had the patience of a Saint. I needed it when I was tutoring Calculus to 40-something year olds going back to school to gain their undergrad degrees. This was also the beginning of where my patience started to wear thin. I loved tutoring. It was great to share something I understood with people that didn't understand it quite so well. But because a lot of the students I tutored were older and had not been in a Math class in 20-some years, it took them LONGER than the average bear to grasp some of the concepts. Admittedly, there were times when I wanted to say, "Hey, you've gone this long without knowing or using calculus...you really won't need it after you get your diploma either....and there's always a curve after exams right? Why don't we just shoot for getting by?" Isn't that horrible?
So my husband and I went to go watch a 7:30pm showing of 'SuperBad' last night. We got to the theatre at 7:00pm. This gave me plenty of time to return an item at the Limited. The store is two floors down but in the same main wing as the theatre so I didn't think I'd have a problem with time. But when I got to the store and became the second person on line, I began to have serious doubts. Time: 7:10pm. There was only one person behind the cash wrap (yet there are five terminals...go figure). The person being waited on was opening up a store credit card (OY VAY!) If I were the cashier and I saw TWO people standing on line, and both apparently having returns, I would have clicked on that little portable mic they carry around and said, "Can someone please come to the back to help ring?" At least, that's what good management skills would have dictated that cashier do. Unfortunately, I don't think she was a manager. So she continued to open the card for the person at the register. She finally got done. By the time that person left, two more people had joined me on line. Time: 7:13pm. The gal in front of me stepped up and had a return of some $40 pants and a purchase of a $200 suit. I've worked in retail before. I know that if you have a return and then a purchase, you ring up the return and then get the amount owed to the customer and the ring up the purchase and they just pay for the difference. Apparently, that's not how this cashier worked. She returned the girl's pants first in one transaction...then started another transaction to ring up the purchases. This took FOREVER. Time: 7:18pm. I kept looking through the rest of the store thinking that there had to be SOMEONE else that could ring up our merchandise (or refund my money, in my case). I became the extremely annoyed customer that huffed and puffed and sighed out loud. I don't break it out too often, but I felt the situation was appropriate. At this time, two more people hopped on line. For those keeping count at home, there are now five people on line, one person at register. I really thought about saying, "I'm sorry, but is there someone else here that can help me? I'm in a rush." Then I thought, why should I apologize for them being slow and incompetent? But had I approached it any other way, I would be looked upon as that bi-atch in a rush. So I just stood there.
The cashier saw the line getting longer but she managed to still do a price check for someone up front. She thought she could expedite the process by having me step up and throw my merchandise on the counter. When she saw I had a return, she said she needed my photo ID and the card I charged it to. Check. Time: 7:22pm. When she started on my transaction, she had the gall to ask me why I was returning it, even though it was apparent I hadn't even taken it out of the shopping bag since bringing it home. I just said, "No." She rang up my return, swiped my card and miraculously, I didn't have to sign anything....that seemed odd to me, but I have the receipt, so we'll see if I get my $50 back.
Time: 7:25pm. I know it's all commercials, warnings, and previews before the movie but that didn't stop my from hauling ass to the theatre. I wanted to get my ICEE and a good seat. I got to the theatre at 7:28pm. Of course when we got on line at the snack counter, we had to stand behind the MOST INDECISIVE PEOPLE on the face of this Earth...so I moved over one lane to a guy that was finishing up an order. By this time, I was annoyed with:
1) the Limited
2) the indecisive people at the snack counter
and now - you can add the attendant at the snack counter....HARD OF HEARING and he gave me an ICEE that wasn't fully frostified. It was half slush, half liquid. That's not right. At this point, I knew when I was defeated. When we get to theatre 11 and there were two teenagers checking IDs for the movie, I glare at the girl and gave her the "don't even think about it" look and walked in. We found a seat and I started drinking my ICEE.
The End. Time: 7:35pm.