kerewin's whine cellar

Waiting In Line

I got a flat tire yesterday. I left a lunch meeting and was on my way to the warehouse to pick up some wine for a delivery. As I drove away I heard an odd sound, kinda like wind going through a loose hubcap. A block later I could still hear the noise so I pulled over and found the flat.

Because I am useless I had to call the Hub to come change it (and this time I payed attention, so if it happens in the future, I can probably do it myself). While I was waiting for him to get there, I also called my boss. It was getting late in the afternoon and the bar really needed their product in a timely manner. Luckily he was AT the warehouse. "Can you make this delivery for me?" I asked.

"How much wine is it? I need to know if it will fit in my car," he replied.

Pausing as I look into my order book and counting, "Hmm, 6, 6, and umm looks like about 3 and a half cases and a case of beer."

"Okay I'll be right there." Click.

Huh? Right here? That makes no sense. Shrug.

Thirty minutes or so later, the Hub is there messing with the tire, Boss pulls up. I ask, "Do you have my wine?"

"Don't you have it?"

"No, it's at the warehouse."

Oops, I never clarified that it was still at the warehouse and by the way I was counting the wine for him, he thought I had it in my car and was looking at it. So much for helping me. Still, the spare is a real tire and I got going after it was changed and made the delivery. However, that put me way late for getting my tire fixed. It was 4:30 when I finally arrived at the Les Schwab near my house and they told me the wait to get my car back would be well after 6 pm. Luckily they just let me leave my car there overnight for pickup in the morning. (Sheesh, this is a lot of background info for a very weak payoff.)

So at 9 am I haul my ass down to good old "Free Beef" and it is already sort of zooish. I stand in line behind an odd woman and her dog that she tells me confidentially, "is in public training." Whatever that means. Although I was second in line these 2 guys helping people seem to be a little slow. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Blah. I was cranky and hungry. Crazy lady gets her turn and her loose tire issue takes one of the two men away from the counter. Good times. Meanwhile a guy about my dad's age walks up to the line and sorta stands behind the guy who is at the counter. Does he think there are two lines, I ask myself. Odd. Why would all the people behind me be in JUST ONE LINE?

Guy at counter leaves, Interloper Man starts to step up to the counter. "Excuse me," I say firmly, "I was next in line."

"But you're just getting new tires, right?"

"No, I am picking up my car," I reply acidly.

At that point the counter guy called me over and I got my car (yay! they just fixed the tire for free!) and I left. Lucky for Interloper. Still, I kept turning it over and over in my head later, what the hell does someone who is "just buying new tires" look like? Aside from that, I WAS NEXT IN LINE. Is it a difficult concept? I almost wish I was buying a new, time consuming, set of tires.

Posted by kerewin at April 15, 2006 05:06 PM