We all make choices in life and sometimes they work out well and sometimes they don’t. Maybe it’s just me remembering the bad and not the good, but I’ve had a lifetime of picking bad lines at the grocery store or the bank. Today was no exception.

I went to the bank to deposit a check on the way to the fitness center. It was before the bank opened, but there were two lines open in the drive through. Each of them had two cars, so it was eenie-meenie-minie-moe and I picked the one on the left. I hadn’t been there for a minute when the canister came down the tube and I knew the first car was done. I chuckled, thinking my luck had changed. Not so. The person must have been talking on the phone about something really important because she didn’t reach out and get her receipt for over a minute. Once she did, she closed her window and sat there for over two minutes, either counting her money over and over, or finishing that all important telephone call about the cute thing her grandchild did.

Finally, she pulled her tank (a huge SUV) out and the guy ahead of me pulled up. He took forever getting to the correct spot, not wanting to tear off his rear view mirror (he was a foot from the safety post). Of course, when he rolled down his window, he couldn’t reach the canister, so he had to open his door, wedge himself halfway out, and pull it out of the chute. He filled it with his banking papers and sent it off. In the meantime, I was watching the woman next to him pull up, open her truck window and try to reach her canister. She couldn’t either, so she stepped out onto her running board (it was a huge four wheel drive truck and she was about 4′ 8″). I chuckled thinking that maybe my line wasn’t so bad after all.

The guy’s canister came down the chute and I put my Jeep into gear, ready to swoop in. Not so fast! He took the contents, sat there for a minute fooling around with something, and then put something back in the canister along with the pen he used to sign whatever he had forgotten to sign. Away it went and, after I said a few bad words (sorry Mom), I put my Jeep back into park. After a couple more minutes, his canister came back. He took his time opening his door for the third time, wedging himself out again and retrieving the contents. He sat there for a full minute filing all of his papers before he started to pull out. He got halfway out of the spot when a car pulled up at the window next to the bank. Apparently he thought there would be a major collision because he stopped and waited to see what the person was going to do. He was still in the spot where I wanted to be by about a foot. After he realized the car had pulled up to a teller window and wasn’t really “careening through the parking lot”, he pulled out.

It took me a 2 minutes and 45 seconds to pull up, put my check and deposit slip into the canister, send it on its way, get it back, put the deposit slip on the seat next to me and drive away. Of course, if everyone were perfect like me, I wouldn’t have anything to whine about.

Just (I Have Nothing Better To Do Anyway So I’m Chilling Out) Jack