Waiting … and Waiting … For a Break

I freely admit I have no patience. If I want something, I want it right then. I hate waiting in line. In fact, I just hate to wait, period.

Sitting in traffic is awful. Especially when you’re doing just that … sitting. Slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic is bad enough. Not moving at all is torture. It’s even worse when car upon car upon car drives right on by, and even though they could give you a break, they don’t.

I really do try to be courteous. If I have the opportunity to let someone get into the line of traffic, I try to do that. I may not let a whole line of people get in, but I can let a car, or two, get in. I’ll admit, there are times I don’t do that, but I honestly do let folks in more than I don’t let them in. And while I’m sitting there because nobody will cut anybody else in line a break, I start thinking about the times I’d stop and let people in. Then, especially if I’ve been sitting about ten minutes, I get real snarly, and I start telling myself that I’ll never let anybody in traffic ever again.

Even as I’m muttering that to myself, I know it’s not true, and I will cut others a break again. It just gets very frustrating to sit and watch fifty cars drive by and not one will cut someone a break. Yes, we’re all busy, and, yes, we all have places we need to be. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t show some kindness.

This afternoon I waited for what seemed forever, and there really were about fifty cars that drove by without letting anybody into traffic. It made me grumpy. It made me vow never to cut someone else a break, after all, what if I did, and it was one of those fifty people who drove by and didn’t give me a break? I sure wouldn’t want to reward their unkindness with kindness would I? And after I finally was able to get into traffic, I did have the opportunity to cut somebody a break (somebody who was not one of the fifty people to drive on by), and I didn’t do it. I was still too busy silently grumbling. The thing is I felt bad after I drove on by without letting this guy in.

So what does all this mean? It goes back to the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s not as they do unto you. Whether fifty or a hundred people had driven by without cutting me or anybody else in that long line a break is irrelevant. The point is I’d like for others to cut me a traffic break from time to time. Therefore, even if I’m grumpy because I didn’t get a break, if I have the opportunity to give someone else one, I need to do that.

As I frequently tell my kids and my students, you have to lay down tonight with what you’ve done today, not what someone else has done. In this case, just because all those other drivers were jerks, that doesn’t give me the right to also be a jerk. Since I have no idea who that driver was and cannot apologize to him for my rudeness and since I have confessed it, I’m just going to issue an apology here. I really am sorry that I acted like a jerk and didn’t cut the guy a break.

We all need to keep in mind that how others treat us is really irrelevant when it comes to how we treat others. We simply must do the right thing in regard to others just because it’s the right thing to do. If we do that, when we lay down at night, we’ll sleep much better.

Fast Food Shouldn’t Take an Hour

My little hometown has been undergoing construction. The major thoroughfare, Highway 15, is being expanded to four lanes, and I hear that the latest segment should open by next summer, but in addition to that, we just got a new fast-food restaurant. A new building was built to house Kentucky Fried Chicken (we already had one of those, but it moved to this new building) and Taco Bell. Needless to say, this is major news for a small town, but opening day was quite crazy around the new restaurant.

I really hope KFC did some business this week, but the majority of the traffic through there was for Taco Bell. Rumor has it that a Dairy Queen will be moving into the now empty KFC building. It’d be nice to have a DQ so we can get good ice cream whenever we want it. On Wednesday of last week, several students asked me if I was going to Taco Bell, and they were surprised when I said no. I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, and I can’t think of any fast-food chain, not even the DQ, that I like well enough to wait over an hour to get food just to say I was there on opening day.  So, what restaurants would I wait over an hour for on opening day? If any of the following were to open in Jackson, I’d probably be crazy enough to wait as long as it took to get to eat there on opening day.

1. Johnny Carino’s – In fact, when the students asked if I were going to visit Taco Bell on opening day and I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, Johnny Carino’s popped up in my reply as well. I told them if Johnny Carino’s was opening, I’d be there.

2. Saul Good – Since I wrote about the top places my husband and I like to eat, we’ve been to a Saul Good in Hamburg in Lexington. I thoroughly enjoyed the nachos appetizer and the bacon cheeseburger entree, but the desserts are incredible. My first visit, I, along with my friends, got the fondue plate for dessert. It came with melted milk chocolate to use for dipping and about six or seven different foods to dip, including bananas, strawberries, pretzel sticks, rice krispie treats, waffles, and a couple other things. The second time I ordered the banana split brownie with chocolate. Let me just say that is the best chocolate I’ve ever had in my entire life. It is chocolate worth waiting in line for over an hour for.

3. Malone’s – This restaurant has the best steaks around, and it would definitely be worth waiting in line for.

4. Old Chicago – I love Variety Pizza here in my hometown and do believe it’s among the best pizza I’ve ever had, but Old Chicago is amazing as well, and if I want a deep dish Chicago-style pizza, this is the place to go; if one opened here, I’d definitely wait an hour to get that pizza.

And, honestly, that’s about it. Short of one of these restaurants opening in Jackson, I can’t think of any others that I’d be willing to wait for more than an hour to get my food, just to say I was there on opening day. I definitely wouldn’t for a fast-food restaurant, and as you can see from the short list, I wouldn’t for most sit-down restaurants either. I’d love to see either of these four restaurants open in Jackson, but I sure won’t hold my breath waiting on it. Rumor also has it that we might actually get an Applebees and/or a Ponderosa, and it’d be great if we did, but if we do, I won’t be planning to visit them on opening day.

Patience is the one virtue that I have in short supply. I loathe having to wait for anything, especially food. It’s great that we have a new restaurant, and hopefully we will be getting more, just don’t expect to see me there waiting on opening day. I’ll just let them work out the kinks and visit after all the hoopla has worn off, and if they don’t last that long, then I haven’t missed anything anyway.