Friday, January 16, 2009

Patience?!

I have really been thinking about patience lately. There are some things that I have a lot of patience with and then there are other things where I have absolutely no patience at all!!! For example....

Other people's children-- lots of patience (I think they are adorable even when they are acting out...as long as it's not my children).

My children--really, it depends on the day and what they are doing, but I usually have quite a bit of patience.

Cory--lots of patience (unless he is relentless when he is tackling me down...really is it normal for a husband to tackle down his wife?? Apparently it is for the Mann boys. :)

dogs/cats--no patience (unless it is an irresistibly cute dog).

technology--absolutely NO PATIENCE!!! Why can't everything just work like it's supposed to all of the time!

checkout lines at Walmart with two children who want all of the candy, gum, and soda that they see while standing in line and there are only 4 lines open even though there are like 50 people waiting to checkout--NO PATIENCE!!

slow/bad drivers--lots of patience

elderly--lots of LOVE and patience

spilled water- NO PATIENCE!!

I have really been thinking about this for the last 24 hours because yesterday my patience level was tested to the extreme!! I ran by Walmart before my presidency meeting to get some fabric to cover a bulletin board in the Young Women room. I went to the fabric section and waited and waited. No one came. So I asked a worker for help and she went and called for whoever was working in fabric. Ten minutes later no one came. I went and tried to find someone else to help, they went and called for the fabric person and again...NO ONE CAME!!! I had been there waiting for 20 minutes now. Finally, I decided I was just going to cut the fabric myself. I know what a yard is and I can peel off a sticker and put "4 yards for $1.97/yd.". So I did. I went to check out and the lady looked at it and then me really funny. Apparently, that wouldn't work b/c she had to scan some kind of bar code. Anyways, to make a really long, frustrating story short...I was there for 50 MINUTES so that they could get every manager possible to figure out how to override the stupid system so that they could charge me $7.88. REALLY??? I was late for my meeting and so irritated, but I couldn't even get mad. I was afraid that if I got rude and ugly with them that they just might ask me why I needed this fabric (why would they ever ask that anyways?) and I would say it was for church and then what kind of a Christian would that make me?? Not a very patient one.

Anyways, I am so sorry this post is SO LONG!! Maybe you have already stopped reading, b/c you lost your patience. :)

By the way, thanks for the comments "Anonymous"!!!

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I love that you cut the fabric yourself! That is hilarious. The rest of the story though, very frustruating!
I might need some advice on covering a bulletin board. I bought one for Avery's room and just put cute scrap paper on it. Now Brittain is in there too and she can reach it and she pulled it to pieces!

Rebecca said...

I went to Wal Mart yesterday too. I called Randy and said I.HATE.WAL-MART. I mean, I enjoy the cheaper groceries, but HATE going there. I totally lose my patience as soon as I walk in the door!

InkMom said...

Oh, don't EVEN get me started about Wal-Mart. Have I told you before that I don't shop there? Hate the place, precisely because of experiences like yours. I promise I'll quit reminding everyone of my dislike . . . but it would give me immense pleasure to actually have an impact on them, because maybe, just maybe, they might change the way they do things. I know, wishful thinking.

And please, please tell me -- what do you mean by "tackling down"?!?

Jenna said...

I laughed at the tackling wife thing-it is a very normal thing for Cole to tackle me down.

Oh and when I got back in town the other day I saw your Christmas card I has sent had got sent back to me. Sorry!! Could you email me your address so I can send it. I know it is way late but at least you would get the picture!

Sherrie said...

Is this blog aimed straight at me? Intentionally or unintentionally it has pointed straight at my weakness!
Thanks for the reminder...uh..I think.
Love Mom by the beach

Lisa said...

ha! i have zero patience when it comes to wal-mart too. i dont understnad it but that place just sucks the life out of me. i try to just go to target more.

Jessica said...

Our WalMart has a lovely little bell that my children love to ding and ding and ding until someone in the photo department right next to it hears it and uses the intercom to page someone. I've been tempted MANY times to cut my own, so kudos to you. What we need to do is pay attention to what the worker does to make the "official" bar code sticker thingie. Then we could always do it as a self-service kind of thing. It really would speed up the process. You're a better LDS then me, I might have lost it :-)

Amber said...

Oh you crack me up. I couldn't list the things that make me loose my patience, there's not enough time or computer memory. i loved your little joke at the end about us stopping reading. crack up!

Anonymous said...

You are welcome

janae said...

The same thing happened to me at Walmart. I even used the phone on the fabric cutting table to get on the intercom to ask for help. Too funny.---janae

Ashlie said...

Thanks so much Melissa for the great advice! You are so much stronger than me.. seriously! Patience is my biggest weakness!

MANDY said...

I think you're amazing, Melissa - some of your "have patience" items are on my "no patience" list.....You are an example to me. I have to group myself with Amber because I lose my patience over too many things to list. Sorry about your frustrating day at Walmart - self checkout is what really tries my patience yet I continue to use it. Why don't they just turn off those scales, anyway?

Tricia said...

Self Check it the worst! I went to the store to buy one newspaper. Nothing else. (The machines out front were empty.)
That darned self-check-out voice seemed to be yelling at me! I became frustrated fast as I couldn't get the newspaper to scan, then it wouldn't take my money. I finally slammed my 53 cents on the counter and told the customer service person I couldn't take it anymore and I was leaving! Oops. Bad day. hehe

I love that you cut and tagged the fabric yourself. I have to admit I can't imagine it. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

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